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In the Penguins' run to the Stanley Cup last season, Letang had 15 points (three goals, 12 assists) in 23 games, averaging 28:52 of ice time.
Letang, who has not played since Feb. 21, will need 4-6 months to recover, which could take him into the start of training camp next season. He had 34 points (five goals, 29 assists) in 41 games this season.
CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang will miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs because of a herniated disk in his neck that will require surgery.
"Right now, it's pretty hard to swallow. It was not expected," Letang said Wednesday. "I was going through rehab. It was going really well. It's just in the last week that it blew up on me. It's hard, but like I've done in the past, I'm going to put my energy into getting better and get back to where I was."
Following an MRI in February, Letang, 29, began skating on his own but experienced plateaus in his recovery.
"Within the last week, he was obviously symptomatic, which spurred more inquiry from our medical staff," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "That's how it evolved."
Video: NHL Tonight on Kris Letang's season-ending injury
It was decided Letang would have a second MRI.
"The [first] MRI revealed that I had a herniated disk, so we took a break and we thought the best treatment for it was to rest and try to get better, and be ready for the playoffs," Letang said. "I was doing well on the ice. I was getting ready and we asked for another MRI to make sure it was good. At that moment, I realized I needed surgery. So, that's where it stands."
Following a 5-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on March 29, Sullivan said he was confident Letang would be available for the start of the playoffs.
"He was making significant progress," Sullivan said. "He was skating. He was on the ice. The next step was he was going to join the team in practice.
"Our doctors, our medical staff felt as though it made the most sense to take a conservative approach without surgery. They were fairly confident that Kris could recover from this in time for the playoffs. We were all very confident that was going to be the case."
RELATED: Kris Letang injury 'hard' for Penguins
After playing 140 games the previous two seasons, Letang was sidelined from Oct. 18-Nov. 2 with an upper-body injury. He also was placed on injured reserve on Dec. 17 and again on Jan. 16, each time with a lower-body injury, and he missed a combined 11 games.
"[The herniated disk] was an accumulation of events over time," Sullivan said. "It wasn't any one incident when it occurred. Having said that, there was no correlation between his earlier injuries during the year and this particular one."
Letang has experienced several long-term injuries in his 11 NHL seasons. His most significant came in January 2014, when he had a stroke that kept him out six weeks.
"It's obviously disappointing," Sullivan said. "He's an elite player and a great teammate. He's a tough guy to replace. But this team has done it all year long, and that's what we're going to have to continue to do."
The Penguins also are without defensemen Trevor Daley (knee) and Olli Maatta (hand). Daley practiced in a regular contact jersey Wednesday and Maatta joined practice in a yellow no-contact jersey. Sullivan said he is optimistic forward Evgeni Malkin (upper body), who hasn't played since March 15, will be ready for the playoffs.
"We've been missing guys all year," Maatta said. "Our strength is our depth. I think that's something we're confident with."
Without three of its more prominent defensemen, Pittsburgh has relied heavily on Justin Schultz, who has an NHL career-high 49 points (12 goals, 37 assists) in 76 games.
Video: PIT@WPG: Schultz rips a slapper top-shelf for PPG
"[Schultz] is an important guy for us. He has been for quite some time now," Sullivan said. "I don't think he has to assume this great burden of responsibility. I think he has to continue to be the player he's been for us for all season long."
The Penguins are 12-5-3 in their past 20 games without Letang. With the additions of defensemen Ron Hainsey and Mark Streit before the NHL Trade Deadline, Letang said he thinks Pittsburgh could repeat as Stanley Cup champions without him.
"The way we've been battling," Letang said, "take an example like last year when [Evgeni] went down in a crucial time, and I think everybody got closer. We found a way to get up in the standings and win a Cup when Geno came back. I think we can do the same thing. We've got great assets on [defense].
"That team went through so much and they've learned so much. I think they have the experience that we need."
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Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, is irrefutably the most famous painting in existence, and with fame often comes controversy, suspicion, conspiracy. That's why French scientist Pascal Cotte has been staring at the Mona Lisa for 10 years, trying to dig up her dirt.
The Mona Lisa is, to begin with, kind of a perfect blank canvas (pardon me) for scandal. It's famous for what I think are pretty vague and typically male reasons: it depicts a mystery woman, with an enigmatic expression. It looks like a typical Renaissance portrayal of the Virgin Mary, but with an added seductive smirk. "Mona" is a contraction of "Madonna," for what it's worth.
There have always been competing theories about who the portrait depicts, though the majority has long agreed that it is of Lisa Gherardini, a middle-class, seemingly ordinary woman who lived in Florence during the early 16th century and was married to a silk merchant.
But a recent revelation by Cotte could change everything we know about this possibly misogynist painting (and about a movie in which we are asked to believe that some people don't respect Julia Roberts!). Cotte says he took pictures of the painting under intense light and uncovered a second portrait hidden underneath the original. It could be considered a rough draft for the final Mona Lisa, were it not for some small but notable differences.
"It's 'goodbye, Mona Lisa.' She is somebody else."
The most notable difference is that the woman has a totally different face. Pretty notable! She doesn't seem to be the same woman as we know and love and have endowed with so much intrigue.
She's also not smiling.
Art historian Andrew Graham-Dixon corroborated the claim that this woman is not Lisa Gherardini saying, "the new discoveries are like a huge stone thrown into the still waters of art history. They disturb everything we thought we knew about the Mona Lisa." (And about a movie in which we are asked to believe that Julia Stiles would look twice at Topher Grace!)
How does new information about one painting affect all of the history of art? Glad you asked. The Verge conducted its own scientific research on our favorite historical paintings, and uncovered some wild stuff.
Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze's Washington Crossing the Delaware was layered on top of a painting of Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris crossing a pool at her Fourth of July party, for some reason. Patriotic, either way.
Vincent Van Gogh's famous big ole brush strokes had stories to tell, too. The Starry Night hides a frame from a Smash Bros. stage based on Super Mario Galaxy.
Edward Hopper's classic 1942 painting Nighthawks has been scraped away to reveal an even more famous nighttime scene — Luke's diner, complete with Gilmore girls one and two. (Mystery solved!)
Man, art history is truly unpredictable. I don't know why anyone would compare it to a still body of water in the first place.
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BOSTON—The first question on the November ballot will give voters the chance to repeal the state's alcohol sales tax.
Secretary of State William Galvin unveiled the order of the ballot questions Thursday.
The second question will give voters the choice to repeal the state's affordable housing law known as 40B. Question Three will ask voters if they want to reduce the state's sales tax from 6.25 percent to 3 percent.
The alcohol sales tax was first implemented in 2009 as part of the state's efforts to raise revenues. Package store owners say the tax has turned customers away, especially on the border with New Hampshire, which does not have sales tax.
Opponents say the tax revenue pays for essential substance abuse programs.
Questions higher on the ballot tend to garner the most attention.
© Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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An odd thing happened on Tuesday night, nearly two hours into the 8:05 showing of Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master” at the AMC Loews Boston Common 19. As Freddie Quell, played by Joaquin Phoenix, was poised to throttle a man unfortunate enough to offer a frank opinion of the latest book written by the messiah-like cult leader Lancaster Dodd, and just as the squeamish among the crowd might have been tempted to avert their eyes from the impending violence, the screen went black. The audio, however, continued, leaving us sitting in near-perfect darkness, baffled but rapt, as we listened to grim sounds of punching, wrestling, and strangulation. Then, after perhaps a half a minute, the sound cut out, too.
Fin?
After a beat, someone near the front let out an exasperated, sneering harrumph. Others laughed nervously, or began murmuring to their companions. “Is that it?” “Wait, that was the end?” Soon the darkness was pierced by the faint glow of smartphones, as people turned to the Internet to sort out whether the movie was supposed to have such a sudden and shocking ending. Surely we’d have heard about it before now. Someone yelled out, “Is this the second time for anyone?,” forgoing the Web for a more immediate kind of crowdsourcing. Some Good Samaritan left the theatre to seek out an employee for an official explanation. Another person climbed to the top of the theatre to bang on the glass of the projection room. (That those boxes are likely unmanned these days suddenly became an eerie thing to consider.) The house lights had yet to come on, and we remained in a rare kind of total darkness.
Had we been assembled to see any of the other movies on offer that night, this sudden blackout would have been quickly chalked up to mechanical failure. Yet there was something uncanny and rather elegant about the timing of the events. The cut to black had seemed like a flashy directorial choice. Indeed, an earlier scene, in which Freddie assaulted another heretic, had taken place offscreen, behind a closed door. This was simply taking it to another level of abstraction: by transporting the scenes of violence from the screen to our minds, Anderson was echoing the kind of mental transportation at the center of the harrowing scenes of Processing (a psychological examination and initiation) between Lancaster Dodd and Freddie Quell. And, in some ways, the visual had become redundant: since we’d become so acquainted with the physical, animal power of Freddie, we could imagine his gaunt and sinewy body viced upon his next victim.
Even after the sound cut out and the picture failed to return, some of us remained credulous, or at least hopeful. This would not be the first time that a major-release movie had concluded on a sudden and polarizing note. What came to mind was the Coen brothers’ “No Country for Old Men,” which ends with the character played by Tommy Lee Jones recounting an enigmatic dream. The screen goes black just a moment after he says, “Then I woke up.” Audiences then were variously delighted, moved, or infuriated by that stroke of filmmaking. Of course, after that scene, the Coens ran the credits.
Here, we continued in the darkness, which, perhaps because of the intensity of the jaw-to-jaw performances in the film up to that point, had taken on a sinister and frightening atmosphere. It was all too clear that we were in an unfamiliar place, among strangers. Even then, even then, there remained a chance that we were involved in a slightly longer game, that sitting alone with our thoughts in the dark was a final requirement of the movie, a final forced confrontation of consciousness, or some such thing, and it was with this last ambiguity that a few of us likely held out hope. Perhaps we were inclined to go anywhere with Paul Thomas Anderson, who, even among non-cineastes has earned a reputation as a genius. Or, more generally, maybe no one wanted to prove himself a philistine or a rube. We never want to be the sucker who claps too early at the symphony. And no one wants to be unmasked as the guy who doesn’t get it.
The Samaritan returned with information: power outage, happened to several screens, they’re working on it, not sure when it will come back, you can get a refund downstairs. The joke, it was clear, was on the holdouts, those of us hoping for a kind of participatory magic that was not to be. Yet even though we missed the last act, it was as if we’d seen an alternate ending, and experienced a kind of alternative cinematic reality.
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Some 38,000 African migrants live in Israel. New Israeli plan offers them $3,500 to leave.
By Jeffrey Heller
JERUSALEM, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Israel said on Wednesday it would pay thousands of African migrants living illegally in the country to leave, threatening them with jail if they are caught after the end of March.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in public remarks at a cabinet meeting on the payment programme, said a barrier Israel completed in 2013 along its border with Egypt had effectively cut off a stream of "illegal infiltrators" from Africa after some 60,000 crossed the desert frontier.
The vast majority came from Eritrea and Sudan and many said they fled war and persecution as well as economic hardship, but Israel treats them as economic migrants.
The plan launched this week offers African migrants a $3,500 payment from the Israeli government and a free air ticket to return home or go to "third countries", which rights groups identified as Rwanda and Uganda.
"We have expelled about 20,000 and now the mission is to get the rest out," Netanyahu said.
An immigration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there are some 38,000 migrants living illegally in Israel, and some 1,420 are being held in two detention centres. "Beyond the end of March, those who leave voluntarily will receive a significantly smaller payment that will shrink even more with time, and enforcement measures will begin," the official said, referring to incarceration.
Some have lived for years in Israel and work in low-paying jobs that many Israelis shun. Israel has granted asylum to fewer than one percent of those who have applied and has a years-long backlog of applicants.
Rights groups have accused Israel of being slow to process African migrants' asylum requests as a matter of policy and denying legitimate claims to the status.
Netanyahu has called the migrants' presence a threat to Israel's social fabric and Jewish character, and one government minister has referred to them as "a cancer".
Teklit Michael, a 29-asylum seeker from Eritrea living in Tel Aviv, said in response to the Israeli plan that paying money to other governments to take in Africans was akin to "human trafficking and smuggling".
"We don't know what is waiting for us (in Rwanda and Uganda)," he told Reuters by telephone. "They prefer now to stay in prison (in Israel) instead."
In his remarks, Netanyahu cited the large presence of African migrants in Tel Aviv's poorer neighbourhoods, where he said "veteran residents" - a reference to Israelis - no longer feel safe.
"So today, we are keeping our promise to restore calm, a sense of personal security and law and order to the residents of south Tel Aviv and those in many other neighbourhoods," he said. (Additional reporting by Miriam Berger; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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Image caption Brendan Maguire and Susan Ho-Maguire said GBS was a "silent infection"
The parents of a girl who died from a bacterial infection have called for pregnant women to be tested.
Hollie Maguire died shortly after birth at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast on 25 October 2016.
A post-mortem examination found the cause of her death was congenital pneumonia, due to Group B Streptococcus (also known as GBS).
On Tuesday, a coroner found errors in the system that treated Hollie, but that they did not cause her death.
GBS is a bacteria which can cause serious illness or death in newborns.
There is a test for GBS, but it is not routinely available on the NHS.
Screening trial
Each year in the UK there are between 400 to 500 babies born with the infection.
Most will fully recover with treatment, but GBS can lead to pneumonia, meningitis and a dangerous blood infection called sepsis.
Last month, it was announced that screening for the infection is to be offered as part of a trial at 80 hospitals in England, Wales and Scotland.
'Silent infection'
An inquest into Hollie's death has been held in Belfast.
Speaking outside court, Brendan Maguire and Susan Ho-Maguire said they wanted to make other expectant parents aware of the risk posed by GBS.
"The risks are very severe and in the words of the coroner himself, it causes serious, serious infection and death," said Mr Maguire.
"We think that all parents should be given at least the opportunity to have the test done, either with the NHS or privately, or given the information as to how they get that test done and they can assess the risk.
"I don't think it's enough to not tell people about it. It's a silent infection."
'Systems failure'
The coroner, Patrick McGurgan, offered the Maguires his sympathies and said he hoped something could be done about GBS in babies.
He told the court: "This is not the first inquest I have had to deal with involving Group B Strep and unfortunately, it won't be the last."
The inquest heard that during labour staff were monitoring Hollie's heartbeat, but they were not aware of the seriousness of the variations in the readings.
The Belfast Trust has since brought in new training and guidelines to address the issue, but the coroner found that at the time, the lack of training in that area was a systems failure
He added that the midwives all acted appropriately throughout, in the context of the training they had been given.
While he identified errors in some of the systems used in Hollie's treatment, they did not affect the outcome.
He concluded that Hollie's death was caused by congenital pneumonia, due to GBS.
In a statement the Trust said: "Belfast Trust extends our sympathies at this very difficult time to Hollie's parents.
"There has been regional learning from Hollie's case and as a result Northern Ireland has changed its processes in relation to the assessment of baby heart monitoring in labour."
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Broken out by party, the results were about what you’d expect: Nearly all Democrats said they would vote against him, and the majority of Republicans said they would back him. But those numbers show more weakness for Trump than you might at first assume.
In broad strokes, having 57 percent of the country vote against you isn’t necessarily prohibitive, depending on where the votes are distributed. After all, Trump got only 46 percent of the vote when he won last time, thanks to slipping past Hillary Clinton in key states to earn an electoral college victory. Bill Clinton won election in 1992 with only 43 percent of the vote, but of course, that was a function of a strong third-party candidate.
So why are the numbers above bad for Trump? Consider the distribution of support for his candidacy by party in 2016, as determined by exit polls.
Notice first that the Republican and Democratic bars showing support for Clinton and Trump respectively are about the same height, unlike in the first chart above. That’s not really that big a surprise, as shown in the chart below, comparing 2016 results to the Marist poll.
Across the board, Trump has a lower percentage of people saying they’ll definitely vote for him than he got in 2016. Part of that may be a general drop in support for Trump — but part of it, too, is that in the Marist poll we’re comparing Trump to an unknown Democratic candidate. It’s understandable that there would be some uncertainty about making that choice.
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What’s much more important is the discrepancy marked with the outlined box above. Trump got 46 percent of the independent vote in 2016 to Clinton’s 42 percent. Now, 62 percent of independents already say that they won’t vote for him.
Trump’s win among independents (and overall) was in part a function of a kind of unpopularity he shared with Clinton. Trump was the preferred candidate among voters who disliked both major-party candidates, many of whom were independents. In 2020, he may get an opponent who ends up as unpopular as he is, but even if he does, it seems less likely that he’ll get the benefit of the doubt from people skeptical about both of them.
So now we come to the coup de grace. Among Trump supporters, only about three-quarters say they will definitely vote for him. Nearly 20 percent of his supporters say they’re unsure whether they’ll back him, about the same as the percentage of Republicans who say that.
This is amazing in part because of how steadfastly Trump has sought to appease his base. He’s put a direct and obvious focus on policy issues important to his base, including the current fight over funding for a wall on the border with Mexico. And yet a quarter of his supporters are still wavering.
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It’s January 2019, more than 22 months before the election. We have no idea who Trump will be running against; we have no idea what might happen in the interim. This poll was conducted at a time when Trump’s support is slipping in part because of his handling of the fight over the wall. (A fifth of Trump supporters, for example, say they think Trump should do more to compromise with Democrats on that issue.)
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"We have been cooperating with the U.K. government not only in law enforcement kind of matters but on some of the attacks," Cook said during a Bloomberg Television interview on Monday. "I cannot speak on detail on that. But in cases when we have information and they have gone through the lawful process we don't just give it but we do it very promptly." Click to expand...
Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed on Monday that the company has been helping the U.K. government investigate terror attacks in the country, despite being criticized by officials for its steadfast support of digital services that use end-to-end encryption.Cook went on to suggest that rather than breaking encryption and risking the security of millions of users' private data, technology companies could provide police with metadata - revealing when, where, and who sent and received messages, but not their content - which could be extremely helpful in criminal investigations. "Metadata, if you're putting together a profile, is very important," said Cook.The comments follow a third attack in as many months in the U.K., which has reignited the debate surrounding online surveillance in the country. The current Conservative government is demanding new powers that would force technology companies to compromise encryption protocols.In the wake of Saturday's terrorist attack at London Bridge, Prime Minister Theresa May again called for new laws to regulate the internet, demanding that internet companies do more to remove places online where terrorists can communicate. "We cannot allow this ideology the safe space it needs to breed," she said. "Yet that is precisely what the internet and the big companies that provide internet-based services provide."Recently the U.K. government passed a bill that could theoretically mean companies are legally bound to do comply with such requests, although the practicalities of such a law have been repeatedly questioned by security experts. Apple's privacy and encryption policy has also been criticized by U.S. law enforcement officials and the company publicly clashed last year in court with the FBI over the issue.Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.Article Link: Apple Helped U.K. Investigate Terrorist Attacks, Says CEO Tim Cook
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As I write this, MPs are arguing about whether a general election should be on 9 December or 12 December. One argued it must be the 9th because other-wise an election might get in the way of vital rehearsals for school nativity plays. I have long been of the opinion that our politicians are mentally ill and most stuff that happens these days seems to confirm it. The more salient reason for the opposition wanting the earlier date is that universities may have broken up by the 12th and the Lib Dems and Labour will therefore risk losing a tidal wave of support from voters who are pig ignorant, pay no taxes and who, when delighted by something, do not clap their hands but wave them in the air like Al Jolson singing ‘Mammy’.
If you have a student son or daughter who’s thinking of voting, shove some high grade skunk under their bedroom door the day before the poll. You can lace the skunk with horse tranquilisers if you wish — do anything, just stop them voting. Pay them not to vote, or organise a rave with bangin’ choons for polling day. It is your duty — and the kids will thank you for it in about ten years’ time, when a semblance of sentience has established itself inside their heads.
It was principally the student vote that won Canterbury for the sobbing and oppressed Rosie ‘#MeToo’ Duffield. Please don’t let that happen again. My own choice of election date would be a day when universities are closed and Muslims are forbidden to do anything on pain of hell, or something. There must be at least one day like that in the Muslim calendar, surely? That would deliver at least 40 seats to the Tories, I reckon.
The better news this week is that the hilarious People’s Vote has imploded, a consequence of the overweening hubris of one man. Roland Rudd is a public-school-educated and very well-heeled PR monkey who was one of the, uh, masterminds behind the Remain campaign. He now claims to be chairman of the People’s Vote campaign for a second — or confirmatory, if you will — referendum, although this is disputed. Whatever the facts, he has executed a purge of the predominantly Blairite big guns who either work for the organisation or sit on its board, in a manner of which Stalin might have approved. So campaign director James McGrory and communications chief Tom ‘I get no kick from champagne’ Baldwin were summarily fired, leading to almost the entire staff walking out in sympathy and going down to the pub for a bit.
Not just that, though. Rudd has also put down a resolution which would remove the reliably useless Will Straw, Lord Mandelson and Joe Carberry from the People’s Vote board. The only Blairite not to be ousted was the commendable Trevor Phillips who responded with outrage, asking why he hadn’t been sacked too. ‘Is it because I is black?’ he questioned, with a degree of irony, and demanded that his objection to being kept on be officially minuted.
Quite what Trevor is still doing there with those revanchist and singularly undemocratic clowns escapes me: I have long suspected that, being a sensible bloke, his heart isn’t quite in it. But he intends to remain a part of the People’s Vote for now. ‘I’m going to stick with it until I am considered important enough to sack,’ he told me, giggling a little.
In the place of this lot come people described by another insider as ‘Roland Rudd’s fucking glove puppets’: basically nice people who have never dirtied their hands in the political fray and are unused to hearing views that differ from their own — an important point to which I will return. In the meantime the People’s Vote is in chaos. Matt Kelly, publisher of the hugely successful pro-EU newspaper the New European, responded by asking what I assume was a rhetorical question: ‘Who gives a toss what Roland Rudd thinks of anything? But this week of all weeks he’s somehow contrived to make the campaign for a People’s Vote look like a half-arsed shambles. Great timing, pillock.’
I never quite bought the notion that Brexit has divided the country down the middle. It seems to me that while the vast majority of those who voted Remain were saddened or even distraught about the vote, they still respected that democratic decision. The polls tend to bear this out. The split is between Leavers and disappointed Remainers on one side — maybe five-sixths of the country — and the liberal establishment and People’s Vote legion on the other.
But I may have to reassess even that opinion. Phillips and Kelly, both staunch Remainers, nonetheless understand why people voted to leave the EU and might even have a degree of agreement with some of the reasons they did so. They do not see Leavers as an uneducated morass of racists and low achievers — even if they go along with the patently undemocratic idea that we should hold the vote again and this time get it right. Even within that thinnish band of liberals who continue to rail against Brexit, then, there is a divide: between those who simply cannot comprehend why anybody voted Leave and have probably never met anyone who did — and the others, whose position is more nuanced and amenable and who know that people have to be won over to their cause, bereft though it may be.
Rod Liddle has responded to his critics on the above piece here
I never quite bought the notion that Brexit has divided the country down the middle
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Five arrested in Houston fast food wages protest
People protest the wages at fast food restaurants on August 15, 2014 at the corner of Richmond and Fountainview where are McDonalds and a Burger King are located in Houston, TX. Four people were arrested when they laid down in the street at the corner of Richmond and Fountainview. less People protest the wages at fast food restaurants on August 15, 2014 at the corner of Richmond and Fountainview where are McDonalds and a Burger King are located in Houston, TX. Four people were arrested when ... more Photo: Thomas B. Shea, For The Chronicle Photo: Thomas B. Shea, For The Chronicle Image 1 of / 71 Caption Close Five arrested in Houston fast food wages protest 1 / 71 Back to Gallery
Five protesters were arrested Thursday afternoon in front of a McDonalds in Southwest Houston as part of a one-day protest in 150 cities to boost the minimum wage of fast food workers to $15 an hour.
In a scene that has become increasingly familiar, Houston police were standing nearly with an armful of handcuffs and as soon as the protesters flooded into the intersection and sat down in the middle of the roadway, the police began making the arrests.
The intersection of Richmond and Fountainview was cleared in less than 10 minutes.
The five protesters who were arrested will be charged with blocking traffic, a Class B misdemeanor, according to several police officers on site. The penalty for a Class B misdemeanor is up to 180 days in jail, a fine up to $2,000 or both.
The national campaign, which is known as "Fight for 15," is led by the Service Employees International Union. The union blocked traffic several times during its Justice for Janitors campaign in Houston.
The campaign annouced its plans in advance for civil disobedience in Houston, according to a press release distributed to Houston media. On Thursday morning, police arrested protesters in Detroit and New York for blocking traffic.
In Houston, the 45-minute rally attracted about 100 protesters at noon.
It was the group's second protest of the day. In the pre-dawn hours on Thursday, about 40 protesters gathered in a parking lot and marched to a Jack in the Box restaurant in southwest Houston.
The workers said they cannot survive on wages of about $8 an hour that many of them earn. Beatrice Saldana said she's worked in the industry for 28 years to raise her four children, who are now grown.
She said her low wages have made it difficult throughout her life. She hopes to help other people in the fast-food industry have something better.
"I'm fighting to get $15 an hour for the families," Saldana said, adding that she would do whatever is necessary to increase wages, including getting arrested for civil disobedience.
The restaurant kept its drive-through window open, but a deputy on the scene refused to open the doors.
Carlton Warren, 24, said he's a single dad of a small boy and has a hard time making ends meet. He said he came out today to help other workers who don't make enough money to get by.
"If I can't make it with one child, how can others with more kids make it?" he said.
Rev. Ronnie Lister, of the Center of Hope and Empowerment, said he was at the rally to help call attention to the plight of fast-food workers.
Lister said he knows first-hand what it's like to earn low wages. As a student, he worked at a fast-food restaurant. Once, he said, high schoolers and college students primarily worked fast-food jobs. Now, he added, single parents and other adults are taking the positions but can't earn a fair wage to raise their families.
"We have a critical issue of financial injusitce," Lister said. "We're gathered here today to ensure we're being heard."
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Sebastopol Councilman Michael Kyes dies at 65
Sebastopol Councilman Michael Kyes died early Sunday after collapsing at home the evening before.
Kyes, 65, suffered an aortic aneurysm in 2011, and died of similar causes, said his wife, Una Glass, who was traveling north from Los Angeles on Sunday.
Kyes, who was elected to the council in 2010, was discovered at about 6:30 p.m. Saturday by a friend who was staying at the couple's home.
"He'd been out kind of puttering in the garden, and he came in the house and fell down," she said. The 25-year Sebastopol resident died at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital about 5 a.m. Sunday.
Saturday was the couple's 34th wedding anniversary. They had celebrated early because Glass had to go to Los Angeles on business for Coastwalk California, a conservation group that she heads.
Sebastopol city staff and council members were with her husband at the hospital, Glass said. "That means a lot to me," she said
Kyes cut his political teeth walking precincts for the longtime Oakland-area politician Ron Dellums. He was a retired energy efficiency consultant whose house is entirely solar-powered (but for the gas stove). He co-wrote the ordinance that requires solar power on all new housing and commercial construction in Sebastopol. He also was on the board of directors of Sonoma Clean Power.
"He was dedicated to supporting and growing local solar power," said Cotati Councilman Mark Landman, vice chairman of the agency's board. "He just constantly worked to remind us, to push us toward that," Landman said. "He was truly the voice at Sonoma Clean Power for local, distributed solar power."
Kyes' tenure on the council included some furious political battles over PG&E Smart Meters (he supported efforts to restrict them), fluoridation of the water supply (he was against it), and a proposal for a downtown CVS store, which he opposed.
"Michael was a very cerebral, intelligent individual," said Guy Wilson, a former mayor who was on the other side of the CVS debate. "He was able sometimes to call to the attention of others matters that maybe they had overlooked. He put the time in and was very much the public servant." Kyes was the city's mayor from 2012 to 2013.
"He thought that if people were citizens they should participate," Glass said. "He also liked solving puzzles, figuring things out, and he thought that some of his skills could be used for the benefit of the community."
Services are pending.
You can reach Staff Writer Jeremy Hay at 521-5212 or jeremy.hay@pressdemocrat.com.
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Foxygen have announced their latest LP, the follow-up to 2013's excellent We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic. It's titled ...And Star Power, and arrives October 14 via Jagjaguwar. It consists of 24 tracks.
A promotional image released by the band, pictured above, describes the album as a "svelte 82-minute run time of psych-ward folk, cartoon fantasia, soft-rock indulgences, D&D doomrock and paranoid bathroom rompers" and "a cinematic auditory adventure for speedy freaks, skull krunchers, abductees and misfits". "A gaggle of guest stars" are promised.
Foxygen have also shared the video for "How Can You Really", the album's first single. Directed by Grant Singer, it features Sam France wreaking joyful havoc on an office while wearing a sequined crop top.
Additionally, they've announced fall North American and European tours, following their current dates. Below, check out the video and the tracklist for the forthcoming LP, as well as a full list of dates.
It seems Foxygen have put all of the drama from last year behind them.
Read our 2013 interview with Foxygen here.
...And Star Power:
01 Star Power Airlines
02 How Can You Really
03 Coulda Been My Love
04 Cosmic Vibrations
05 You & I
06 Star Power I: Overture
07 Star Power II: Star Power Nite
08 Star Power III: What Are We Good For
09 Star Power IV: Ooh Ooh
10 I Don't Have Anything/The Gate
11. Mattress Warehouse
12 666
13 Flowers
14 Wally’s Farm
15 Cannibal Holocaust
16 Hot Summer
17 Cold Winter/Freedom
18 Can’t Contextualize My Mind
19 Brooklyn Police Station
20 The Game
21 Freedom II
22 Talk
23 Everyone Needs Love
24 Hang
Foxygen:
07-31 Seattle, WA - Neumos *^
08-01-03 Happy Valley, OR - Pickathon
08-04 Petaluma, CA - Lagunitas Brewing Company ^
08-06 Big Sur, CA - Woodsist Festival
08-07 Sonoma, CA - Gundlach Bundschu Winery ^
08-08 Visalia, CA - Cellar Door #
08-12 Las Vegas, NV - Brooklyn Bowl
08-13 Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up Tavern $
08-14 Los Angeles, CA - The Fonda Theatre $#
08-15 Santa Ana, CA - The Observatory $
08-16 Pioneertown, CA - Woodsist Festival at Pappy & Harriet's *
09-24 Phoenix, AZ - Crescent Ballroom #
09-25 Santa Fe, NM - Skylight #
09-27 Dallas, TX - INDEX Festival
09-28 Houston, TX - Fitzgerald’s Upstairs #
09-29 New Orleans, LA - One Eyed Jacks #
10-01 Atlanta, GA - The Loft #
10-02 Nashville, TN - Exit/IN #
10-03 Asheville, NC - The Orange Peel #
10-04 Charlottesville, VA - Jefferson Theater #
10-05 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club #
10-08 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg #
10-09 New York, NY - Webster Hall
10-10 Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer #
10-11 Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club #
10-12 Montreal, Quebec - Le National #%
10-14 Toronto, Ontario - The Mod Club #
10-15 Pontiac, MI - Crofoot Ballroom #
10-16 Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall #
10-17 Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall #
10-18 Minneapolis, MN - Fine Line Music Café #
10-20 Denver, CO - Bluebird Theater #
10-21 Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge #
10-29 Brighton, England - Komedia
10-30 Manchester, England - Ruby Lounge
10-31 London, England - Village Underground
11-01 Paris, France - Pitchfork Music Festival Paris
11-03 Brussels, Belgium - Botanique
11-04 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Tolhuistuin
11-05 Berlin, Germany - Frannz
11-06 Copenhagen, Denmark - Pumpehuset
11-09 Austin, TX - Fun Fun Fun Fest
with Woods
^ with Steve Gunn
with Dub Thompson
$ with Gary Wilson
% with Heat
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先週入荷した際に「約50台がすぐに売り切れてしまった」(イオシス)という大型スマホ「ZenFone 3 Ultra(ZU680KL)」の特価品が、イオシス各店に再入荷しています。
入荷したのは海外向けのSIMロックフリーモデルで、本体の状態は未使用。イオシス アキバ中央通店によると「今回は100台以上入荷している」とか。
端末の主な仕様はディスプレイサイズが6.8インチ(解像度1,920×1,080ドット)、搭載CPUがオクタコアのSnapdragon 652、メモリ4GB、ストレージ64GB、OSがAndroid 6.0。本体サイズは186.4×93.9×6.8㎜、重量は233g。DSDS(デュアルSIM/デュアルスタンバイ)対応で、同店によると対応ネットワークはLTEがバンド1/3/5/7/8/18/19/20/26/28/38/40/41。なお、国内での利用の可否は不明。
イオシスではこのほか、8コアCPU(MediaTek Helio X10)や3GBメモリを搭載した「Xperia M5(E5603)」や、4コアCPU(Snapdragon 801)や3GBメモリを搭載した「Xperia Z2a(D6563)」の未使用品もそれぞれ販売中。いずれも海外向けのSIMロックフリーモデルで、店頭価格は順に税込17,800円、税込12,800円。
興味がある方は店頭で確認してみてください。
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Una proteina, la p140Cap, è in grado di limitare la crescita del tumore mammario e di diminuirne le capacità di dare origine a metastasi. Lo ha scoperto uno studio, pubblicato sulla rivista Nature, del Dipartimento di Biotecnologie Molecolari e Scienze della Salute dell'Università di Torino, in collaborazione con la Città della Salute di Torino. Lo studio, coordinato dalla dottoressa Paola Defilippi, identifica il meccanismo con cui la proteina si oppone alla progressione del tumore mammario.
Il tumore mammario colpisce una donna su sette e solo in Italia riguarda ad oggi circa mezzo milione di pazienti. Uno dei sottotipi di tumore mammario, circa il 20% dei casi, è caratterizzato - spiega lo studio pubblicato su Nature - da una eccessiva quantità della proteina ERBB2, anche noto come HER2, causata dall'aumento del numero di copie del gene che la codifica sul cromosoma 17. ERBB2 causa il tumore perché aumenta la proliferazione cellulare in modo non controllato, sostiene la sopravvivenza delle cellule tumorali e favorisce la loro capacità di uscire dal tumore primario, dando origine alle metastasi in altri organi. Per questi motivi è definita "oncogene".
Lo studio ha individuato e caratterizzato un meccanismo di protezione dagli effetti dannosi dell'oncogene ERBB2. Questo effetto protettivo conferisce alle pazienti una maggiore sopravvivenza ed un minor rischio di metastasi ed è dovuto appunto alla presenza della proteina p140Cap. I risultati indicano che questa proteina è espressa in circa il 50% delle pazienti di tumore ERBB2, individuando un nuovo marcatore predittivo in questa patologia
Inoltre, sperimentalmente con modelli cellulari, sono stati dimostrati alcuni dei meccanismi attraverso cui p140Cap è in grado di limitare la crescita del tumore ERBB2 e di diminuirne le capacità di dare origine a metastasi. Questi dati servono come base di partenza per la messa a punto di nuove terapie per le pazienti che non esprimono la proteina p140Cap e sono soggette a tumori più aggressivi.
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旅客機の化粧室では、バキューム式のものが採用されるのが一般的ですが、乗客が用を足したあとの「落とし物」は、超高速で配管を駆け抜け、タンクに収められます。なぜ高速運搬がされ、またどのように行われているのでしょうか。
A380の場合 配管を駆け抜ける速度は約210km/h
2020年2月現在、一般的になっている旅客機の化粧室（ラバトリー）といえば、流す際に「シュゴ」っと大きな音を出し、用を足したあとのいわゆる「落とし物」が吸い込まれるのが特徴の、バキューム式（真空式）のものです。この「落とし物」はどこにいくのでしょうか。
実は現在の旅客機の多くで、機体後部などに「落とし物」を貯めるタンクがあります。旅客が洗浄ボタンを押し、流されたものはそこに貯められ、目的地到着後など地上でラバトリーサービスカーという専用車で回収されます。
このタンクに向かうまでの「落とし物」は、機内の配管を通ってタンクまで至るわけですが、その配管を駆け抜けるスピードは、非常に高速です。
たとえば総2階建てのエアバスA380型機の場合、2007（平成19）年にトイレの試験装置を用いた、内容物のタンクに収められる様子が報道陣に公開されていますが、このときの内容物の速度は、F1カーにも匹敵するおよそ時速130マイル（約210km/h）とされています。
現行の旅客機の多くでは、先述のとおり機体後部にタンクを備え、そして化粧室は機体前方にも見られます。先出のエアバスA380型機は、全長約73mと非常に大きな胴体を持っており、最前部のトイレから最後部のタンクまでの距離も、相応の長さになります。F1カーにも匹敵するスピードを出せるほどの吸引力がなければ、タンクに「落とし物」を収めることができないのです。
ではこの高速運搬、どのように行われているのでしょうか。
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The Los Angeles Lakers shocked the NBA world by signing Dwight Howard, who is going to follow that up by shocking the NBA world with his play in 2019.
As the old saying goes, beggars cannot be choosers. The Los Angeles Lakers became beggars for the center position after DeMarcus Cousins tore his ACL during a Las Vegas workout. With not much available, the team could not be picky and brought back someone who no fan ever expected to see in purple and gold again.
Dwight Howard signed a one-year, non-guaranteed contract with the Lakers, ensuring him that he would not disrupt the team and could be a reliable player. While it was shocking, Howard was the best available option at the time, so you cannot fault the Lakers for taking a chance.
Fans seemed to be against Howard returning initially but because of the situation that the team is, most fans have cautiously welcomed Howard back with open arms, ready to once again turn on the big-man if his second tenure in LA is like his first.
However, while he is not as talented as he was during that first LA tenure, this second tenure is actually going to turn out better for both Howard and the Lakers. He might not be the Dwight Howard of old, but there are signs that he is going to have a very productive season.
Don’t believe us? Well, great. Here are the three reasons why Dwight Howard is going to have a great season in 2019.
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‘The Movement for Transgender Rights,’ is being kicked off by the Gender Interactive Alliance (GIA) today with a meeting between its members and officials of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. Around 500 transgender persons are expected to take part in the campaign.“This campaign is being launched to demand an end to the discrimination towards the transgender community,” explained the organisation’s vice-president, Mazhar Anjum.Over the next few days, the movement, which will run until April, will see demonstrations in Hyderabad, Sukkur, Khairpur while the participants will also hold talks with various stakeholders. Later, the movement plans to go nationwide with press conferences in Lahore and Islamabad.Activists explained that the need for such a movement was felt when, recently, a transgender activist was forced to leave her home in Karachi, following death threats. Moreover, a programme recently aired on a news channel prompted the police to conduct raids at their homes, with the officials accusing them of indulging in immoral acts and spreading AIDS.Anjum said that, through this campaign, they wish to demand the government to give them jobs and treat them equally as other citizens. “The two per cent job quota system is nowhere in sight. Community centres have been built for us, but we are not allowed to use them.”The eunuchs complained that they were not given jobs in government offices, while private organisations, such as banks, did not even allow them to open accounts.A social activist, Rana Asif, who is also the GIA’s general secretary, said that they wanted to make the country a transgender-friendly one. He revealed that they had already sent their proposals to the Karachi Commissioner and would be holding meetings with the police and government officials regarding the issues faced by the transgender community.“The media trial against us is a violation of article 10-A of the Constitution, while the breach of the privacy of our homes is against Article 14 of the same,” he said.
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GEELONG’S hope for a home final at Simonds Stadium is over, with the Cats’ semi-final scheduled at the MCG.
The Cats — who went down to Richmond by 51 points — will host the winner of Saturday’s clash between Sydney and Essendon at the MCG next Friday night.
With preliminary finals locked in in Adelaide and the MCG, the dream of hosting a final at the redeveloped ground has been quashed for at least another year.
TIGER ARMY: MELBOURNE PAINTED BLACK AND YELLOW AFTER WIN
BEST OR BUST: RICHMOND v GEELONG PLAYER RATINGS
POST-MATCH: WILL GEELONG TURN BACK TO MENZEL?
Since 2007, Geelong has played finals in all bar one season, 2015.
Throughout the decade, the Cats have played every Victorian final at the MCG — except the qualifying final in 2013 at Simonds Stadium which they lost to Fremantle.
Geelong has never beaten Sydney at the MCG.
Geelong midfielder Scott Selwood said on Saturday that while the Cats “actually love playing there”, Richmond’s knowledge of the ground paid off.
“We actually love playing there, but Richmond play it a lot better than what we do and know the ground a lot better than what we do, like when others come to Simonds Stadium,” he said on SEN.
“We did have to alter stuff (in our game) — we believed we had the right structures and systems in place to do that, and unfortunately we just couldn’t get it done.”
media_camera Is this why Geelong fans weren’t happy last night? Picture: Mark Stewart
He said the width of the ground is what causes the biggest changes to game style as Geelong attempts to counter the vast expanses of the MCG.
“You’re constantly looking to try and squeeze the ground and make it as short as possible so you can attack back so you can defend it and attack back when you’re trying to win,” he said.
“Richmond play it a lot better and knew it a lot better than we did.”
media_camera Friday night wasn’t the result Patrick Dangerfield was looking for in his 200th game. Picture: Getty Images
Geelong captain and Scott’s brother Joel Selwood said the Cats won’t wallow in self pity after their 51-point qualifying final capitulation on Friday night.
Selwood fronted the media out front of Simonds Stadium on Saturday morning, admitting there was plenty of soul searching to do.
“It’s obviously a hard night’s sleep,” he said.
“We will pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off. We’ve got to move forward now, watch today’s game and see who we come up against.
The Grand Final isn't at Simonds Stadium so Geelong should be happy to get more games at the MCG — Mark Graham (@marksgraham18) September 8, 2017
Bulldogs had to host Adelaide at the MCG in 2015 final. Their TRUE home ground holds a lot more than Simonds Stadium.... — Aaron Staines (@tweet_azz_bro) September 8, 2017
Got a new TV yesterday, Simonds stadium looked oddly different tonight ??? #AFLCatsTigers — 587123 (@ClancyWiggum4) September 8, 2017
Geez, the Tigers crowd at Simonds Stadium is loud tonight 😂😂 #AFLCatsTigers #homeground — Scott Harris 🔵🔴🌕 (@realscottharris) September 8, 2017
Did the Cats fans end up at Simonds Stadium.... Where are they? #AFLCatsTigers #AFLFinals — Anthony Alesiani (@anthonyalesiani) September 8, 2017
@triplemfooty just pulled into Simonds Stadium for the big game. Can't wait. Quiet though. It is a Cats home game isn't it? #2ndor3rd — Walshy (@13walshy) September 8, 2017
“(It was a) tough night for us. I mean we didn’t play our best footy, we stayed in the contest for a while, we ended up trying to win the game but the dam wall broke.”
Social media went into overdrive during Friday night’s qualifying final between the Cats and Tigers, with many joking that “Simonds Stadium looks different on television” and that the Geelong fans had been significantly outnumbered — and booed — by a huge contingent of Richmond fans at what was a Cats home game.
Geelong coach Chris Scott said the Cats will endeavour to make the most of their second chance.
media_camera The dejected Cats leave the MCG after falling 51 points short of Richmond. Picture: AAP
“When you go into that side of the draw, you can make an argument that Adelaide and Sydney have been the best two teams for a lot of the year,” he said.
“But we worked really hard to get ourselves into this position where we could have another crack at it.
“We have no choice but to be optimistic about what we can do.”
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That Óglaigh na hÉireann continues to deliver on its roles and responsibilities as laid down in the White Paper on Defence in a professional and dedicated manner is tribute to the men and women in our ranks.
We do it in spite of reduced strength and less favourable conditions of service in comparison to the rest of the public sector. Regrettably, some cracks are beginning to appear, manifested in the tying up of two of our Naval vessels as a result of crew shortages, and the reduction in the vital emergency aeromedical service due to a lack of pilots.
There are so many simple measures that can be taken to reinforce the Defence Forces as an employer of choice and an attractive career
Many of our other bespoke services such as explosive ordnance disposal and certain armed guard services are only being maintained through the goodwill of our people, and in flagrant breach of EU working time directive health and safety legislation.
The Defence Forces has been the lowest paid public sector organisation for many years, while remaining, ironically the most trusted. What keeps us at the top of this “trust tree”? Our unwavering commitment to the State and its citizens, our unique ethos and values system, and our refusal to take industrial action must have something to do with it.
"There is now a general acceptance and awareness across Irish society that Defence Forces personnel are underappreciated and undervalued." File photograph: Alan Betson
However, there is a real concern that the retention crisis in the Defence Forces is chipping away at our values. Certainly, the recent narrative in the media has had both a positive and somewhat negative effect on the institution and those who serve. There is now a general acceptance and awareness across Irish society that Defence Forces personnel are underappreciated and undervalued. Unfortunately, the many exciting, rewarding and fulfilling aspects of a career in Óglaigh na hÉireann can get drowned out by the often-public exposure of the failure to ensure the most basic conditions of service necessary to retain our talent.
There are so many simple measures that can be taken to reinforce the Defence Forces as an employer of choice and an attractive career. A first step towards safeguarding the interests of our members would be the conclusion, without further delay, of the saga that is the review of the Defence Forces Conciliation and Arbitration (C&A) Scheme. The reason for the delay in appointing the promised independent chair is a mystery, and does not inspire confidence, over a year after the publication of the C&A review.
Although some might describe the focus on turnover rates as “unhealthy”, what they surely mean is “uncomfortable”. The fact remains that the turnover rate remains unsustainably high, and our strength continues to drop. What is “unhealthy” is the continued prioritisation of recruitment over retention, which has not served us well. It has been clearly demonstrated that at the current, persistent cycle we are never getting back to our required strength of 9,500 personnel without immediate, tangible retention initiatives.
The acceptance by the representative associations of the initial long-awaited recommendations of the Public Service Pay Commission was a first step towards solving the crisis in the Defence Forces. It was the pragmatic, responsible thing to do, and paves the way for further improvements through the Government’s High Level Implementation Plan, “Strengthening our Defence Forces”.
The Department of the Taoiseach has assumed control and oversight over this plan to save the Defence Forces, and repeated commitments have been made that it will be adhered to. Some of the projects contained in the plan are significantly behind schedule, and much work will have to be done to ensure that the efforts made to date by management and the representative associations in making the case for improved conditions of service are not squandered. The timelines are clear, as are the potential benefits.
There is a greater awareness than ever among both our parliamentarians and fellow citizens of the dedication and also the needless hardship being endured by our people
The clear intent of departmental colleagues to fold most reviews and finished product into negotiations at the next public sector pay talks, whenever they may occur may not serve the Defence Forces well. The Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (RACO) has made fully costed, feasible and impactful submissions to the management side and hopes that they will take on board and propose these submissions for Government implementation without undue delay.
As we have consistently stated, the success or failure of the Government plan will be reflected in the strength of the Defence Forces month by month. Regrettably, the organisation is on track to reduce in strength by a further 200 personnel in 2019, despite the recruitment drive. With 650 personnel in full-time induction training, the real deployable strength of the Defence Forces is closer to 8,000. It is little wonder that our members are under pressure.
"Let’s hope that 2020 is the year that Government finally addresses the retention crisis in our ranks, and really strengthens our Defence Forces." File photograph: Matt Kavanagh
There is a genuine feeling within the membership that we have reached a “point of truth” regarding the Defence Forces, and that there is a greater awareness than ever among both our parliamentarians and fellow citizens of the dedication and also the needless hardship being endured by our people.
I firmly believe that we have the solutions within our grasp to solve the retention crisis and restore this proud organisation to full health, but only if the political will exists for the plan to deliver on its ambitions. If it is rolled into pay talks then there is a fear, based on bitter experience, that the Defence Forces will be once more at the back of the queue. The clamour for a separate model of pay determination and a commission on the future of Defence will then inevitably grow ever greater. Let’s hope that 2020 is the year that Government finally addresses the retention crisis in our ranks, and really strengthens our Defence Forces.
Comdt Conor King is General Secretary of RACO
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Jakarta cuts online access to Papua ‘and surrounding areas’ until the atmosphere ‘returns to being conducive and normal’
This article is more than 1 year old
This article is more than 1 year old
Indonesia has deployed more than 1,000 security personnel to West Papua and cut internet access, amid days of violent demonstrations in what activists say are the largest protests to occur in the region in years.
Protests continued on Thursday including in the capital Jakarta, where demonstrators flew the banned Morning Star flag in front of the state palace. Scores have been arrested for raising the symbolic flag of independence in the past, with one activist, Filep Karma, spending more than ten years in prison for the offense before he was released in 2015.
On Wednesday, violent unrest occurred in Fakfak, where a market was set ablaze and street battles erupted between police and protesters.
Waving the Morning Star flag, protesters chanted “we are not red and white”, in reference to the colours of the Indonesian flag.
Police fired tear gas after the crowds set fire to a market and destroyed ATMs and shops, local media reported. The crowd dispersed when riot police fired warning shots. Indonesian media reported police arrested 45 people, including some they accused of masterminding the protests and damaging buildings.
Why are there violent clashes in Papua and West Papua? Read more
It followed days of large and violent protests across multiple cities in the region, which is divided into the provinces of Papua and West Papua.
The groundswell of anger that has fuelled the demonstrators was sparked by an incident in the Javanese city of Surabaya on the weekend, where nationalist groups goaded Papuan students with racist taunts, calling them “monkeys”, “pigs” and “dogs”.
The exiled West Papuan leader, Benny Wenda, said the subsequent arrests of the Papuan students in Surabaya had “lit the bonfire of nearly 60 years of racism, discrimination and torture of the people of West Papua by Indonesia”.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Indonesian soldiers stand guard during a protest in Timika, on 21 August. Photograph: Jimmy Rahadat/AP
Angered by the racist slurs, Papuans began taking to the streets on Monday, first in Jayapura, from where violent protests have since spread to Manokwari, Fakfak, Timika and, on Thursday morning, Nabire, where demonstrators held signs with messages such as: “Papua merdeka, itu yang monyet inginkan,” or “Free Papua, this is what the monkeys want.”
As an additional 1,000 military and police troops were sent in, Indonesia’s communications ministry announced on Wednesday that internet access would be temporarily blocked in Papua and its “surrounding areas” to “accelerate the process of restoring security”.
It followed days of an internet slowdown, and will last “until the atmosphere of Papua returns to being conducive and normal”, the ministry said.
Also on Wednesday, 5,000 people rallied in and around the city of Timika, the closest town to the massive Freeport gold and copper mine, where demonstrators reportedly threw rocks at the local parliament building and tried to tear down its fence.
Hundreds also marched through the streets of Sorong city, where protesters destroyed parts of an airport and about 250 inmates escaped in a prison break on Monday, according to West Papua’s police chief, Herry Rudolf Nahak.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A building was set on fire by rioting in Sorong. Photograph: Hasyim Kelirey/AFP/Getty Images
Indonesia’s chief security minister, Wiranto, who goes by one name, headed to Papua late on Wednesday in a bid to quell tensions, while President Joko Widodo was scheduled to visit next week.
Activists criticised the internet blackout, saying it would make it difficult to verify facts and ensure people’s safety, in an area where access by foreign journalists is already restricted. For days, photos and videos posted on social media have provided a rare glimpse at the extent of the unrest.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Thousands of people march on the street during a protest in Jayapura on 19 August. Photograph: FRANS/EPA
Jakarta has called for calm in its easternmost territory, where an insurgency against Indonesian rule has simmered for decades.
The protests have exposed simmering faultlines, with independence leader Wenda saying Papuans felt like second-class citizens in Indonesia.
“I myself was spat at by an Indonesian schoolgirl at high school, just because of the colour of my skin. Every Papuan has a similar story to tell. Events like these show why we have been struggling for a referendum on independence for so many decades,” Wenda said.
While the exiled leader welcomed efforts to ease tensions, conciliatory statements from Indonesia’s president would not be enough: “Papuans will not stop fighting until we achieve equality, self-determination and a referendum on independence.”
In a recent interview, Wenda told Guardian Australia the oppression of the West Papuan people, including through arbitrary arrests and military operations, and through its transmigrasi policy – migrating other non-Papuan Indonesians to the province to alter its ethnic make-up, and make Papuan people the minority – amounted to a “slow-motion genocide” of the Papuan people.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Indonesian soldiers arrive in West Papua following protests that were triggered following the arrest of Papuan students in the Indonesian city of Surabaya. Photograph: Antara Foto/Reuters
“Everything we fight is for our political independence, and our sovereignty, and also we want to run our own affairs. That is what we are fighting for, and for peace, no more killing, no more rape, we want to live peacefully with our neighbouring countries like Australia, like PNG and Indonesia.”
Papua is a former Dutch colony in the western part of New Guinea that is ethnically and culturally distinct from much of Indonesia. It was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 after a UN-sponsored ballot that was seen as a sham by many.
Since then, a low-level insurgency has plagued the mineral-rich region. In recent years, some Papuan students, including some who study in other provinces, have become vocal in calling for self-determination for their region.
Police chief Herry Rudolf Nahak said authorities had the situation under control after more than a thousand additional police and soldiers were deployed from other cities, including from Jakarta, Bali and Makassar.
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かつて、“The Elder Scrolls: Arena”と“The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall”のデザイナー兼プロデューサーを務めたTed Peterson氏、そしてArenaとDaggerfall、Battlespireのディレクターを務め“The Elder Scrollsの父”として知られるJulian LeFay氏、Arenaの製作総指揮兼プロデューサー兼ディレクターとして活躍し、その後VivendiやTurbineの要職を務めたVijay Lakshman氏を含むベテランが新スタジオ「OnceLost Games」を設立し、大規模なオープンワールドファンタジーRPGの開発を進めていることが明らかになりました。
今のところ、この新作に関する詳細は不明ですが、“OnceLost Games”によると、オールドスクールなゲームに忠実でありながら、革新的な技術とゲームデザインを備えた作品になるとのこと。
また、スタジオにはビデオゲーム関連のドキュメンタリーや分析、ポストモーテムを専門に手掛けるIndigo GamingのIan Phoenix氏が所属しており、年内に何らかの発表が行われる予定となっています。
The word is getting out. OnceLost Games is a new studio formed of The Elder Scrolls creators https://t.co/OtDvJTAkXx via @VideoGamerCom — Ted Peterson (@CharlesPeterson) September 17, 2019
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Most corporations subscribe and work through computer networks in order for their day-to-day operations to be accomplished. It is also a fact that the internet is widely patronized for research and even communications.
However, the internet is not a secure environment and is always susceptible to viruses and hackers. While firewalls are an option for protection, the downside to setting one up is that the freedom to “get” essential pieces of data is compromised. Thus, Virtual Private Networks (VPN) come into the picture.
VPNs are systems that certify that only authenticated and properly configured devices are able to access secured data on the company’s network. With the many types of VPNs that operate within the cloud, how does one know what the right virtual private network to choose?
Network-to-Network
The most common and oldest VPN is the network-to-network type. It creates a secure connection between two networks, ensuring the security of the data used. Also, it is generally wide open to the Cloud, and enjoys such diverse freedom that is available.
These are usually used for server farms, which are collection of computers and servers maintained to accomplish the workings of a company. Some uses include web-hosting, scientific simulations and generating 3D rendered images.
Cloud mashups are also a service where network-to-network VPNs are used. Mashups are services where several pieces of information from different websites are collated and presented. For instance, a news site is able to get the weather and international events from separate websites.
This VPN also allows a number of systems to be included within it. Due to the size of network-to-network VPNs, the security of its system is questionable. Hackers are able to infiltrate under the radar. They then would have access and use of all the data contained within the system.
Customers generally will not be privy to what networks are included within it. Since, many networks are tethered together using this type of VPN, compromise of one network with weak security, allow hackers to gain access to the other, more important networks and data.
Service-to-Host
A service-to-host VPN, or point-to-point, type is one wherein a single network is connected to a single host for multiple services. As opposed to the previous type, this ensures that the host already has the general software of the client and already takes action when pieces of data are procured and sent.
The con of this VPN type though is how limited its system is to the “cloud” or the net. Therefore, there is clients who subscribe to these types of systems are partial to the data and workings of the company.
This means that data that is sent through the VPN is already encrypted before being sent around. This is also the reason why the network-to-network type is a little unsecure because the host only sends the data, and the company itself takes care of encrypting it. Even though the sending of data in the Cloud is virtually as quick as just clicking a button, many things are still capable of happening, which may bring unneeded risk in to the equation.
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Archbishop Of Canterbury Justin Welby Has Said That God Is “not Male Nor Female,” After Female Bishops Demanded The Church Of England Stop Referring To God Solely As “he.”
The head of the worldwide Anglican communion told attendees at a lecture at St Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square: “All human language about God is inadequate and to some degree metaphorical.
“God is not a father in exactly the same way as a human being is a father. God is not male or female. God is not definable.
“It is extraordinarily important as Christians that we remember that the definitive revelation of who God is was not in words, but in the word of God who we call Jesus Christ. We can’t pin God down.” – READ MORE
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まずはこの動画をご覧ください。
これは熱帯～亜熱帯域に生息するサフィリナという生き物の映像です。美しい青色で光ったかと思えば、一瞬で姿を消したりします。あたかも光学迷彩を身にまとっているかのような、不思議な生物なのです（※ちなみに冒頭画像は光学迷彩のインパクトを我々に植え付けて止まない、『攻殻機動隊』の歴史的オープニングですね！）。
なぜこのような見え方をするのか？については、科学者にとって長年の謎でした。イスラエルのワイツマン研究所・Lia Addadiらによって、この仕組みにせまる研究が昨年のJ. Am. Chem. Soc.誌に報告されましたので、今回はこれについて紹介したいと思います。
“Structural Basis for the Brilliant Colors of the Sapphirinid Copepods”
Gur, D.; Leshem, B.; Pierantoni, M.; Farstey, V.; Oron, D.; Weiner, S.; Addadi, L. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015, 137, 8408. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5b05289
サフィリナについて
カイアシ類のサフィリナ（Sapphirina Copepod）は、熱帯・亜熱帯域の外洋表層（海面～300m水深）に生息する微小甲殻類（大きさはアリ程度）の一種です。“海のサファイア”との異名で呼ばれるのも納得の、美しい外見です。
サフィリナは、雄のみが動画のような光反射・透明化を示すことが知られています。回転しながら泳いできらきら光らせることで、雌にアピールしているんじゃないかと言われています。捕食者から逃れることにも一役買っていることでしょう。
これはサフィリナ自身が気合いで透明に変化しているわけでは無く（笑）、体を傾けたときに光の当たる角度が変わると、反射光の波長が変わるという特異な構造色に起因しています。さらに面白いことにこの色は、生息深度により異なることが知られています(浅水域では黄・橙・赤、深水域では青・紫となる)。
これまでの研究から、サフィリナの構造色には、皮殻内にあるグアニン結晶のハニカム状多層構造とその厚みが重要だろうと考えられてきました[1]。しかし色の違いや、入射角によって反射光の波長が大きく変わる現象については、うまい説明を与えるものとは言えませんでした。
結晶の厚みは重要じゃなかった！
Addadiらはなるべく生きたままに近い状態を観測すべく、独自の冷凍実験手法とCryo-SEM技術を組み合わせてサフィリナ皮殻の観測を行いました。色の異なるサフィリナをそれぞれ観測したところ、以下のことが分かりました。
グアニン結晶層の厚みは、どのサフィリナ種においてもほぼ同じ（約70nm）だった。
各サフィリナ種で異なるのは、グアニン結晶層間に存在する細胞質の厚さ（50～200nm）であった。
「細胞質の厚みが異なる」という新たに得られた知見を加味して、反射光の波長シミュレーションを行ったところ、実測値・観測される構造色と大変良い一致を示すことが分かりました（このような特異な反射スペクトルには、グアニン結晶の複屈折性による反射光の強度減弱なども一役買っているのではとの考察がなされています）。またこの事実をして、実は細胞質をつくる代謝の違いで個別に色が調節されているのではないかとの示唆も得ています。
また、サフィリナ背面から照射角度を変えて反射光のスペクトルを測定したところ、角度の増大に伴ってピーク波長が短波長側にずれていくことも分かりました。あるサフィリナについては、光の入射角が45°になると、反射光の極大波長が紫外領域に到達します。すなわち反射光が目に見えない波長になるため、透明に見えるのです。
この考え方を材料設計に応用することも、当然考えられます。どこまで大きいものを透明にできるのか、いくつかのパタンを組み合わせてカラーバリエーションを増やせないものか・・・などなど、興味は尽きないことでしょう。
一方で、六角形ハニカム構造の必要性と、それがどんな役割を果たしているかについては明言されていません。謎はまだまだ残されているようです。
終わりに
化学・工学は、「現象そのもの」よりも、それを結びつける「変化」とその「制御」にフォーカスした学問であるといえます。
ゆえに、目視で現象として把握しやすく興味を引きやすい「自然界の未知」を解き明かすというアプローチは、化学が扱う研究テーマにしにくい事情があるやも知れません。化学が市井の理解を得づらい背景には、実はそんな本質も寄与しているのではないかと思います。
しかし生命や自然の仕組みに学んだ後に、それを人間にとって役立つものに仕上げていく学際研究領域、すなわちBiomimetics Researchでは、化学・工学からの多大な貢献が望まれています。純粋興味からの入り口であっても、いずれは化学研究に繋がることは十二分にありえます。
このような長期目線からの大発見を戦略的に狙っていくには、基礎研究の灯を絶やさないことが何より重要といえるのではないでしょうか。
いつの日か、化学者の分子設計が生み出す光学迷彩技術の実現を夢見て、筆を置きたいと思います。
関連文献
(a) Chae, J.; Nishida, S. Mar. Biol. 1994, 119, 205. (b) Chae, J.; Nishida, S. Mar. Ecol.: Prog. Ser. 1995, 119, 111. (c) Baar, Y.; Rosen, J.; Shashar, N. PLoS One 2014, 9, e86131. (d) Chae, J.; Nishida, S. J. Mar. Biol. Assoc. U. K. 1999, 79, 437. (e) Johnsen, S. Annu. Rev. Mar. Sci. 2014, 6, 369. Chae, J. H.; Tsukamoto, K.; Nishida, S.; Ohwada, K. J. Crustacean Biol. 1996, 16, 20.
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Viewpoint
Trapped Ions Test Fundamental Particle Physics
Nicholas R. Hutzler Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
New precision experiments using trapped molecular ions provide an alternative method for determining if the electron has an electric dipole moment.
APS/ Alan Stonebraker Figure 1: HfF molecules are ionized and confined in a cylindrical trap with a rotating electric field, E , which aligns the molecules (left). Each molecule has a strong internal electric field that can—if an eEDM exists—affect the spin precession of electrons around the molecule (middle). In the last step, a laser dissociates the molecules—depending on their precession angle—and an ion counter records the number of resulting Hf + ions. The JILA eEDM experiment [ 1 ] involves several steps. A sample ofmolecules are ionized and confined in a cylindrical trap with a rotating electric field,, which aligns the molecules (left). Each molecule has a strong internal electric field that can—if an eEDM exists—affect the spin precession of electrons around the molecule (middle). In the last step, a laser dissociates the molecules—depending on their precession angle—and an ion counter records the number of resultingions. HfF molecules are ionized and confined in a cylindrical trap with a rotating electric field, E , which aligns the molecules (left). Each molecule has a strong internal electric field th... The JILA eEDM experiment [ 1 ] involves several steps. A sample ofmolecules are ionized and confined in a cylindrical trap with a rotating electric field,, which aligns the molecules (left). Each molecule has a strong internal electric field th... Show more
APS/ Alan Stonebraker Figure 1: The JILA eEDM experiment [1] involves several steps. A sample of HfF molecules are ionized and confined in a cylindrical trap with a rotating electric field, E , which aligns the molecules (left). Each molecule has a strong internal electric field that can—if an eEDM exists—affect the spin precession of electrons around the molecule (middle). In the last step, a laser dissociates the molecules—depending on their precession angle—and an ion counter records the number of resulting Hf + ions. ×
It is surprising that science cannot explain how matter was created after the big bang. All known physical processes leave the Universe with essentially equal amounts of matter and antimatter, so why is everything made of matter? This baryon asymmetry of the Universe (BAU) is one of the biggest mysteries facing modern physics and a driving force behind a wide range of efforts probing the frontier of particle physics. A new measurement from JILA in Colorado by the group led by Eric Cornell [1] explores this frontier with a tabletop system that uses trapped molecular ions to look for fundamental symmetry violations. The researchers specifically searched for the signature of an electric dipole moment in the electron. No signature was found, thus confirming previous experiments while at the same time constraining symmetry-breaking theories. The work demonstrates a novel and exciting approach to searching for new physics with precision measurements.
In 1967, Andrei Sakharov [2] studied the specific requirements for the existence of the BAU and found that a seemingly unrelated symmetry called time-reversal symmetry ( T ) must be violated for matter to dominate antimatter. This realization has far-reaching experimental implications because signatures of T -violating physics can show up in a variety of seemingly unrelated places. For example, T -violating processes would cause fundamental particles such as electrons to have an electric dipole moment (EDM), which can be imagined classically as an uneven distribution of charge inside the particle. Since this charge imbalance can arise only from T -violating processes, and since T violation commonly appears in models for new physics such as supersymmetry, searches for EDMs of fundamental particles are manifestly searches for new physics at high energies [3, 4].
One could search for an electron EDM, or eEDM, by placing an electron in an electric field, which would induce a torque on the particle if it has a dipole. This torque would be revealed in a precession, or wobbling, of the electron’s spin angular momentum. However, the internal electric fields inside some polar molecules are around a million times stronger than the external fields created in the lab [5]. Therefore, an experimentally superior approach is to select a heavy, polar molecule—heavy because the electrons should be moving relativistically—and search for a spin-precession signature in one of the outer (or valence) electrons. A common realization of such a measurement is to send a beam of neutral molecules through a vacuum chamber and probe the molecules spectroscopically with lasers or microwaves. The current best limit on the eEDM [6] and the previous few best limits [7] followed this general approach. However, molecular-beam experiments have a limitation—beams move, and eventually the molecules will leave the apparatus. Even fancy tricks like cryogenically cooling the molecules result in an observation time of just a few milliseconds, which means large numbers of molecules must be measured to build up an eEDM signal.
The JILA EDM experiment completely obliterates this limitation by trapping the molecules, increasing the observation time by a hundredfold, and therefore realizing a hundredfold increase in sensitivity per molecule. They start by using an ultraviolet laser to rip an electron from their molecule of choice, hafnium fluoride ( HfF ). The resulting HfF + ions are then trapped in rotating electric fields inside an ultrahigh vacuum chamber (Fig. 1). Since the electrostatic force is so strong, the ions are stuck rotating around the center of the ion trap, leaving plenty of time to perform an extremely precise measurement.
The team uses lasers to place the ionized molecules in a particular state in which the outermost electron has its spin pointing in a particular direction relative to the internal electric field of the molecule. After this state preparation, the experimenters allow the spins to precess freely for about one second. The rate of precession is controlled by several effects, including the presumed interaction of the eEDM with the molecule’s electric field. At the end of the precession time, the researchers dissociate the molecules into atoms with a laser that can select a particular spin orientation. The atomic ions are then detected with an ion counter, yielding a measurement of the total precession angle, which is the experimental quantity of interest. Thanks to the relatively long trapping time, the precession angle is larger (and thus easier to measure) than in the previous experiments, which used molecular beams.
In a given experimental configuration, the precession angle depends on the eEDM along with a much larger collection of other contributions that are not necessarily of fundamental interest. The measurement is therefore repeated but with some experimental parameter reversed, for example, the orientation of the molecules relative to the ion trap fields. This parameter reversal would change the sign of the eEDM contribution to the precession angle, while not affecting other contributions. The measurement is then repeated again with some other parameter flipped, and so on. By measuring all possible combinations of nearly every experimental parameter, the experimenters isolate the eEDM signal from anything else. This isolation is robust enough to suppress systematic errors and uncertainties to a level that’s below the uncertainty from finite statistics. In other words, with more ions and more data taking, the experiment can achieve higher sensitivity.
The JILA experiment did not see a signal of an eEDM, allowing them to set a limit that the eEDM must be no larger than about 1 0 − 2 8 e cm (where e is the charge of one electron). This means that their experiment is sensitive to new physics at the few TeV scale, beyond even the reach of the LHC for T -violating physics that couples to the electron [8, 9]. That is quite impressive for an experiment that would probably fit in the room where you are now sitting.
The JILA limit is within a factor of 2 of the currently lowest limit set by the Advanced Cold Molecule EDM (ACME) experiment a few years ago with a beam of neutral thorium monoxide ( ThO ) molecules [6]. Because the two experimental approaches are so different, they complement each other by having different sources of possible systematic errors to which the other may not be susceptible. This separateness will be critical in the event of a possible eEDM detection in the future. Both experiments are currently working on improved measurements which should be sensitive to T -violating physics at energy scales beyond 10 TeV. Regardless of whether the next measurements are null results, these tabletop molecule experiments will continue to push deeper into the frontiers of high-energy physics beyond the standard model.
This research is published in Physical Review Letters.
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Oneal Ron Morris faces manslaughter charge and remains in jail because she is unable to post $40,000. ‘I’m not a danger to society,” she says
A Florida woman facing a manslaughter charge after allegedly pumping toxic substances into the buttocks of people seeking better backsides will remain in jail because she cannot afford to post bail, set at $40,000.
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In court on Friday, Oneal Ron Morris appeared in court to ask a judge to lower her bond so she could remain free while awaiting trial in seven separate cases, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported.
The paper said Morris told the judge she could not afford to pay the $40,000 bond and would have to remain in jail. She has been behind bars for more than a year, having served a sentence for related charges in Miami Dade County before being taken into custody in Broward jail, to await trial.
“I’m not a danger to society,” the paper quoted Morris as saying. “This whole experience has taught me a lot about how people will try to destroy my life. I just want to put it behind me.”
Morris is accused of masquerading as a doctor and illegally injecting a concoction of cement, caulk, flat-tire sealant, mineral oil and glue into her patients’ bottoms. Morris has denied using such a mixture.
She faces a manslaughter charge in the death of a former client who authorities say paid Morris $2,000 for as many as 10 injections over three years. Other alleged victims suffered injuries and severe infection.
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Morris, who was born a man but identifies as a woman, is in a special unit of the Broward jail for protective custody.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media 2015
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A 35-year-old man was critically injured Tuesday after being shot in Logan Square on the Northwest Side, just a few blocks from Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s residence.
The man was walking east about 1:30 a.m. in the 3400 block of West Schubert Avenue when a group of four or five male juveniles approached him at the mouth of an alley, Chicago police said. After speaking with the man, someone in the group fired a gun at him, striking him in the pelvis.
The man was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center in critical condition, police said.
An officer told a Sun-Times photographer that he and his partner were a block away when they heard the shots, but when they arrived, the group had already fled.
Area North detectives are investigating.
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WASHINGTON — President Trump’s dismissal of David J. Shulkin, the secretary of veterans affairs — and the nomination of a Navy doctor with no known policy views to take his place — has brought renewed focus to an increasingly contentious debate over whether to give veterans the option of using the benefits they earned through military service to see private doctors rather than going to government hospitals and clinics.
The issue, which has pitted almost every major veterans group against Concerned Veterans for America, an advocacy group funded by the billionaire conservative brothers Charles G. and David H. Koch, and its allies, has been at the center of months of intrigue at the sprawling Department of Veterans Affairs, which is charged with caring for the United States’ 20 million veterans.
But Mr. Shulkin’s departure and the abrupt elevation of Dr. Ronny L. Jackson, the White House physician, to the department’s top job on Wednesday have raised new fears among Democrats and groups like the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion. They worry that the Trump administration will push for a major change in veterans’ health care that they have bitterly opposed.
The groups say the end result would be disastrous, effectively bleeding to death a network of 1,700 hospitals and clinics that has taken decades to build.
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Aquaplus has officially delayed Dungeon Travelers 2-2, its September 2014-announced sequel to Dungeon Travelers 2: The Royal Library & the Monster Seal, to 2016 in Japan. The company cited “various matters” for the delay.
Additionally, Aquaplus officially confirmed the cancellation of Jasmine, an adventure game the company announced alongside Utawarerumono: False Mask‘s initial announcement in 2011 (before it was re-announced this year). It again cited “various matters” as reason.
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29. september 2014: En lyslugget mann fra Nord-Trøndelag får en egen fil i et omfattende register til den Islamske staten (IS) i Syria. 27-åringen får kallenavnet «den norske», registrerer eiendelene sine og blir sendt ut i krig.
Nordmannen er en av mellom 2000 og 5000 IS-medlemmer som er oppført i et svært sensitivt medlemsregister, som er lekket til en rekke medier og etterretningstjenester i Europa.
Arkivet består av opplysninger IS-medlemmer selv ga til terrorgruppa da de registrerte seg som rekrutter i IS. Filene blir omtalt som en gullgruve for vestlige etterretningstjenester og som et tilbakeslag for IS.
NRK har fått tilgang til fem skjemaer som omhandler nordmenn eller IS-medlemmer med norsk tilknytning. Alle står oppført som krigere i registeret:
To er norske statsborgere: Egzon Avdyli fra Bærum og en etnisk norsk mann fra Levanger. Begge ble drept etter kort tid i Syria.
En marokkansk statsborger, som har oppholdt seg i Norge før han ble IS-medlem. Han har også bedt IS ringe et mobilnummer fra Norge hvis noe skjer. Mannens familie bekrefter at vedkommende har bodd her. Han skal ha tilhørt et ekstremt miljø i Norge.
En mann som oppgir at han bor i Trondheim, men som sier han er albansk statsborger. Mannen skal ha vært aktivt i et muslimsk miljø i Sør-Trøndelag.
En makedoner som sier at han har oppholdt seg i Norge og Tyrkia før han ble IS-medlem. Han har bedt om IS om å kontakt et mobilnummer i Norge hvis noe skjer med ham.
NRK har altså funnet en sterk tilknytning til Norge i fire av de fem sakene.
Det er de tyske kringkasterne NDR og WDR, og avisa Süddeutsche Zeitung som har søkt gjennom filene for NRK. Den syriske opposisjonsavisen Zaman al-Wasl har søkt etter norske statsborgere, og funnet to personer.
I REGISTERET: Egzon Avdyli, her fra en pressekonferanse islamistgruppa Profetens Ummah holdt i 2012, er registrert i medlemslistene til IS med korrekt fødselsdato, navn, adresse og familiemedlemmer i Norge. Foto: Øyvind Bye Skille / NRK
Fikk krigernavnet Abu Huraira al-Norweji
Den etnisk norske statsborgeren fra Trøndelag som ble registrert i 2014, fortalte under registreringen at han kom over grensen ved Jarabulus nord i Syria.
SENSITIV INFO: Klikk på bildet for å se hvordan skjemaene er fylt ut. Dette er registreringen av den norske statsborgeren Egzon Avdyli, som ble drept i kamper for IS. Foto: Skjermdump
I registeret er nordmannens navn feilstavet, men hans mors navn, fødselsdato og øvrig informasjon stemmer.
Da 27-åringen fikk spørsmålet om noen hadde anbefalt ham for IS, svarte trønderen at det var via kona til en «bror» han ikke kunne navnet til. 27-åringen fikk kallenavnet Abu Huraira al-Norweji, og står oppført som en kriger i skjemaet.
Les om 27-åringen her: Fra skoledropout i Innherad til borgerkrigen i Syria
Nordmannen fortalte også at han ble hjulpet over grensen av Mohammed Shamali. Shamali betyr «fra nord» på arabisk. De norsktilknyttede IS-krigerne fra Makedonia og Marokko fikk, ifølge registeret, hjelp fra samme mann.
Den andre norske statsborgeren som er registrert heter Egzon Avdyli, en norsk-albaner som reiste til Syria i januar 2014. Den da 25 år gamle nordmannen fikk krigernavnet Abo Ibrahim al-Albani, ble registrert med middels kunnskap om islam og krysset av for at han skulle være en IS-kriger.
Etter tre måneder i IS ble Avdyli drept. 27-åringen fra Trøndelag ble også drept etter noen måneder i IS.
HER PASSERTE DE GRENSA: De norsktilknyttede IS-medlemmene krysset grensa til Syria i nord, ifølge medlemsregisteret. Fire av dem sier de ble hjulpet over grensen av Mohammed Shamali, som betyr «fra nord». Foto: Marco Vaglieri / NRK
Kontaktperson: – Jeg er sjokkert
NRK har ringt til samtlige kontaktpersoner som IS-medlemmene med norsk tilknytning har informert om i ankomstregisteret.
Et familiemedlem til IS-krigeren som har oppgitt et norsk mobilnummer til IS, var overbevist om at mannen studerte i Norge, og reagerte med vantro da NRK fortalte at vedkommende sto i IS-registeret.
En mann som er oppført som kontaktperson for Egzon Avdyli, sier han er sjokkert over å ha havnet i et IS-register. Han sier at han var en god venn av Avdyli, men at han ikke visste om reisen hans til Syria.
Egzon Avdylis lillebror var også registrert som kontaktperson, og det var han som fikk dødsbudskapet fra IS da storebroren ble drept.
Hverken familien til Avdyli eller trønderens familie vil kommentere saken.
PST vil ikke si om de har listene
Politiets sikkerhetstjeneste (PST) vil verken bekrefte eller avkrefte om de selv har de fem filene med norsktilknyttede personer.
– PST er kjent med listen og det arbeides med opplysninger fra den, men vi kan ikke si noe mer, sier seniorrådgiver Martin Bernsen.
Tysk etterretning, som samarbeider med PST har tilgang til listene, men Bernsen vil altså ikke si om norske myndigheter har fått informasjon fra BND eller andre.
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BALTIMORE — The Yankees nuked a report they are willing to let ace Masahiro Tanaka flee if the right-hander opts out of his contract at the end of this season and becomes a free agent.
“It ain’t on my radar screen right now — an entire season to play,” managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner told The Post. “Secondly, anyone that knows me knows that I don’t get emotional or personal about business. Any decision then will be made on a solid analysis of all the relevant data, per usual.”
The report also stated the Yankees are miffed at Casey Close, Tanaka’s agent, for holding the opt-out clause over their heads.
“I never heard any of this,’’ Yankees team president Randy Levine told The Post. “We normally don’t move until the event.’’
General manager Brian Cashman said the organization isn’t ticked at Close because there has been no talk of opting out.
“There is nothing to hold over our heads because we haven’t negotiated it,’’ Cashman said. “I have the utmost respect for Casey Close and his office. I don’t know where this came from. We haven’t had any discussions of an opt-out.’’
Tanaka, 28, signed a seven-year, $155 million deal with the Yankees in late January of 2014. If he opts out of the final three years, Tanaka will leave $67 million on the table and look for a new deal.
Tanaka was spanked on Opening Day for seven runs and eight hits in 2 ²/₃ innings in a 7-3 loss to the Rays in St. Petersburg, Fla. Despite that outing, Tanaka is 39-17 with a 3.23 ERA as a Yankee working with a small tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in the right elbow since the middle of the 2014 season, when he was on the way to AL Rookie of the Year and possible AL Cy Young winner.
CC Sabathia and Michael Pineda, the No. 2 and No. 3 starters, are free agents at the end of the season, which would put a priority on keeping Tanaka.
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Very early on I was given the task to figure out how the panels and cables should look like. I was still trying to grasp the complexity of the puzzles and symbols and far from realizing that this would become as complex as any area of the island, keeping me busy for the next 4 years, all the way to release.
This task felt like one of hardest due to the constant evolving design and changes, it also extended to the vault boxes, lasers and controllers, basically anything that has a panel you can trace.
For ease of navigation, feel free to use the Contents bar on the right.
Initial Concepts
My first step was to try and understand all the symbols, the colors, and how much room there was to change them. Jonathan was pretty open about it as long as it made sense, so I decided to just try stuff, share with the team and see how they reacted. Here are some of my early attempts.
I realized that the added complexity was interesting but was mostly ‘noise’. If a player is stuck on a panel for three hours, and might start questioning everything, the last thing we want is to make him start paying attention to non important details. The panel itself was kept as simple as possible almost unchanged from the original design, just slightly more elegant and refined.
The bulk of the work became the frame, matching the utility of the panel itself. After some interesting discussions with the architects, I approached the problem in a realistic way, trying to imagine how these would have actually been built. Whoever created them would not be making a unique one every time, he would re-use as much as possible.
With that in mind, I started simple, looking at real world monitors, see how they are assembled, what are the details that give a sense of scale, etc.
Basic Panel
Just like the Entry Area wasa testing ground for most art, this first panel ended up being the lab rat and the starting point for the other panels.
It’s a basic monitor, attached to a sturdy metal pillar and a metal base to make sure it doesn’t feel like you can move it. It’s clean, detailed enough to read as metal but simple enough to let the screen stand out.The white borders allow for the panel to still call attention to itself if turned off.
It can also appear in a row, using the same design with just added pillars for support.
And another long beam on the back.
For variety, and to help distinguish certain types of puzzle, there are sometimes variations on the frame. In this example, it isn’t attached to anything.
Or here, we have older monitors. Maybe these were designed first?
As you go through the island, the same model has attachments or modifications. In this case, an added side panel:
Or if needed, a complete new type of technology but still using the same support:
Using the same principles when in a row:
Unique Panels
When the puzzle concept changes, it usually required the panels to change too. In the desert ruins for example, they needed to be bigger while still feeling feasible, so the framing became very thin:
The attachment system on the back evolved, to show they can rotate. Eric ended up designing some cool variations for these.
The forest for example required them to be camouflaged:
Controllers
Another type of panel, are the controllers. They are puzzle panels, but used to control objects like doors, bridges, etc. Very early on you actually had buttons you would press for certain actions, but Jonathan eventually unified the panel language to also do this.
For the controller I tried to get a feeling of something bulkier, like a refactored factory console that would feel distinct from a puzzle panel:
Just like the normal panels, they can have variations, when hanging to a wall:
Or if they control something specific, like the boat:
Treehouse Panels
These were a very unique challenge! Not only coming up with a feasible reason for how they would work, but figuring out the folding and unfolding, the bones and the animation system.
There were a lot of diagrams like these:
And videos like the one below. Notice that there are actually 2 panel types, A and B, depending in they are back facing or forward facing each other. Also the S (starting panel) as a slightly different set of animations.
And here is how they look in-game:
Colored Lights Panels
The ‘Colored Lights Building’, where we have all the funky plants, had to convey the concept that the colors dots were not being projected by the panel, but were painted, and so affected by lighting. The final version was kind of a big metal plate, where you could place graph paper behind a custom metal framed panel. The narrative being that you can just change graph paper, paint new dots, etc.
The initial set is painted blue so the color change, when you look through color filter glass, is more obvious.
You then have variations with white paper and different panel sizes, ending with everyone’s favorite puzzle, the elevator controller:
Pressure Plates
The design for these barely changed, so it was more trying to figure out a way for them to feel elegant and integrate nicely with the environment.
They were build out of a modular set of 5 pieces:
With some added variations for puzzle reasons, like the broken panel, or the loose metal frames on te back, adding to the narrative:
Here is the final result in one of the four areas:
And here you can see how we had to figure out a logical way for the panels to be correctly supported:
Trivia bit: We tried as much as possible to show the relationship between the different areas. All the glass in the island was made in the Glass Factory, so if you are observant, you can see the metal frames for the pressure panels in this area.
Vault Box
I’m always surprised how elegant this one ended up being. The goal was for them to look like heavy and bulky, hard to open safe boxes, but once activated, to open gently, almost like a flower, showing it’s actually light and delicate inside.
At one point, it looked like this (and definitely not showing you how terrible the open animation was):
And the much more pleasant final result:
Mountain Top
This area had several drastically different revisions and for the longest time, and what you see in the first released trailer, it was a set of bulky doors made by a previous artist, connected by cables to a panel:
As the design evolved, the door and panel became one structure:
And as you progressively solve it, it opens different doors until you can access the mountain inside:
Lasers
Since I joined, the laser concept was always of golden boxes. If I remember correctly, they are supposed to read as attractive, like a ‘candy’, a sort of reward.
In the final design I wanted to convey the scale of the box (they are huge) while still keeping the big clean yellow sides. Talking with the architects, there were great suggestions on how to achieve this, by having smaller logical details on the sides where the plaques would attach:
Also, even though they are the same model, I wanted to make them somehow unique, so if you look close up, each one has a different pattern, depending on what area you are in. It’s a very subtle pattern that only glints against the sun:
And at the top of the mountain, the box that is slowly opened as you turn each laser on, has all the patterns together:
Once you solve an area, the box opens and the laser slowly assembles itself. Jonathan wanted something very slow, where I guess you can contemplate on what you did to achieve it.
For me the challenge was to show something that can logically fit inside the box but surprised you as it unravels itself, and is pleasant to look at as it does so.
Apart from the player character, this is the mesh with the biggest amount of bones.
Interesting trivia: All objects are lightmapped based on the state they are in. In certain cases, like doors, we bake two states (e.g. open and close), and might also have to bake those two states on anything that is close to it, so we don’t get lightmap splotches. With the laser though…since its initial and end states are so different, we couldn’t just have one lightmap for each, otherwise it would go from mostly black lightmap to normally lit. Instead, one of our super programmers Ignacio, suggested we define a ‘lightmap baking position’ where all the parts are split and we bake only the ambient occlusion. You can see it below:
Obelisk
This one was good fun and one of my favorite island objects. Jonathan had very clear ideas of what it needed to do and how it was supposed to feel like, which made it a breeze to design.
It was also a great opportunity to justify doing some Zbrush work again. In the image below are some suggestions of how the shapes could be represented, from very sketchy to more elegant.
And here is the final result:
Cables
The cables in the island didn’t change that much throughout production. They were re-worked once we figured the style of the panels, going from a round tube to something less circular and more elegant. Here are some of the initial proposals:
And how they currently look like:
In the Symmetry Island, we needed a custom cable with 2 different colors to represent the two lines you can trace. Here is a eventually discarded idea, since it was hard to see both colors at the same time (you can also see an early proposal for the glass panel frames and base):
Another proposal, this one was just too small to see from the distance, with too much unnecessary detail:
As usual, we ended up going with the simplest solution:
Another custom cable was the special yellow one in the mountain:
The biggest amount of work was actually placing the cables. Since it’s a custom engine, we only have the tools we need, and it was almost impossible to edit the cables precisely. It was a great back and forth with Andy, figuring out the features we needed to better edit the cables. Some worth mentioning are; the end point automatic snap-to-surface key (that secondary floating point allowed us to define the strength of the cable curvature, kinda like a spline handle):
And per-point tension control, allowing for cables to curve or be sharply bent around surfaces:
Allowing us in the end, to do something as precise as this:
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Oscars: Kazakhstan Selects 'Golden Throne' for International Feature Film Category
Rustem Abdrashev's film is the second part of an epic series of the same name telling the story of the rise of the Kazakh nation in the times of the medieval Khanate.
Kazakhstan has submitted Rustem Abdrashev's latest film in a series telling the epic story of the foundation of the Kazakh nation, Kazakh Khanate - Golden Throne, for consideration for the best international feature film category at the 2020 Oscars.
Set during the 15th century Kazakh Khanate, the Game of Thrones-esque swashbuckling tale is the second in a series of films launched with Diamond Sword two years ago.
Two ten-part television series have also been produced.
The choice of an historical film with nation-building themes (based on Kazakh classic novel The Nomads by Ilyas Esenberlin) comes six months after Kazakhstan's long-serving president Nursultan Nazarbayev stepped down after 30 years in office.
The director is closely connected to Nazarbayev and a few years ago shot a hagiography about him, Way of the Leader.
Golden Throne is produced by Kazakhfilm and Abdrashev's CentauRus Productions, and international sales are being handled by London's Amadeus Entertainment.
Kazakhstan first submitted a film to the Academy Awards in 1992 and has put up a film every year since 2006, gaining three nominations, including making the January shortlist in 2009 for Kelin and the December shortlist in 2018 for Ayka.
The 92nd Academy Awards take place on Feb. 9, 2020.
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Very happy to announce that Netflix has closed an overall deal with @DarkHorseComics! That means Netflix will have the first look at all Dark Horse titles for both film and TV projects and I'm really trying to keep my cool about it but YES YES YES — NX (@NXOnNetflix) May 9, 2019
Netflix and Dark Horse worked together in the past to create Mads Mikkelsen starrer Polar and weird superhero series The Umbrella Academy. Based on the company's quarterly earnings report, the superhero show did tremendously well, having been viewed by 45 million households by the time the figure came out in mid-April. The partners are already exploring potential projects, but for now, The Umbrella Academy's second season is the only confirmed one.
Cindy Holland, VP of Original Content for Netflix, said the partnership will allow the company to adapt comic book titles beyond superhero stories, including darker and grittier tales:
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This image was removed due to legal reasons.
A few years ago, the software start-up GitHub faced an uncomfortable truth: It could be a pretty unpleasant place.
It was 2014 and the company was growing rapidly as a hub for programmers to collaborate on coding projects. But as its user base grew, so too did its problems. A GitHub developer, Julie Ann Horvath, left the company amid searing accusations of sexual and gender-based harassment, putting GitHub at the center of bad press for weeks and leading to the resignation of the company's CEO.
To make matters worse, GitHub soon realized such problems weren't limited to the office. Bullying and discrimination ran rampant on the site. There was systemic discrimination against women, with female coders often taken less seriously than their male peers. Petty disagreements devolved into flame wars in project comments. A bitter ex followed his former girlfriend from project to project, saying nasty things about her. And racist, sexist trolls sometimes co-opted features meant to enable collaboration to carry out vicious attacks, using, for example, a people-tagging feature to tag their targets on projects with racist names, transforming their portfolios into a slur of racist epithets.
Nicole Sanchez, the company's VP of Social Impact, told that these are the "dangers and pitfalls of online life," and not unique to GitHub, but GitHub wanted to try to prevent them.
It might surprise you that a website built for programmers to share code could become a hotbed of online harassment. But GitHub, valued at $2 billion, is a social network in nature, a combination of Facebook and LinkedIn for computer programmers, and involves a lot of user-to-user interaction. And along with that, on the internet, usually comes abuse.
Hoping to recover and heal its bruised image, GitHub hired Sanchez, who at the time had just started Vaya, a diversity consulting firm.
"We want to connect every developer in the world, and to do that we need to build an inclusive community where everyone feels safe and welcome," said CEO Chris Wanstrath.
Sanchez got to work, revamping how the company approached everything from hiring and performance reviews to office decor. Since its beginning, the company had been non-hierarchical, with no managers or titles, but Sanchez helped to kill it, finding that without bosses, people weren't held accountable when their actions were in the wrong. She tweaked internal processes to make the environment more diversity friendly, like by creating a formal feedback process for complaints. And she hired February Keeney, a half-Puerto Rican transgender woman, to lead a new Community and Safety team to attack the problem of harassment on the site.
It was a difficult stance to take given the existing culture in Silicon Valley. GitHub, like so many tech companies, had long feared tamping down on what its users could say and do. Many techies feel that the internet is supposed to be open and free and that cracking down on even the most unseemly user behavior infringes on rights to free speech. Twitter, for example, had long refused to address its own problem with abuse, referring to itself as the "free speech wing of the free speech party."
"People were so dogmatic about open source," said Sanchez. "It meant that it has to be open all the time and accessible to everyone without question."
Change-averse GitHub employees complained anonymously in the press that Sanchez was trying to "to control culture," but eventually she won most of them over.
"It's not just that harassment is unpleasant," Sanchez told me. "It's that we were losing people."
A 2014 survey of women who had recently left the tech industry found that culture—including harassment—was a major factor in their decisions. GitHub viewed a diverse user base as essential to the company's success and decided it needed to snuff out harassment to achieve it.
GitHub didn't just need a new code of conduct—it needed to consider how every tiny detail of its design might be exploited to harass. Trolls be damned.
👿 👿 👿
GitHub is not the only Silicon Valley company to have realized that ugly online behavior will not go away on its own. Two years ago, technology companies typically met calls to crack down on bullying with either a defense of free speech or a shrug. But scandal, criticism and harassment horror stories have forced a reconsideration of that approach.
When former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo famously admitted last February that "we suck at dealing with abuse," it was a call to arms. Since then, Twitter and other companies have vigorously rolled out attempts at solutions. In September, Instagram announced a new feature allowing individual users to block offensive words. This fall, Google revealed it was building A.I. to combat internet trolls. Even the internet's seedy underbelly, Reddit, has placed bans on its most toxic quadrants.
"There's a general thing in the zeitgeist right now," Julio Avalos, GitHub's chief business officer, told me. "There has been a shift in what employees expect of their employers and what customers expect of companies. People are going to start voting with their feet."
This image was removed due to legal reasons.
Twitter is Silicon Valley's cautionary tale of what happens when you ignore the zeitgeist. Over its decade of existence, Twitter has mostly ignored abuse, making it a prime destination for trolls and hate. High-profile users have fled the network, citing harassment. As the embattled company has struggled to find a buyer in recent months, some have speculated that Twitter's harassment problem has played a role.
Trolls have become the scourge of the internet era. The sad fact of the matter is that the internet is chock full of a**holes; something really ought to be done about it.
But how do you rid the online world of violent verbiage and hatred when violence and hatred so thoroughly permeate the world itself? To use Twitter again as the unfortunate example, over the past two years it has banned revenge porn, issued new anti-harassment rules, established a trust and safety council and suspended high-profile users it considers abusive. And still, it seems, abuse has flourished.
"On Twitter," BuzzFeed's Charlie Warzel wrote earlier this year, "abuse is not just a bug, but—to use the Silicon Valley term of art—a fundamental feature."
There is no miraculous healing salve for an internet of hate.
"There is no end of ideas about solutions for online harassment," said Nathan Matias, a researcher at MIT studying ways to reduce harassment and discrimination online. "There is a universe of possible outcomes, and right now we have very little evidence that any one solution will lead to the outcome desired."
👾 👾 👾
When GitHub decided to crack down on harassment, it also decided to hire Coraline Ada Ehmke, a transgender women and, up until then, one of GitHub's most vocal critics.
Ehmke had been a victim of a glaring flaw in GitHub's design. She was the author of the “Contributor Covenant,” a voluntary code of conduct adopted by many GitHub projects. Not everyone in the free-wheeling open-source community appreciated Ehmke's contribution, though, and some users went after her. GitHub had no feature allowing users to opt out of being tagged by others and so bullies began tagging Ehmke as a contributor to made-up projects with racist names, marring her GitHub profile, a portfolio of all of her open-source work. It was as if someone had tagged a swastika across her resume then doled it out to future employers.
This image was removed due to legal reasons.
"Harassers are very clever. They take advantage of tools that are very innocuous and use them as vectors for abuse," Ehmke told me. "If you’re creating products and not thinking about how it could be used for abuse, you are not doing your job."
When GitHub hired Ehmke last February as a senior engineer, some were outraged by the direction her hire suggested GitHub was headed.
"At the start of my career, I had a lot of male privilege," Ehmke told me. "Intellectually I knew that things like this happened, but until I transitioned I really didn't fully understand. Open source is not very welcoming to people who are not male or white."
Everyone I spoke with at GitHub underscored that the most important step in addressing harassment and diversity on GitHub was first solving those problems within the company itself.
"If there is not diversity at the front end of the funnel there is no ability to be able to deliver diversity to your customers on the other side," Avalos, who is Guatemalan and joined GitHub in its boss-less era, told me. "We don't want to have blinders to things in the product that are alienating people."
The Community and Safety team, made up of six people, includes two people who identify as transgender, four as women, three as people of color, and two "token white men." It is, in other words, a lot more diverse than your average Silicon Valley engineering team.
Their job isn't just to build new anti-harassment tools, but to vet new GitHub features and anticipate how they might be used for abuse.
"We’re not just an engineering group at GitHub," Ehmke told me. "We're considered critical infrastructure. At GitHub, these things are as important as keeping the lights on."
The biggest change the team has made is asking GitHub engineers to build "consent and intent" into the platform. Users should have the right to consent to being tagged by another user for example. That would have prevented Ehmke's racist tagging experience. So GitHub tweaked the project-tagging feature to require user approval.
"We don't want to have blinders to things in the product that are alienating people."
Intent, though, is trickier. Not every person who says something that sounds offensive on GitHub intends to actually say something offensive. "You suck" can be a mean-spirited jab or a playful joke between friends.
"We realized that harassing behaviors really fall into two buckets," said Keeney. "There is the intentional bigot. And then there is the person who, like, tells Asian driver jokes without realizing they are racist."
GitHub needed a way to handle offensive behavior with more dexterity and nuance.
Last month, the company released a proposal for community guidelines. It included rules for banned behavior—doxxing, discrimination and bullying—and spelled out clearly what constitutes those behaviors. There are consequences for breaking the rules, from content removal to account termination.
Being GitHub, it has asked its community for feedback. One user looked at the proposed guidelines, and suggested its ban on pornography shut out projects that might have to do with sex education or reproductive health. Ultimately, the best way to meet community needs, GitHub decided, is to ask for the community's help.
Moderating comments, for example, might be a job better shared by both GitHub and open-source project managers better equipped to tell if a potentially offensive joke actually offended.
"Right now, the only options moderators have are to delete comments, report an issue to us or block a person from their project," Keeney said. "But we want to make sure that we offer a range of tools for moderators to respond to problems. A range of problems requires a range of responses."
Eventually, Keeney told me, GitHub plans to roll out a variety of tools that will let project managers do things like ban a troublesome member for just a few days.
This image was removed due to legal reasons.
GitHub's approach has three central tenets: design features to make hassling other users more difficult, empower users with tools to help safeguard themselves, and enlist the community to help keep everything under control.
So far, the company said, it's been successful. Blocks and reports of incidents have gone up, indicating that GitHub users are actually using the site's new tools. And when incidents do occur, the time it takes to respond to user reports has gone down.
"The more we can put tools in the hands of users to manage their own experience, the better."
Other online communities are embracing similar tactics. The subreddit r/science transformed its embattled comment threads into civil discourse by establishing clear community rules and rallying an army of more than 1,300 moderators to enforce them.
"Any reasonable approach to governing online behavior will ask users to do at least some work to govern communities," Matias told me. "When communities take on this work, we often get more accountability and responsiveness."
Instagram and Twitter, too, have recently shifted toward giving users more ability to deal with abuse themselves. In November, Twitter unveiled a new feature allowing users to mute specific words and phases from appearing in notifications.
"The forms that abuse can take can vary tremendously," Del Harvey, Twitter's VP of Trust and Safety told me. "It is unrealistic that we will be able to predict everything people will consider harassing. The more we can put tools in the hands of users to manage their own experience, the better."
😈 😈 😈
Not every space on the internet has to be squeaky clean.
"There need to be spaces on the internet with different social norms," said Amy Bruckman, a researcher at Georgia Tech who studies online communities. "There should be online spaces that are a little more rough and tumble. That's okay as long as they are open about what they are and don't cross a line that's actually dangerous."
In other words, it all comes back to rules. Just like the real world, there are different spaces for everyone. Maybe Reddit is your neighborhood dive bar, and Facebook your corner coffeeshop. We can all agree that what happens in a dive bar at 4 a.m. is not always appropriate in a coffee shop.
In the end, the most important shift in how companies approach harassment is that they're willing to lose troublesome users.
Voicing different points of view and opinions is necessary to foster communication across ideologies. People randomly yelling "bitch!" is not. But finding a balance isn't easy. At GitHub, new hires and rules have resulted in significant backlash. Not everyone is happy. But GitHub could care less. In the end, the most important shift in how companies approach harassment is that they're willing to lose troublesome users.
"If they don't like the culture we are trying to create, disgruntled users have other options," Nicole Sanchez told me. "It is okay for us to draw a line."
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Implementing hash is not sufficient to protect against tampering, the technology is so advanced that it can calculate thousands of hashes every second. You can temper with the block and can recalculate the hash of other blocks so that the blockchain can turn out to be valid again. To prevent this, blockchain uses Proof of Work. PoW is the mechanism that lowers the processing of new block creation. It needs some time to add a new block to the chain after the required proof of work calculation. This makes nearly impossible to cheat with a block if anyone tries to do so, then to validate the block, has to recalculate PoW for all the following blocks. The creative use of proof-of-work mechanism and hashing has made it so secure that now these days, all size business are turning their business operations to be operated over blockchain-based software, applications, and other IT solutions.
The business leaders who are planning to introduce blockchain management solutions into their business operations, for them Sara Technologies is an unmatched choice that will help them from the initial planning to the final launching into their business operations. Using our blockchain development services and solutions, your business can reach the peak of business success and achieve extraordinary results.
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Death Metal Flyer Accidentally Uses Logo Font for Show Date
DALLAS — Death metal band Moruthal experienced record-low turnouts for their show last Friday night after accidentally printing the time and location information in the same brutal, illegible font as their logo, according to band members.
An informal polling of Moruthal’s fans suggested the confusing text on the flyer, rather than a lack of interest, was responsible for the lackluster turnout. Both the flyer and the original logo font were designed by the band’s manager, Dustin Balboa.
Those close to Balboa claimed the gaffe was only the latest in a series of font-related missteps.
“I think, deep down, he’s just too proud of that logo font. He went out of his way to hand-draw every letter A through Z, every number 0 through 9, and basic punctuation, even though our band name is just 8 letters,” said Moruthal bassist Randall Wu. “Last summer, he got us a recording contract, but he used our logo font on that, too. We had no idea what it said, but signed it anyway — which is why we recorded a full-length album for $100. We ended up paying a lot of money out of pocket thanks to him. Fuck.”
The 36-year-old Balboa defended himself against allegations that, if he did more to promote the show outside of physical flyers, the impact of his printing mistake would have been minimized.
“People say I should have promoted the show online. But I did promote it online — I posted images of that flyer all over social media,” he said. “Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter — I hit them all. It’s not my fault these people can’t read.”
Related:
Fans of Moruthal noted the band’s commitment to the confusing font caused problems in the past for those trying to keep up with the group’s latest news.
“I love the Moruthal logo,” said longtime Ashley Stevens. “It’s like this awesome, satanic tree thing. But if we’re being honest, I can’t follow them on Facebook, because I don’t know how to spell their actual name. Can you send me a copy of this article once it’s live, so I can finally see it written in English?”
In the end, Balboa admitted he plans to ensure the mistake is never repeated. “I removed the font from my computer. From now on, everything is Comic Sans,” he said.
Photo by Shelby Kettrick @ShelbyShootsStuff.
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The University of Utah medical center offers “Adolescent Transgender Medicine” services, including “puberty blockers” and “gender-affirming hormones.”
UU Health, the school's medical center, has also created a clinic dedicated to youth transgender medicine, called the Adolescent Gender Management & Support Clinic (GEMS Clinic). It offers a "comprehensive clinic for transgender, non-binary, intersex, and non-conforming youth, as well as youth questioning their gender,” according to the Transgender Health Program.
"I knew I was going to an extremely liberal school, but it’s frustrating when that money goes towards something I firmly disagree with."
The providers at the clinic are there to answer questions about a youth’s transition and help the individual with hormone therapy and suppression.
[RELATED: Vanderbilt Medical Center opening ‘transgender health’ clinic]
Families are expected to set up several appointments to prepare for the transition process. After starting hormones, UU Health says there should be a meeting about every three months for two years until the client has finished “gender-affirming puberty”.
During the first appointment, the clinic will review the transition process and contact the client’s mental health therapist. The second appointment consists of giving the client a physical exam, informing the client of benefits and risks of hormone therapy, and social support network. The client will start puberty blockers or hormonal therapy during the third meeting, and the fourth meeting will focus on any effects hormones have had on the client’s mood and body.
University of Utah also dedicates two health doctors to the adolescent health program, Adam W. Dell, MD, an instructor, and Nicole L. Mihalopoulos, MD, MPH. Both of them sit on the faculty of the Division of Adolescent Medicine at UU's School of Medicine.
“We attend one of the best universities for health research in our conference [The Pac-12], but yet our money goes toward helping kids suppress their natural hormones so boys can be girls, and girls can be boys," Ryan Barnes, a member of Turning Point USA at the University of Utah, told Campus Reform.
“I knew I was going to an extremely liberal school, but it’s frustrating when that money goes towards something I firmly disagree with. Why can’t the UU take that money and fund a research area for effective agricultural or wildlife conservation?” he continued.
Campus Reform reached out to the UU Health for comment but did not comment in time for publication.
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @francesanne123
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By Sean O’Riordan, Defence Correspondent
A damning report has highlighted the reduced calibre of recruits in the Defence Forces, concluding that some had severe learning difficulties, others were extremely unfit, and one had been arrested numerous times by gardaí.
Some officers within the Defence Forces have queried vetting procedures as the report claims they were unaware of that person’s past until it was pointed out by another recruit.
Garda vetting is not carried out in many cases before recruits are inducted into training. This is because of the need to speed up recruitment to replace the haemmorage of highly trained personnel who are leaving the Defence Forces for better pay and conditions in the private sector.
Garda vetting of recruits can take between three and six months to complete.
The leaked draft report also stated that one of the recruits thought he was on a trainee officer’s course, rather than on one for enlisted personnel.
It also stated that a number of the recruits in one recruitment class had learning difficulties that inhibited them from completing the training course.
Sources within the Defence Forces have said that while the Department of Defence has tried to accelerate recruitment, the numbers deemed suitable is falling and some recruitment classes are barely viable because of this.
The classified report was compiled to provide senior Defence Forces officers with a snapshot of ongoing recruitment and concluded that, in general, there was “a very poor standard of recruit”.
It also highlighted the very short notice given to provide suitably qualified training staff to oversee the recruit class.
Neither of the Defences Forces representative organisations — Raco for officers and PDForra for enlisted personnel — are allowed to comment on operational issues such as the leaked report.
However, both organisations have constantly highlighted the likelihood that the calibre of recruits would be reduced because of competition from the better- paid private sector, and that security could be compromised due to a lack of garda vetting.
Members of the Defences Forces are the lowest paid of all public servants.
Last July, 65 recruits were called to the Naval Service headquarters in Haulbowline, Co Cork, to undertake medical and fitness tests. Just six turned up for a recruitment class that was supposed to be up to 48-strong.
The manpower shortage is being acutely felt in the naval service. Its flagship, the LÉ Eithne, recently had to call up naval service reserves because it did not have an adequate number of crew members for a routine patrol.
The improved economy is also hitting recruitment to the army and Raco has previously warned that the exodus of highly trained personnel is leaving it operationally compromised and putting safety at risk.
A Defence Forces’ statement issued last night said that, following the completion of career courses, they routinely carry out a review process to improve procedures and course content for subsequent iterations of each course. In order for this process to be effective, the conduct of courses, from the lead-in through to completion, needs to be questioned thoroughly and honestly.
The statement said: “It is the responsibility of the personnel running courses and recruitment campaigns to address any challenges and prevent as much as possible their re-occurrence, as well as to identify the positive aspects and incorporate them into future courses.
“Each phase of a course carries with it its own unique challenges and issues which are dealt with at the time, and later highlighted during the after-action review process.”
The Defence Forces added that, after induction as a recruit, suitability to serve as a member of the Defence Forces is constantly monitored and approximately 22% of each group do not complete training for various reasons.
“This reflects a long-term trend and the Defence Forces are satisfied that those who complete training have met the required standard,” said a Defence Forces statement.
“The Defence Forces does not comment on individual course after- action reviews, their contents, or any of the specifics of individual courses.”
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In an unexpected turn of events, famed TMZ employee Van Lathan has actually been fired by the company after what Page Six calls a “nasty confrontation” with fellow colleague Michael Babcock.
It’s looking like tomorrow is going to suck. ????. We good up there God? Okay, cool Just checking. — VanLathan (@VanLathan) October 21, 2019
Lathan, who gained national attention last year following his viral on-air dispute with Kanye West, was actually let go an entire week and a half ago. That might explain his ominously-foreshadowing tweet seen above, which was posted just before the official report broke not too long ago.
Here’s how Page Six is describes the run of events:
We’re told that the pair appeared on the site’s online show “TMZ Live” together about a week and a half ago and had some kind of disagreement. The on-air face-off has been edited out, we’re told, but sources say they were sparring over politics, which has increasingly come between them
What ultimately got Lathan fired was his choice of words following the confrontation, which sources claim he told Babcock there would be trouble if he “ever embarrassed [Lathan] like that again.” After a follow-up meeting with TMZ attorneys, Lathan was at first suspended. A few days later, he was officially let go.
Thankfully, it does seem that Van is doing fine as per his own words, which he tweeted shortly after his initial response to the subject.
I’m okay. Promise you guys. Seriously. — VanLathan (@VanLathan) October 22, 2019
We’re pray for the homie, especially since it seems like he may have been standing up for the right cause. We’ll let you guys decide though: do you think it was right for TMZ to fire Van Lathan for allegedly verbally threatening his coworker? Sound off over on our Facebook and Twitter with your thoughts!
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You don’t pay much attention to the things around you as long as they don’t matter to you. When you don’t have any financial responsibility, you can do whatever you want. But once you start taking responsibility, you support your family, it all starts making sense.
Each one of us desire for a trouble free life especially when it comes to our financial matters. You may have a safety net to fall on whenever you are in trouble but in this unsteady economy it doesn’t take much to get your best laid plans go away. Therefore it is always a smart thought to understand how to save more money and start early for that matter.
Questions, questions, questions!
Questions like why am I in this situation, what led me here, could this have been avoided, plagues your mind. Do these questions sound familiar? If it does then let me tell you “this is LIFE”. Sometimes it sucks but you can do nothing about it. Expect bad things to happen financially even if you have a strong plan in place. Nobody is immune in these turbulent times.
Encountering some financial stress is nothing to be ashamed of. Believe me, you are not the only one out there. If you have ever gone considered trying a payday loan investor, there certainly can be a sense of embarrassment or failure that goes with it.
Credit score is a number based on the statistical analysis of the credit report. Basically credit score shows a person’s creditworthiness – the capability of a person to pay his her debts. The credit score is based on the credit report of a person that he or she receives for free from the credit bureau annually. Whenever you apply for anything your credit history including your credit score is checked to assess the potential risk involved for lending money to you.
Even organizations like mobile companies, your employers, home insurers and landlords check your credit score as a part of your background check. Your employer checks your credit score to see your level of responsibility.
A credit score of 660 is considered as good and the person is entitled to good interest rates. But late payments and mounting dues can damage your credit score. Even a student loan can affect your credit score for that matter. Bad credit score and high debts can be very stressful for a person. Often the question of how to improve credit score in this situation arises.
Follow these simple steps and fix your credit score with ease:
1. First and foremost go to the annualcreditreport.com to get your free credit report. Annualreportcredit.com is a joint website by the three major credit bureaus of the United States.
2. Go through your credit report thoroughly. Check for any wrong and disputable figures. Write to the concerned creditors pointing their errors. The letter should be certified. You can also do this online. The chances are that the creditors will definitely fix the errors and remove it from your report. If not then wait for one or two months and then again send the notice, this time with the threat to hire legal help.
3. If there is no error in your report then check the reason for your bad credit scores. Is it the outstanding debts? If yes then try to pay off all your debts as soon as possible. If it’s very bad then take professional help that will do all the dealings on your behalf as they will try to reduce the financial charges. Pay off the debts with the highest interest rate first. This will improve your credit score.
4. Close your unnecessary credit accounts and cut up on your cards and spending. Only spend money on your essential needs. Spend the rest of your income to pay off your debts.
5. Set a strict budget for yourself and stick to it. Do your payments on time and increase on your savings.
6. Once you have paid all your debts, apply for a new card and use it responsibly to build a good credit history and don’t ever repeat the same mistakes.
Leave the embarrassment at the door
It does not matter that you are trying for a personal loan with a bad credit for an emergency and there is nothing wrong in it. People can tell you whatever they want but they are not paying your bills or supporting your family, YOU ARE!
Asking for money from a friend or a relative can be sometimes embarrassing especially if they say NO. But some personal loans are possible with a bad score; you get quick money at a time of emergency without having to beg for it, you just have to repay it in time.
You must have a good credit history to be eligible for certain financial advantages in life like taking a bank loan when required. Having a good credit score is great for your records and provides you a stress-free life therefore you must improve your credit score as that is the key to a financially comfortable life.
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After weeks of "climbing the coronacurve", we finally have some good news - we are now officially over the hump "tipping point." The global infection growth slowed from 90% W/W to just 38% W/W in the last fortnight (total infections: 2,157,108, deaths: 143,844, 6.7% mortality rate), and the number of global new daily cases has dropped to 65.6K, the lowest since the end of March.
This means that according to JPMorgan, most early entrants have now passed or are nearing, the infection peak. The following three charts show the snapshot of the "curve" over the past three weeks.
First, this is what the curve looked like on March 24, when only China was in the recovery phase (at least according to its fabricated data).
Then last week, both Korea and Germany had passed over the curve apex.
Fast forward to today, when the number of countries in the recovery phase has jumped and now includes also Australia, Malaysia, Spain and Thailand, with Italy just shy of apexing.
Showing the number of new cases on a log chart confirms the good news that a plateau appears to have been reached.
And so with many of the world's countries in or near recovery, the focus shifts to the "exit plan."
As JPMorgan's MW Kim writes in his weekly update, emergency treatments such as lockdowns and strict social-distancing have been strong curve control solutions, but are proving costly. As a result, he proposes considering three social distancing relaxing checkpoints:
infection growth rate slowdown (checkpoint A),
net infections start to decline (checkpoint B),
midpoint of recovery stage (checkpoint C).
These are shown in the chart below:
The optimal stakeholder/social “utility function” determines which of the three is the most plausible economic re-opening checkpoint. In Kim's view, point C is safest, but point B could be acceptable as long as infections are managed within hospital capacity.
Point A : This is the spot where growth of net infections (= total infections – total recoveries – total death) consistently stays below 50% W/W. Based on backward calculation on the secondary infection rate in China and Korea, JPM estimates an average secondary rate (Ro) is around 2.0. Thus, once the net infection growth rate for a week has stayed below 50% W/W, it would imply high single-digit daily infection growth rate potential. In other words, new infections become small and recoveries are developing. Considering about 2-3 weeks of the virus cycle from symptoms to release, it would be viewed that the curve is in early control stage. Under the assumption that the trend would continue, discussion on relaxed forms of social distancing could be started. The risk of point A is that as daily recoveries are small and new infections are in early control, increasing social activities through the relaxation of social distancing would create possible "acceleration" of the infection curve which would put great pressure on hospital capacity and future public healthcare interventions as a “U-turn" on policy that re-introduces stricter social distancing until the curve is in better shape is deemed to be more costly. This sudden jump of the infection tally amidst the curve control stage is called a “tipping point”, recent infection statistics in Singapore could be good evidence, although we could see soon if the curve is to be in better control again.
This is the spot where growth of net infections (= total infections – total recoveries – total death) consistently stays below 50% W/W. Based on backward calculation on the secondary infection rate in China and Korea, JPM estimates an average secondary rate (Ro) is around 2.0. Thus, once the net infection growth rate for a week has stayed below 50% W/W, it would imply high single-digit daily infection growth rate potential. In other words, new infections become small and recoveries are developing. Considering about 2-3 weeks of the virus cycle from symptoms to release, it would be viewed that the curve is in early control stage. The risk of point A is that as daily recoveries are small and new infections are in early control, increasing social activities through the relaxation of social distancing would create possible "acceleration" of the infection curve which would put great pressure on hospital capacity and future public healthcare interventions as a “U-turn" on policy that re-introduces stricter social distancing until the curve is in better shape is deemed to be more costly. Point B : This is the spot where total infection growth is below low single-digits or when net infections start to decline (i.e., new infections < new recoveries). As this suggests that a smaller population has newly been in contact with infections and more infections are in the stage of recovery, with aggressive virus testing and a certain degree of social distancing, the curve could continue to move toward a recovery trend. In this curve stage the utility function could be optimised with relatively milder disagreement among stakeholders. At this stage, as total infections/ susceptible is largely under control, the curve could face potential acceleration of the infection tally, and risk would be a possible "rebound" on the curve.
: This is the spot where total infection growth is below low single-digits or when net infections start to decline (i.e., new infections < new recoveries). As this suggests that a smaller population has newly been in contact with infections and more infections are in the stage of recovery, with aggressive virus testing and a certain degree of social distancing, the curve could continue to move toward a recovery trend. In this curve stage the utility function could be optimised with relatively milder disagreement among stakeholders. At this stage, as total infections/ susceptible is largely under control, the curve could face potential acceleration of the infection tally, and risk would be a possible "rebound" on the curve. Point C: This is the curve in the full recovery stage (i.e., very few new infections, more recoveries). If there is a strong conviction that infection is only a one-time event with one curve, this could be the ideal strategy. Closing the curve clearly means that the society could remove future uncertainties related to infection risk. However, as most view that COVID-19 could last in society until a vaccine is fully available to the public with a possible series of infection waves, this could be a relatively safe point to resume the economy, although the overall level of hospital capacity and guidance on relaxed forms of social distancing would be of added importance. Compared to point A or B, the risk on curve control should be lower at point C. The caveat is that, even though re-opening of the economy resumes at this point, it does not mean that society would fully close the curve. Thus, the risk of a second wave could be a possible scenario. Perhaps, the infection curve in the real world would be similar to the one below.
Once society takes the underlying assumption that the risk of a series of waves persists, navigating the ideal exit point for reopening the economy (or relaxation of social distancing) should be needed. It should be noted that, particularly in Asia, overall lockdown periods are now generally matching with COVID-19's life cycle (i.e., up to 2 weeks incubation + 3 weeks from symptoms to recovery) and many countries are in the recovery stage. China and Korea are heading to the first curve end. Malaysia and Thailand have just passed the peak point.
JPM also writes that it believes that a COVID-19 vaccine could potentially be under mass production and maybe available to the public in the next 12-18 months even under an optimistic scenario. This suggests that, for a while, the community would bear certain risks on COVID-19's existence considering the asymptomatic nature, no exact drugs/therapies, and longer latent periods. In that perspective, the strategy of curve flattening should move from costly "closing the first infection curve" to "managing infections within small numbers below hospital capacity factoring in series of outbreak scenarios". In this way, potential mortality spikes due to limited hospital capacity (i.e., ICU beds) could be partially solved.
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A Way to Reach Relevant Customers: There is a competition of businesses makes the online marketing popular all around the world. Organizations or business has leverage the benefits of online business in stimulating the products and services in the market and the internet marketing has become the best medium for reaching the customers to all over the country or the world. Online marketing is considered as the better way to attract the quality consumers to your products. You have seen that radio, newspaper and print media can only attract the local customers not the customers of all over the world but the online marketing in these days has made it easier to get the things that are selling or offering at long distance can purchased it in an easy way. This digital marketing business assists in delivering the quality information and attracting the new customers to your area. There are number of benefits consists of online marketing like it provides convenience to the users to take any service or product and the service is provided quickly. In the online service you do not have to physically visit the shop or store to buy something as it can come at your doorstep.
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Despite once describing Kickstarter as "the only way to make a game in today's world", Molyneux believes it can also be hugely damaging. His latest game Godus, which set out to 'reimagine' 1989's Populous, was initially put on Kickstarter in 2012, later launching on PC, iOS and Android after meeting its funding goal of £450,000 ($732,510).
But Molyneux thinks that the Kickstarter route ended up being detrimental to the project, and has warned of the temptations to over-sell a project - something the gaming icon has earned enough of a reputation for over the years as it is.
"What I've learned is that doing Kickstarter and Steam Early Access, before you've got something which is defined and playable, is a hugely risky undertaking that can be very destructive to the final quality of the game," Molyneux told TechRadar at Bilbao's Fun & Serious Game Festival.
"And if I had my time again, I wouldn't do Kickstarter at the start of development, I would do it at the end of development or towards the end of development. I'm not saying I would never do Kickstarter again, but if I was to do Kickstarter again, I would say 'look, we've done half the game, you can download this demo, you can play the game. You know what the game's going to be, now we're going to take it from this point to this point.'"
Hidden gems
"What doesn't work for innovational games, in my mind, is to put an idea down and say 'Here's the idea, give us the money so we can turn it into a game'," he added. "I don't think that works. Because I think what ends up happening, and what ended up happening with Godus, is that people get a view of what the game is going to be like from what you've said here, and that view is quite often different from what the final game is."
During Godus' journey to launch, Molyneux came under fire for several development decisions, including the introduction of pay-to-win gems that weren't mentioned in the original crowd funding pitch. That, according to Molyneux, is the dangerous reality of the Kickstart pitch.
"There's this overwhelming urge to over-promise because it's such a harsh rule: if you're one penny short of your target then you don't get it. And of course in this instance, the behaviour is incredibly destructive, which is 'Christ, we've only got 10 days to go and we've got to make £100,000, for f**k's sake, lets just say anything'. So I'm not sure I would do that again."
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Who would have guessed that corporate mogul, Luthor Alexander III is (allegedly) behind the superhero pruning?? Well, I guess no one could have since this is his first appearance in the comic.
Obviously he is an homage to Lex Luthor; although in the Kickverse Mr. Alexander is the only one in his company that is allowed to have hair.
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In different circles at different points over the past year, it has been fashionable to hate Pete Buttigieg: He’s too clearly full of himself. He’s too far ahead of himself. What business does the 38-year-old former mayor of a relatively small city have running for president? What real claim to the job?
How about this: He has drawn closer to it than prominent senators who came out of the gate with much more heat on them and were gone even before Iowans caucused. He outpaced and outlasted seasoned governors whose popularity across a broad section of the political spectrum was supposed to be electoral magic. Before hitting a snag in Nevada, he had more delegates from Iowa and New Hampshire than any of his rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, including Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden, who began building their political bases and growing their political careers before Buttigieg was born. His surname is a nearly impenetrable thicket of consonants (BOOT-edge-edge), and yet tens of millions of Americans can now pronounce it just fine.
You cannot chalk that up to novelty. You cannot call it a fluke. It’s a powerful testament to his knacks for fashioning a message that resonates with Americans, delivering it clearly, avoiding unnecessary trouble and mobilizing support. Those talents are precisely the ones that the person sitting at the Resolute Desk needs most. Buttigieg’s campaign is his credential, and it’s a compelling one.
Undertaking a bid for the White House at his age indeed suggests hubris. But getting this far reflects a phenomenal work ethic, a stubborn optimism, extraordinary intelligence and preternatural poise. Those traits, too, are ideal for a president, and none of his rivals possess them in greater measure.
I do wish that he had more miles on his odometer. The way you manage the curves in the road ahead is to draw on the lessons of the hairpin turns before. I’m also concerned about his apparent blind spots on race, but I appreciate his refreshing acknowledgment of missteps. He means to be better. And the thing about students determined to get straight A’s is that they do the homework necessary to make the honor roll.
Buttigieg understands the greatest problem that America faces, which isn’t income inequality, racial injustice, climate change or an obsolete infrastructure. It’s fragmentation. That makes progress on all of those other fronts impossible. America is too divided to move forward. Americans dwell on too many islands with too much fury in the air and too few bridges between them. Buttigieg has not only talked about that more frequently and eloquently than many of the other Democrats in the race, he has made life choices that push against it.
He signed up for military service after he went door-to-door for Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign and observed the wildly disproportionate representation of some American communities in the armed forces, which don’t exactly teem with Harvard-educated wunderkinds like him. To work in government, he didn’t head to Washington. He planted himself and deepened his roots in South Bend, Indiana, the frumpy Rust Belt city in which he’d grown up.
His detractors look at those lines on his résumé and see the eerily perfect machinations of an upstart who scribbled drafts of his inauguration address in crayons when he was still in diapers. Maybe. But, out of diapers, he put in time in places where similarly privileged young men and women typically don’t.
Buttigieg, who is married to another man, has also taken gorgeous aim at tribalism and prejudice. Last year, addressing Mike Pence’s creed-driven homophobia, he said: “Your problem is not with me. Your quarrel, sir, is with my creator.” More recently, he questioned many conservatives’ invocation of “family values” by comparing his commitment to his husband with President Donald Trump’s payment of hush money to a porn star.
Article continues below
In those words I heard more than pithy sound bites. I heard a declaration that Americans can’t and shouldn’t tuck one another into categories. I heard his own claim to transcend any single identity: to be many identities at once. That’s the very definition of this country. With uncommon grace, Pete Buttigieg embodies it.
Frank Bruni
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There is stormy weather on the horizon for Sydney with commuters warned to prepare for a slow and soggy trip home on Thursday evening.
Severe thunderstorms have been developing in the western part of NSW, moving east towards the coast and expected to hit Sydney in the late afternoon or early evening.
Weatherzone senior meteorologist Graeme Brittain has warned Sydney residents to prepare for a soaking.
"There will be storms across the eastern part of NSW this afternoon," he said.
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Credit: Sallie Poggi/UC Davis
Refugees are often considered an economic burden for the countries that take them in, but a new study conducted by UC Davis with the United Nations World Food Program indicates that refugees receiving aid—especially in the form of cash—can can give their host country's economy a substantial boost.
The researchers found that these economic benefits significantly exceeded the amount of the donated aid.
The findings come as refugee numbers around the world are growing. In 2015, an estimated 15.1 million people were displaced from Syria and other locations around the world due to civil conflict or natural disaster, reaching a 20-year high, according to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.
The new study, to be published in the June 20 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, examined the economic impact of three camps in Rwanda, housing refugees from the Congo. In two of the camps, refugees received aid from the United Nations World Food Program in the form of cash, while in the third camp the refugees received the same value of aid but in donated food.
The researchers used economic modeling methods, based on local surveys, to simulate the impact of the refugees on the host-country economy within a 10-km radius of the three refugee camps. They found that cash aid to the refugees had a greater positive impact on the host nation's economy than did in-kind food aid.
"The findings of this study run contrary to the popular perception that refugees are helpless and dependent on food aid," said J. Edward Taylor, the study's lead author and a UC Davis professor of agricultural and resource economics.
"Our data support recent studies suggesting that although refugees have undergone forced migration and are often living in destitute conditions, they still are productive and can interact with their host country's economy in positive ways," Taylor said.
Local impact of cash aid in two refugee camps
In the two cash-aid camps, each adult refugee annually received an annual amount of $120 and $126, respectively, transferred to accounts linked to cell phones provided by the World Food Program. The researchers found that each additional adult refugee in either of those two camps increased the annual real income in the local area by $204 and $253, respectively. This was equivalent to 63-percent and 96-percent increases, created by each refugee in the two cash-aid camps, for the average per-capita income of Rwandan households neighboring the camps.
Most of that monetary "spillover" into the surrounding economy occurred when individuals and businesses within the camps purchased goods and services from businesses and households outside of the refugee camps, the researchers reported.
Refugee households inside the camps accounted for 5.5 percent of the total income within the 10-mile radius of the three camps. And, 17.3 percent of the surveyed businesses outside of the camps reported that their main customers were refugees living in the camps.
Local demand increased incomes nationally
Looking beyond the immediate area, the researchers found that the demand and spending generated locally by the refugees also raised the overall incomes and spending levels for the host country, Rwanda.
Each refugee in the two cash-aid camps boosted annual trade between the local economy and the rest of Rwanda by $49 and $55, the researchers reported.
In-kind food aid had less economic impact
The economic impacts were smaller in the camp whose refugee residents received in-kind food aid rather than cash aid. In that camp, the refugees were given allotments of maize, beans, cooking oil and salt, designed to meet their minimum calorie requirements.
The researchers found that 89 percent of the refugee households in that camp sold part or all of their food allotments outside of the camp. Overall, food items totaling one-fifth of the value of the distributed food aid were eventually sold, often for significantly less than the local retail price.
This practice diversified refugees' diets,by providing them with cash to buy a variety of foods. But it reduced the value of the food aid to the refugees and, by increasing the local food supply, put downward pressure on food prices in the area. Local food producers found themselves competing with cheap foods that had been provided to the refugees as aid.
As a result, the economic impact of each refugee housed in the in-kind food aid camp was just $145, compared to $204 and $253 mentioned above for refugees in each of the two cash-aid camps.
And in-kind food aid resulted in only a $25 increase per refugee in annual trade between the local economy and Rwanda's national economy, compared to $49 and $55 per refugee in each of the respective cash-aid camps.
Lessons for future refugee aid
Taylor and colleagues noted that resettlement of refugees varies greatly around the world, ranging from isolated camps to refugee communities that are well integrated with host-country economies. The researchers suggest that their findings apply most directly to the more than 50 percent of United Nations-supported refugees who live in camps. The vast majority of refugees (86 percent) are hosted by developing countries.
"Our findings indicate that when refugees in these camps are given the opportunity to interact with the economy around them, they can create positive income spillovers for the host-country households and businesses," Taylor said, noting that the Congolese refugees in Rwanda appeared to generate significantly more income than the cash aid they received.
"These findings suggest that a shift from in-kind to cash aid could provide greater economic benefits for the countries that are hosting refugees, if local farmers and traders are able to meet the higher food demand," he said.
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Nacionalni mediji su se proteklih dana svojski trudili u naslovima objasniti tko je uopće taj što je Pamelu Anderson prozvao da širi specijalni rat protiv Hrvatske.
Lažima o 'Slobodnoj Dalmaciji' prvi čovjek splitskog HDZ-a dotaknuo je dno dna
Drama u splitskom HDZ-u: panično se traži krivac za pretrpljeni poraz, od insajderskog izvora doznajemo tko kome što zamjera; Na trenutke je bilo dramatično, Pedro se traži svuda, samo ne među njima
Ljutiti Petar Škorić napao Pamelu Anderson, komentari njegovih virtualnih sljedbenika su u najmanju ruku gadljivi; Markovina: Fascinantna je ta opsjednutost hadezeovaca urotama
Pribjegavali su formulaciji "HDZ-ovac na kojeg se derao Ante Gotovina", ismijavali ga jer nije znao naći križ.
Ali, ovaj Duvnjak je puno više. Petar iz kuće Škorić, prvi od svoga imena, ravnatelj je Županijske uprave za ceste, saborski zastupnik uključen u šest odbora, predsjednik splitskog ogranka HDZ-a, gradski vijećnik Grada Splita i čovjek koji nedvojbeno ima problema u komunikaciji sa ženama.
Jer, nije njemu ovo s Pamelom bio prvi napad na inteligentne dame. Prije godinu i pol obrušio se na novinarku Maju Sever.
Koristeći muški rod, nazvao ju je "najboljim primjerom arogantnog i bahatog SDP-ova propagandista koji promovira propalu totalitarističku ideologiju", dodavši kako je "licemjerno da emisiju Hrvatska uživo uređuje osoba koja mrzi sve hrvatsko".
Iz tih riječi komunikolozi bi lako mogli zaključiti da je Petar osoba bujnog vokabulara. Gaji nevjerojatnu ljubav prema pravopisu, promišlja o stilskim značajkama napisanog. I ne bi se prevarili. Magistar je novinarstva, a ljudi koji ga znaju čitavog života iskreno su ponosni što je stekao visoko obrazovanje.
– Uvijek je bio loš učenik. Kroz čitavu i osnovnu i srednju školu. Zato smo se svi iznenadili kad smo vidjeli da se, eto, odjednom u njemu pobudila želja za učenjem i ko od šale je stekao tu titulu. Više od svega bih želio vidjeti taj njegov magistarski rad. Ako ga vi uspijete pronaći, slobodno mi pošaljite – zamolio nas je Škorićev dugogodišnji poznanik. Nažalost, nismo ga našli. Radova pod imenom Petra Škorića u internetskoj bazi Nacionalne sveučilišne knjižnice – nema.
Nemojte vi sad nešto prejudicirati, sasvim sigurno je da se radi o tehničkoj grešci.
Možda bi Petar volio da te diplome zapravo ni nema. Kočila ga je, tvrdi naš sugovornik, da zasjedne u prijestolje ravnatelja Županijske uprave za ceste, gdje je plaća 15.980 neto.
– On nije tehničke struke, nije građevinar. Zato nije ispunjavao uvjete natječaja, pa su se mijenjala pravila. Jedno vrijeme bio je i šef Državne uprave za zaštitu i spašavanje 112, onda je govorio da ga je politika s tog mjesta potjerala, a ja bih rekao da ga je politika tu i dovela – zaključuje dobro informiran izvor.
Nesretni Škorić, vidite, sad briše znoj čela dok obavlja tri državna posla. U Zagrebu i u Splitu. I uspijeva na svakome biti u radnom vremenu.
Svestran čovjek. Očito tu ima i genetike. Njegov brat, Mario Škorić, također je multitalentiran. Nakon što je godinama radio u banci, dobio je posao u državnoj tvrtki "Plovput", koja se bavi održavanjem svjetionika, a Petrova supruga Ana-Marija radi kao "zamjenica glavnog urednika web-portala Županije splitsko-dalmatinske". Prema podacima iz imovinske kartice, plaća za taj hvalevrijedan posao je 168.900 kuna i 76 lipa bruto, godišnje.
U domaćinstvo Škorićevih iz naših džepova mjesečno se slije i do 35 tisuća kuna. U popisu dodatnih prihoda, na koje ne plaća porez, Škorić navodi da prima još 1600 i 1500 kuna mjesečno različitih naknada.
No, to nije sve.
Prema podacima sa stranice Sabora, samo u prošloj godini za "dodatne troškove" Škoriću smo dali 110.367 kuna i 12 lipa. Tom cifrom upao je među rasipnije zastupnike.
Financirali smo mu čak i naknadu za život odvojen od supruge – ukupno 8417 kuna i 20 lipa.
Ne bilo nam teško, za stanarinu Škoriću dali smo 33.300 kuna, za režije 3573 kune, za noćenja po hotelima 13.541 kunu, za avionske karte 14.822 kune; na račun poreznih obveznika tukao je čak i javni prijevoz pa je tu otišlo 130 naših kuna, na cestarinu 4144, na auto 28.560 i na dnevnice još 3877 kuna.
Treba li se onda čuditi što Petar Škorić svim srcem, najiskrenije na svijetu, obožava Hrvatsku?
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The Relevance of Anarcho-syndicalism
Noam Chomsky interviewed by Peter Jay
The Jay Interview, July 25, 1976
QUESTION: Professor Chomsky, perhaps we should start by trying to define what is not meant by anarchism — the word anarchy is derived, after all, from the Greek, literally meaning “no government.” Now, presumably people who talk about anarchy or anarchism as a system of political philosophy don’t just mean that, as it were, as of January 1st next year, government as we now understand it will suddenly cease; there would be no police, no rules of the road, no laws, no tax collectors, no post office, and so forth. Presumably, it means something more complicated than that.
CHOMSKY: Well, yes to some of those questions, no to others. They may very well mean no policemen, but I don’t think they would mean no rules of the road. In fact, I should say to begin with that the term anarchism is used to cover quite a range of political ideas, but I would prefer to think of it as the libertarian left, and from that point of view anarchism can be conceived as a kind of voluntary socialism, that is, as libertarian socialist or anarcho-syndicalist or communist anarchist, in the tradition of, say, Bakunin and Kropotkin and others. They had in mind a highly organized form of society, but a society that was organized on the basis of organic units, organic communities. And generally, they meant by that the workplace and the neighborhood, and from those two basic units there could derive through federal arrangements a highly integrated kind of social organization which might be national or even international in scope. And these decisions could be made over a substantial range, but by delegates who are always part of the organic community from which they come, to which they return, and in which, in fact, they live.
QUESTION: So it doesn’t mean a society in which there is, literally speaking, no government, so much as a society in which the primary source of authority comes, as it were, from the bottom up, and not the top down. Whereas representative democracy, as we have it in the United States and in Britain, would be regarded as a from-the-top-down authority, even though ultimately the voters decide.
CHOMSKY: Representative democracy, as in, say, the United States or Great Britain, would be criticized by an anarchist of this school on two grounds. First of all because there is a monopoly of power centralized in the state, and secondly — and critically — because the representative democracy is limited to the political sphere and in no serious way encroaches on the economic sphere. Anarchists of this tradition have always held that democratic control of one’s productive life is at the core of any serious human liberation, or, for that matter, of any significant democratic practice. That is, as long as individuals are compelled to rent themselves on the market to those who are willing to hire them, as long as their role in production is simply that of ancillary tools, then there are striking elements of coercion and oppression that make talk of democracy very limited, if even meaningful.
QUESTION: Historically speaking, have there been any sustained examples on any substantial scale of societies which approximated to the anarchist ideal?
CHOMSKY: There are small societies, small in number, that I think have done so quite well, and there are a few examples of large scale libertarian revolutions which were largely anarchist in their structure. As to the first, small societies extending over a long period, I myself think the most dramatic example is perhaps the Israeli kibbutzim, which for a long period really were constructed on anarchist principles, that is: self-management, direct worker control, integration of agriculture, industry, service, personal participation in self-management. And they were, I should think, extraordinarily successful by almost any measure that one can impose.
QUESTION: But they were presumably, and still are, in the framework of a conventional state which guarantees certain basic stabilities.
CHOMSKY: Well, they weren’t always. Actually, their history is rather interesting. Since 1948 they’ve been in the framework of a conventional state. Prior to that they were within the framework of the colonial enclave and, in fact, there was a subterranean, largely cooperative society, which was not really part of the system of the British mandate, but was functioning outside of it. And to some extent, that’s survived the establishment of the state, though of course, it became integrated itself into the state and in my view lost a fair amount of its libertarian socialist character through this process, and through other processes which are unique to the history of that region which we need not go into.
However, as functioning libertarian socialist institutions, I think they are an interesting model that is highly relevant to advanced industrial societies in a way in which some of the other examples that have existed in the past are not. A good example of a really large-scale anarchist revolution — in fact the best example to my knowledge — is the Spanish revolution of 1936, in which, over most of Republican Spain, there was a quite inspiring anarchist revolution that involved both industry and agriculture over substantial areas, developed in a way which to the outside, looks spontaneous. Though, in fact, if you look at the roots of it, you discover that it was based on some three generations of experiment, thought and work which extended anarchist ideas to very large parts of the population in this largely pre-industrial — though not totally pre-industrial — society.
And that, again, was, by both human measures and indeed anyone’s economic measures, quite successful. That is, production continued effectively; workers in farms and factories proved quite capable of managing their affairs without coercion from above, contrary to what lots of socialists, communists, liberals and others wanted to believe. And in fact, you can’t tell what would have happened. That anarchist revolution was simply destroyed by force, but during the brief period in which it was alive I think it was a highly successful and, as I say, in many ways a very inspiring testimony to the ability of poor working people to organize and manage their own affairs, extremely successfully, without coercion and control. How relevant the Spanish experience is to an advanced industrial society one might question in detail.
QUESTION: It’s clear that the fundamental idea of anarchism is the primacy of the individual — not necessarily in isolation, but with other individuals — and the fulfillment of his freedom. This in a sense looks awfully like the founding ideas of the United States of America. What is it about the American experience which has made freedom as used in that tradition become a suspect and indeed a tainted phrase in the minds of anarchists and libertarian socialist thinkers like yourself?
CHOMSKY: Let me just say I don’t really regard myself as an anarchist thinker. I’m a derivative fellow traveler [of anarchism], let’s say. Anarchist thinkers have constantly referred to the American experience and to the ideal of Jeffersonian democracy very very favorably. You know, Jefferson’s concept that the best government is the government than governs least, or Thoreau’s addition to that, that the best government is the one that doesn’t govern at all, is one that’s often repeated by anarchist thinkers through modern times.
However, the ideal of Jeffersonian democracy — putting aside the fact that it was a slave society — developed in an essentially pre-capitalist system, that is, in a society in which there was no monopolistic control, there were no significant centers of private power. In fact, it’s striking to go back and read today some of the classic libertarian texts. If one reads, say, Wilhelm von Humboldt’s critique of the state of 1792 [English language version: The Limits of State Action (Cambridge University Press, 1969)], a significant classic libertarian text that certainly inspired Mill, one finds that he doesn’t speak at all of the need to resist private concentration of power, rather he speaks of the need to resist the encroachment of coercive state power. And that is what one finds also in the early American tradition. But the reason is that that was the only kind of power there was. I mean, Humboldt takes for granted that individuals are roughly equivalent in their private power, and that the only real imbalance of power lies in the centralized authoritarian state, and individual freedom had to be sustained against its intrusion — the State or the Church. That’s what he feels one must resist.
Now, when he speaks, for example, of the need for control of one’s creative life, when he decries the alienation of labor that arises from coercion or even instruction or guidance in one’s work, he’s giving an anti-statist or anti-theocratic ideology. But the same principles apply very well to the capitalist industrial society that emerged later. And I would think that Humboldt, had he been consistent, would have ended up being a libertarian socialist.
QUESTION: Don’t these precedents, suggest that there is something inherently pre-industrial about the applicability of libertarian ideas — that they necessarily presuppose a rather rural society in which technology and production are fairly simple, and in which the economic organization tends to be small-scale and localized?
CHOMSKY: Well, let me separate that into two questions: one, how anarchists have felt about it, and two, what I think is the case. As far as anarchist reactions are concerned, there are two. There has been one anarchist tradition — and one might think, say, of Kropotkin as a representative — which had much of the character you describe. On the other hand, there’s another anarchist tradition that develops into anarcho-syndicalism which simply regarded anarchist ideas as the proper mode of organization for a highly complex, advanced industrial society. And that tendency in anarchism merges, or at least inter-relates very closely with a variety of left-wing Marxism, the kind that one finds in, say, the Council Communists that grew up in the Luxembourgian tradition and that is later represented by Marxist theorists like Anton Pannekoek, who developed a whole theory of workers’ councils in industry and who is himself a scientist and astronomer, very much a part of the industrial world.
So, which of these two views is correct? I mean, is it necessary that anarchist concepts belong to the pre-industrial phase of human society or is anarchism the rational mode of organization for a highly advanced industrial society? Well, I myself believe the latter, that is, I think that the industrialization and the advance of technology raise possibilities for self-management over a broad scale that simply didn’t exist in an earlier period. And that in fact this is precisely the rational mode for an advanced and complex industrial society, one in which workers can very well become masters of their own immediate affairs, that is, in direction and control of the shop, but also can be in a position to make the major, substantive decisions concerning the structure of the economy , concerning social institutions, concerning planning, regionally and beyond. At present, institutions do not permit them to have control over the requisite information, and the relevant training to understand these matters. A good deal could be automated. Much of the necessary work that is required to keep a decent level of social life going can be consigned to machines — at least, in principle — which means that humans can be free to undertake the kind of creative work which may not have been possible, objectively, in the early stages of the industrial revolution.
QUESTION: I’d like to pursue in a moment the question of the economics of an anarchist society, but could you sketch in a little more detail the political constitution of an anarchist society, as you would see it in modern conditions? Would there be political parties, for example? What residual forms of government would in fact remain?
CHOMSKY: Let me sketch what I think would be a rough consensus, and one that I think is essentially correct. Beginning with the two modes of organization and control, namely organization and control in the workplace and in the community, one could imagine a network of workers’ councils, and at a higher level, representation across the factories, or across branches of industry, or across crafts, and on to general assemblies of workers’ councils that can be regional and national and international in charter. And from another point of view, one can project a system of government that involves local assemblies — again, federated regionally, dealing with regional issues, crossing crafts, industry, trades, and so on, and again at the level of the nation or beyond.
Now, exactly how these would develop and how they would inter-relate and whether you need both of them or only one, well, these are matters over which anarchist theoreticians have debated and many proposals exist, and I don’t feel confident to take a stand. These are questions which will have to be worked out.
QUESTION: But, there would not be, for example, direct national elections and political parties organized from coast to coast, as it were. Because, if there were that would presumably create a kind of central authority which would be inimical to the idea of anarchism.
CHOMSKY: No, the idea of anarchism is that delegation of authority is rather minimal and that its participants at any one of these levels of government should be directly responsive to the organic community in which they live. In fact, the optimal situation would be that participation in one of these levels of government should be temporary, and even during the period when it’s taking place should be only partial; that is, the members of a workers’ council who are for some period actually functioning to make decisions that other people don’t have the time to make, should also continue to do their work as part of the workplace or neighborhood community in which they belong.
As for political parties, my feeling is that an anarchist society would not forcefully prevent political parties from arising. In fact, anarchism has always been based on the idea that any sort of Procrustean bed, any system of norms that is imposed on social life will constrain and very much underestimate its energy and vitality and that all sorts of new possibilities of voluntary organization may develop at that higher level of material and intellectual culture. But I think it is fair to say that insofar as political parties are felt to be necessary, anarchist organization of society will have failed. That is, it should be the case, I would think, that where there is direct participation in self-management, in economic and social affairs, then factions, conflicts, differences of interests and ideas and opinion, which should be welcomed and cultivated, will be expressed at every one of these levels. Why they should fall into two, three or n political parties, I don’t quite see. I think that the complexity of human interest and life does not fall in that fashion. Parties represent basically class interests, and classes would have been eliminated or transcended in such a society.
QUESTION: One last question on the political organization. Is there not a danger with this sort of hierarchical tier of assemblies and quasi-governmental structure, without direct elections, that the central body, or the body that is in some sense at the top of this pyramid, would get very remote from the people on the ground? And since it will have to have some powers if it’s going to deal with international affairs, for example, and may even have to have control over armed forces and things like that, that it would be less democratically responsive than the existing regime?
CHOMSKY: It’s a very important property of any libertarian society to prevent an evolution in the direction that you’ve described, which is a possible evolution, and one that institutions should be designed to prevent. And I think that that’s entirely possible. I myself am totally unpersuaded that participation in governance is a full-time job. It may be in an irrational society, where all sorts of problems arise because of the irrational nature of institutions. But in a properly functioning advanced industrial society organized along libertarian lines, I would think that executing decisions taken by representative bodies is a part-time job which should be rotated through the community and, furthermore, should be undertaken by people who at all times continue to be participants in their own direct activity.
It may be that governance is on a par with, say, steel production. If that turns out to be true — and I think that is a question of empirical fact that has to be determined, it can’t be projected out of the mind — but if it turns out to be true then it seems to me the natural suggestion is that governance should be organized industrially, as simply one of the branches of industry, with their own workers’ councils and their own self-governance and their own participation in broader assemblies.
I might say that in the workers’ councils that have spontaneously developed here and there — for example, in the Hungarian revolution of 1956 — that’s pretty much what happened. There was, as I recall, a workers’ council of state employees who were simply organized along industrial lines as another branch of industry. That’s perfectly possible, and it should be or could be a barrier against the creation of the kind of remote coercive bureaucracy that anarchists of course fear.
QUESTION: If you suppose that there would continue to be a need for self-defense on quite a sophisticated level, I don’t see from your description how you would achieve effective control of this system of part-time representative councils at various levels from the bottom up, over an organization as powerful and as necessarily technically sophisticated as, for example, the Pentagon.
CHOMSKY: Well, first, we should be a little clearer about terminology. You refer to the Pentagon, as is usually done, as a defense organization. In 1947, when the National Defense Act was passed, the former War Department — the American department concerned with war which up to that time was honestly called the War Department — had its name changed to the Defense Department. I was a student then and didn’t think I was very sophisticated, but I knew and everyone else knew that this meant that to whatever extent the American military had been involved in defense in the past — and partially it had been so — this was now over. Since it was being called the Defense Department, that meant it was going to be a department of aggression, nothing else.
QUESTION: On the principle of never believe anything until it’s officially denied.
CHOMSKY: Right. Sort of on the assumption that Orwell essentially had captured the nature of the modern state. And that’s exactly the case. I mean, the Pentagon is in no sense a defense department. It has never defended the United States from anyone. It has only served to conduct aggression. And I think that the American people would be much better off without a Pentagon. They certainly don’t need it for defense. Its intervention in international affairs has never been — well, you know, never is a strong word, but I think you would be hard put to find a case — certainly it has not been its characteristic pose to support freedom or liberty or to defend people and so on. That’s not the role of the massive military organization that is controlled by the Defense Department. Rather, its tasks are two — both quite anti-social.
The first is to preserve an international system in which what are called American interests — which primarily means business interests, can flourish. And, secondly, it has an internal economic task. I mean, the Pentagon has been the primary Keynesian mechanism whereby the government intervenes to maintain what is ludicrously called the health of the economy by inducing production, that means production of waste.
Now, both these functions serve certain interests, in fact dominant interests, dominant class interests in American society. But I don’t think in any sense they serve the public interest, and I think that this system of production of waste and of destruction would essentially be dismantled in a libertarian society. Now, one shouldn’t be too glib about this. If one can imagine, let’s say, a social revolution in the United States — that’s rather distant, I would say, but if that took place, it’s hard to imagine that there would be any credible enemy from the outside that could threaten that social revolution — we wouldn’t be attacked by Mexico or Cuba, let’s say. An American revolution would not require, I think, defense against aggression. On the other hand, if a libertarian social revolution were to take place, say, in western Europe, then I think the problem of defense would be very critical.
QUESTION: I was going to say, it can’t surely be inherent to the anarchist idea that there should be no self-defense, because such anarchist experiments as there have been have, on the record, actually been destroyed from without.
CHOMSKY: Ah, but I think that these questions cannot be given a general answer. They have to be answered specifically, relative to specific historical and objective conditions.
QUESTION: It’s just that I found a little difficulty in following your description of the proper democratic control of this kind of organization, because I find it a little hard to see the generals controlling themselves in the manner you would approve of.
CHOMSKY: That’s why I do want to point out the complexity of the issue. It depends on the country and the society that you’re talking about. In the United States, one kind of problem arises. If there were a libertarian social revolution in Europe, then I think the problems you raise would be very serious, because there would be a serious problem of defense. That is, I would assume that if libertarian socialism were achieved at some level in Western Europe, there would be a direct military threat both from the Soviet Union and by the United States. And the problem would be how that should be countered. That’s the problem that was faced by the Spanish revolution. There was direct military intervention by Fascists, by Communists and by liberal democracies in the background, and the question how can one defend oneself against attack at this level is a very serious one.
However, I think we have to raise the question whether centralized, standing armies, with high technology deterrents, are the most effective way to do that. And that’s by no means obvious. For example, I don’t think that a Western European centralized army would itself deter a Russian or American attack to prevent libertarian socialism — the kind of attack that I would quite frankly expect at some level: maybe not military, at least economic.
QUESTION: But nor on the other hand, would a lot of peasants with pitchforks and spades…
CHOMSKY: We’re not talking about peasants. We’re talking about a highly sophisticated, highly urban industrial society. And it seems to me, its best method of defense would be its political appeal to the working class in the countries that were part of the attack. But again, I don’t want to be glib. It might need tanks, it might need armies. And if it did, I think we can be fairly sure that that would contribute to the possible failure or at least decline of the revolutionary force — for exactly the reasons that you mentioned. That is, I think it’s extremely hard to imagine how an effective centralized army deploying tanks, planes, strategic weapons, and so on, could function. If that’s what’s required to preserve the revolutionary structures, then I think they may well not be preserved.
QUESTION: If the basic defense is the political appeal, or the appeal of the political and economic organization, perhaps we could look in a little more detail at that. You wrote, in one of your essays, that “in a decent society, everyone would have the opportunity to find interesting work and each person would be permitted the fullest possible scope for his talents.” And then, you went on to ask: “What more would be required in particular, extrinsic reward in the form of wealth and power? Only if we assume that applying one’s talents in interesting and socially useful work is not rewarding in itself.” I think that that line of reasoning is certainly one of the things that appeals to a lot of people. But it still needs to be explained, I think, why the kind of work which people would find interesting and appealing and fulfilling to do would coincide at all closely with the kind which actually needs to be done, if we’re to sustain anything like the standard of living which people demand and are used to.
CHOMSKY: Well, there’s a certain amount of work that just has to be done if we’re to maintain that standard of living. It’s an open question how onerous that work has to be. Let’s recall that science and technology and intellect have not been devoted to examining that question or to overcoming the onerous and self-destructive character of the necessary work of society. The reason is that it has always been assumed that there is a substantial body of wage slaves who will do it simply because otherwise they’ll starve. However, if human intelligence is turned to the question of how to make the necessary work of the society itself meaningful, we don’t know what the answer will be. My guess is that a fair amount of it can be made entirely tolerable. It’s a mistake to think that even back-breaking physical labor is necessarily onerous. Many people, myself included, do it for relaxation. Well, recently, for example, I got it into my head to plant thirty-four trees in a meadow behind the house, on the State Conservation Commission, which means I had to dig thirty-four holes in the sand. You know, for me, and what I do with my time mostly, that’s pretty hard work, but I have to admit I enjoyed it. I wouldn’t have enjoyed it if I’d had work norms, if I’d had an overseer, and if I’d been ordered to do it at a certain moment, and so on. On the other hand, if it’s a task taken on just out of interest, fine, that can be done. And that’s without any technology, without any thought given to how to design the work, and so on.
QUESTION: I put it to you that there may be a danger that this view of things is a rather romantic delusion, entertained only by a small elite of people who happen, like professors, perhaps journalists, and so on, to be in the very privileged situation of being paid to do what anyway they like to do.
CHOMSKY: That’s why I began with a big “If”. I said we first have to ask to what extent the necessary work of the society — namely that work which is required to maintain the standard of living that we want — needs to be onerous or undesirable. I think that the answer is: much less than it is it today. But let’s assume there is some extent to which it remains onerous. Well, in that case, the answer’s quite simple: that work has to be equally shared among people capable of doing it.
QUESTION: And everyone spends a certain number of months a year working on an automobile production line and a certain number of months collecting the garbage and…
CHOMSKY: If it turns out that these are really tasks which people will find no self-fulfillment in. Incidentally, i don’t quite believe that. As I watch people work, craftsmen, let’s say, automobile mechanics for example, I think one often finds a good deal of pride in work. I think that that kind of pride in work well done, in complicated work well done, because it takes thought and intelligence to do it, especially when one is also involved in management of the enterprise, determination of how the work will be organized, what it is for, what the purposes of the work are, what’ll happen to it, and so on — I think all of this can be satisfying and rewarding activity which in fact requires skills, the kind of skills people will enjoy exercising. However, I’m thinking hypothetically now. Suppose it turns out there is some residue of work which really no one wants to do, whatever that may be — okay, then I say that the residue of work must be equally shared, and beyond that, people will be free to exercise their talents as they see fit.
QUESTION: I put it you, Professor, that if that residue were very large, as some people would say it was, if it accounted for the work involved in producing ninety per cent of what we all want to consume — then the organization of sharing this, on the basis that everybody did a little bit of all the nasty jobs, would become wildly inefficient. Because, after all, you have to be trained and equipped to do even the nasty jobs, and the efficiency of the whole economy would suffer, and therefore the standard of living which it sustained would be reduced.
CHOMSKY: Well, for one thing, this is really quite hypothetical, because I don’t believe that the figures are anything like that. As I say, it seems to me that if human intelligence were devoted to asking how technology can be designed to fit the needs of the human producer, instead of conversely — that is, now we ask how the human being with his special properties can be fitted into a technological system designed for other ends, namely, production for profit — my feeling is that if that were done, we would find that the really unwanted work is far smaller than you suggest. But whatever it is, notice that we have two alternatives. One alternative is to have it equally shared, the other is to design social institutions so that some group of people will be simply compelled to do the work, on pain of starvation. Those are the two alternatives.
QUESTION: Not compelled to do it, but they might agree to do it voluntarily because they were paid an amount which they felt made it worthwhile.
CHOMSKY: Well, but you see, I’m assuming everyone essentially gets equal remuneration. Don’t forget that we’re not talking about a society now where the people who do the onerous work are paid substantially more than the people who do the work that they do on choice — quite the opposite. The way our society works, the way any class society works, the people who do the unwanted work are the ones who are paid least. That work is done and we sort of put it out of our minds, because it’s assumed that there will be a massive class of people who control only one factor of production, namely their labor, and have to sell it, and they’ll have to do that work because they have nothing else to do, and they’ll be paid very little for it. I accept the correction. Let’s imagine three kinds of society: one, the current one, in which the undesired work is given to wage-slaves. Let’s imagine a second system in which the undesired work, after the best efforts to make it meaningful, is shared. And let’s imagine a third system where the undesired work receives high extra pay, so that individuals voluntarily choose to do it. Well, it seems to me that either of the two latter systems is consistent with — vaguely speaking — anarchist principles. I would argue myself for the second rather than the third, but either of the two is quite remote from any present social organization or any tendency in contemporary social organization.
QUESTION: Let me put that to you in another way. It seems to me that there is a fundamental choice, however one disguises it, between whether you organize work for the satisfaction it gives to the people who do it, or whether you organize it on the basis of the value of what is produced for the people who are going to use or consume what is produced. And that a society that is organized on the basis of giving everybody the maximum opportunity to fulfill their hobbies, which is essentially the work-for-work’s-sake view, finds its logical culmination in a monastery, where the kind of work which is done, namely prayer, is work for the self-enrichment of the worker and where nothing is produced which is of any use to anybody and you live either at a low standard of living, or you actually starve.
CHOMSKY: Well, there are some factual assumptions here, and I disagree with you about the factual assumptions. My feeling is that part of what makes work meaningful is that it does have use, that its products do have use. The work of the craftsman is in part meaningful to that craftsman because of the intelligence and skill that he puts into it, but also in part because the work is useful, and I might say, the same is true of scientists. I mean, the fact that the kind of work you do may lead to something else — that’s what it means in science, you know — may contribute to something else, that’s very important quite apart from the elegance and beauty of what you may achieve. And I think that covers every field of human endeavor. Furthermore, I think if we look at a good part of human history, we’ll find that people to a substantial extent did get some degree of satisfaction — often a lot of satisfaction — from the productive and creative work that they were doing. And I think that the chances for that are enormously enhanced by industrialization. Why? Precisely because much of the most meaningless drudgery can be taken over by machines, which means that the scope for really creative human work is substantially enlarged.
Now, you speak of work freely undertaken as a hobby. But I don’t believe that. I think work freely undertaken can be useful, meaningful work done well. Also, you pose a dilemma that many people pose, between desire for satisfaction in work and a desire to create things of value to the community. But it’s not so obvious that there is any dilemma, any contradiction. So, it’s by no means clear — in fact, I think it’s false — that contributing to the enhancement of pleasure and satisfaction in work is inversely proportional to contributing to the value of the output.
QUESTION: Not inversely proportional, but it might be unrelated. I mean, take some very simple thing, like selling ice-creams on the beach on a public holiday. It’s a service to society: undoubtedly people want ice-creams, they feel hot. On the other hand, it’s hard to see in what sense there is either a craftsman’s joy or a great sense of social virtue or nobility in performing that task. Why would anyone perform that task if they were not rewarded for it?
CHOMSKY: I must say, I’ve seen some very cheery-looking ice cream vendors…
QUESTION: Sure, they’re making a lot of money.
CHOMSKY: … who happen to like the idea that they’re giving children ice-creams, which seems to me a perfectly reasonable way to spend one’s time, as compared with thousands of other occupations that I can imagine.
Recall that a person has an occupation, and it seems to me that most of the occupations that exist — especially the ones that involve what are called services, that is, relations to human beings — have an intrinsic satisfaction and rewards associated with them, namely in the dealings with the human beings that are involved. That’s true of teaching, and it’s true of ice cream vending. I agree that ice cream vending doesn’t require the commitment or intelligence that teaching does, and maybe for that reason it will be a less desired occupation. But if so, it will have to be shared.
However, what I’m saying is that our characteristic assumption that pleasure in work, pride in work, is either unrelated to or negatively related to the value of the output is related to a particular stage of social history, namely capitalism, in which human beings are tools of production. It is by no means necessarily true. For example, if you look at the many interviews with workers on assembly lines, for example, that have been done by industrial psychologists, you find that one of the things they complain about over and over again is the fact that their work simply can’t be done well; the fact that the assembly line goes through so fast that they can’t do their work properly. I just happened to look recently at a study of longevity in some journal on gerontology which tried to trace the factors that you could use to predict longevity — you know, cigarette smoking and drinking, genetic factors — everything was looked at. It turned out, in fact, that the highest predictor, the most successful predictor, was job satisfaction.
QUESTION: People who have nice jobs live longer.
CHOMSKY: People who are satisfied with their jobs. And I think that makes a good deal of sense, you know, because that’s where you spend your life, that’s where your creative activities are. Now what leads to job satisfaction? Well, I think many things lead to it, and the knowledge that you are doing something useful for the community is an important part of it. Many people who are satisfied with their work are people who feel that what they’re doing is important to do. They can be teachers, they can be doctors, they can be scientists, they can be craftsmen, they can be farmers. I mean, I think the feeling that what one is doing is important, is worth doing, contributes to those with whom one has social bonds, is a very significant factor in one’s personal satisfaction.
And over and above that there is the pride and the self-fulfilment that comes from a job well done — from simply taking your skills and putting them to use. Now, I don’t see why that should in any way harm, in fact I should think it would enhance, the value of what’s produced.
But let’s imagine still that at some level it does harm. Well, okay, at that point, the society, the community, has to decide how to make compromises. Each individual is both a producer and a consumer, after all, and that means that each individual has to join in these socially determined compromises — if in fact there are compromises. And again I feel the nature of the compromise is much exaggerated because of the distorting prism of the really coercive and personally destructive system in which we live.
QUESTION: All right, you say the community has to make decisions about compromises, and of course communist theory provides for this in its whole thinking about national planning, decisions about investment, direction of investment, and so forth. In an anarchist society, it would seem that you’re not willing to provide for that amount of governmental superstructure that would be necessary to make the plans, make the investment decisions, to decide whether you give priority to what people want to consume, or whether you give priority to the work people want to do.
CHOMSKY: I don’t agree with that. It seems to me that anarchist, or, for that matter, left-Marxist structures, based on systems of workers’ councils and federations, provide exactly the set of levels of decision-making at which decisions can be made about a national plan. Similarly, state socialist societies also provide a level of decision-making — let’s say the nation — in which national plans can be produced. There’s no difference in that respect. The difference has to do with participation in those decisions and control over those decisions. In the view of anarchists and left-Marxists — like the workers’ councils or the Council Communists, who were left-Marxists — those decisions are made by the informed working class through their assemblies and their direct representatives, who live among them and work among them. On the state socialist systems, the national plan is made by a national bureaucracy, which accumulates to itself all the relevant information, makes decisions, offers them to the public, and says, “You can pick me or you can pick him, but we’re all part of this remote bureaucracy.” These are the poles, these are the polar opposites within the socialist tradition.
QUESTION: So, in fact, there’s a very considerable role for the state and possibly even for civil servants, for bureaucracy, but it’s the control over it that’s different.
CHOMSKY: Well, see, I don’t really believe that we need a separate bureaucracy to carry out governmental decisions.
QUESTION: You need various forms of expertise.
CHOMSKY: Oh, yes, but let’s take expertise with regard to economic planning, because certainly in any complex industrial society there should be a group of technicians whose task it is to produce plans, and to lay out the consequences of decisions, to explain to the people who have to make the decisions that if you decide this, you’re likely to get this consequence, because that’s what your programming model shows, and so on. But the point is that those planning systems are themselves industries, and they will have their workers’ councils and they will be part of the whole council system, and the distinction is that these planning systems do not make decisions. They produce plans in exactly the same way that automakers produce autos. The plans are then available for the workers’ councils and council assemblies, in the same way that autos are available to ride in. Now, of course, what this does require is an informed and educated working class. But that’s precisely what we are capable of achieving in advanced industrial societies.
QUESTION: How far does the success of libertarian socialism or anarchism really depend on a fundamental change in the nature of man, both in his motivation, his altruism, and also in his knowledge and sophistication?
CHOMSKY: I think it not only depends on it but in fact the whole purpose of libertarian socialism is that it will contribute to it. It will contribute to a spiritual transformation — precisely that kind of great transformation in the way humans conceive of themselves and their ability to act, to decide, to create, to produce, to enquire — precisely that spiritual transformation that social thinkers from the left-Marxist traditions, from Luxembourg, say, through anarcho-syndicalists, have always emphasized. So, on the one hand, it requires that spiritual transformation. On the other hand, its purpose is to create institutions which will contribute to that transformation in the nature of work, the nature of creative activity, simply in social bonds among people, and through this interaction of creating institutions which permit new aspects of human nature to flourish. And then the building of still more libertarian institutions to which these liberated human beings can contribute. This is the evolution of socialism as I understand it.
QUESTION: And finally, Professor Chomsky, what do you think of the chances of societies along these lines coming into being in the major industrial countries in the West in the next quarter of a century or so?
CHOMSKY: I don’t think I’m wise enough, or informed enough, to make predictions and I think predictions about such poorly understood matters probably generally reflect personality more than judgment. But I think this much at least we can say: there are obvious tendencies in industrial capitalism towards concentration of power in narrow economic empires and in what is increasingly becoming a totalitarian state. These are tendencies that have been going on for a long time, and I don’t see anything stopping them really. I think those tendencies will continue. They’re part of the stagnation and decline of capitalist institutions.
Now, it seems to me that the development towards state totalitarianism and towards economic concentration — and, of course, they are linked — will continually lead to revulsion, to efforts of personal liberation and to organizational efforts at social liberation. And that’ll take all sorts of forms. Throughout all Europe, in one form or another, there is a call for what is sometimes called worker participation or co-determination, or even sometimes worker control. Now, most of these efforts are minimal. I think that they’re misleading — in fact, may even undermine efforts for the working class to liberate itself. But, in part, they’re responsive to a strong intuition and understanding that coercion and repression, whether by private economic power or by the state bureaucracy, is by no means a necessary feature of human life. And the more those concentrations of power and authority continue, the more we will see revulsion against them and efforts to organize and overthrow them. Sooner or later, they’ll succeed, I hope.
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Emily Zanotti, Daily Wire, April 19, 2020
In a shocking essay for Harvard Magazine, a professor of law and director of Harvard Law School’s child advocacy legal clinic, claims homeschooling is a threat to children’s rights, a method of promoting white supremacy, and a drain on democratic society — and even goes so far as to suggest a national “presumptive ban” on the practice.
Harvard is playing host to a “homeschooling summit,” slated to take place (at least digitally) June 18-19, according to the Daily Caller News Foundation. {snip}
{snip}
Prof. Elizabeth Bartholet is leading the charge against those who actively resist public schools and she believes that the generation currently being homeschooled is an eventual, if not active, breeding ground for racism, sexism, and isolationism.
“Many homeschool precisely because they want to isolate their children from ideas and values central to public education and to our democracy. Many promote racial segregation and female subservience. Many question science. Many are determined to keep their children from exposure to views that might enable autonomous choice about their future lives,” she claims.
{snip}
“[S]urveys of homeschoolers show that a majority of such families (by some estimates, up to 90 percent) are driven by conservative Christian beliefs, and seek to remove their children from mainstream culture,” Harvard Magazine warns. “Bartholet notes that some of these parents are ‘extreme religious ideologues’ who question science and promote female subservience and white supremacy.”
{snip}
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One of the stranger features of the quantum world is that light—even individual photons—can behave as a wave or a particle, depending on how you measure it. But, according to papers released by Science today, the quantum weirdness doesn't end there. Researchers have now found a way to put a photon in a quantum superposition where it is both a wave and a particle at the same time. Worse still, one setup allows them to determine the photon's nature as a wave or particle after it has gone through an apparatus where it must act as one or the other.
Got that? Didn't think so, so let's go through it in more detail.
The two experiments use a similar design. Polarized photons are sent one at a time into a device, where they first encounter a beamsplitter, which has a 50/50 chance of sending them down one of two paths. On one of the paths, they will encounter a device that rotates the polarization a bit. Mirrors then send the photons toward an intersection flanked by two detectors.
If the intersection is empty, the photons will act as particles, meaning that they'll travel down one of the two paths, and the two detectors will click with equal frequencies. If, however, a second beamsplitter is present, the two photons can recombine and interfere with each other. In this case, the wave-like nature of the single photon takes over. It travels down both paths, interferes with itself, and, because of this interference, can only strike one of the two detectors. The presence of the second beamsplitter determines whether a photon will act as a wave or a particle.
One objection to this is that there could be some mechanism by which a photon could detect the sort of device it's about to enter and behave accordingly (a possibility that could occur through some hidden variables). The obvious way to deal with these objections is to decide whether or not to put the second beamsplitter in place only after the photon has passed through the first one, and must already be acting as either a wave or particle. But photons move very quickly, so switching a device in time would be exceedingly challenging.
This being quantum mechanics, it turned out to be easier to violate causality instead.
Using two entangled photons, it's possible for measurements of one photon to tell us about the fate of the second. If we send one photon through the device and then measure the second, it's possible to determine whether the first one should encounter the beamsplitter or not. Through the use of a delayed choice experiment, it's even possible to perform this measurement after the first photon has been through the entire apparatus and hit the detectors. In other words, the results of the measurement of photon two dictate what photon one must have already done.
So that's precisely what the authors of one paper did. By entangling the polarization of two photons and sending one through the device, then measuring the second, they could determine whether the beamsplitter was present after the first photon encountered it. Through a test of Bell's inequalities, which account for the presence of hidden variables, they were able to determine that the system was behaving in a truly quantum manner: the photons were both a wave and a particle at the same time.
The second paper did something substantially similar, but also did something a bit more complex with the second photon. Through a careful manipulation of its polarization, researchers were able to set the first photon (the one that went through the apparatus) into a superposition of wave and particle states, meaning it was an indeterminate mixture of the two. By changing how they handled the second photon, they could also control the probabilities of this superposition, making it more wave or particle-like on demand. As with the other experiment, they did this all after the first photon had been through the device and been measured by the two detectors.
Any one of these facts—being a wave and a particle at the same time, a measurement influencing the behavior of events that have already taken place, and a physical beamsplitter being in a quantum superposition of present and not present—are all pretty mind-bending. Putting them all together in a single experiment is especially so.
But an accompanying perspective suggests that the quantum mechanics aren't done yet. If we can get a quantum memory that is stable for extended periods of time, it should be possible to hold off measuring the polarization state of photon two for seconds, perhaps even minutes. In that case, the delay portion of these delayed choice experiments would actually be perceptible to the people doing the experiment.
Science, 2012. DOI: 10.1126/science.1226719, 10.1126/science.1226755 (About DOIs).
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HS2 has unveiled revised plans for its London terminus at Euston, prolonging construction by seven years and incorporating a bright yellow roof over its high-speed rail platforms.
The £2.25bn development at the station will now be completed in 2033 rather than 2026, built in two stages to limit disruption to passengers on the traditional network. Work is due to begin in 2017.
HS2 bosses said the proposals, which must be approved by parliament, were flexible enough to allow redevelopment of the type that has been done around London St Pancras, the terminus for HS1.
Although the chancellor, George Osborne, and David Higgins, HS2’s chair, have pledged something more ambitious for Euston, the proposals so far only cover HS2’s infrastructure rather than an anticipated wider redevelopment plan for Euston station and the surrounding area.
Network Rail has yet to spell out how it will redevelop the existing station, and the arguments over what will be built above or alongside to replace demolished homes and shops will not be settled for years.
The revised blueprint does not alter the proposed destruction of homes and businesses to the west of the existing station, where the first six HS2 platforms will be built ready for service in 2026. A further five will replace platforms within the existing station by 2033.
The new Euston station design. Photograph: Grimshaw Architects/PA
Rupert Walker, the Euston development director for HS2 and Network Rail, said the original plans did not make the most of redevelopment opportunities and meant “disruption to passengers would have been a real issue”.
He said planners had “redesigned from the bottom up, and reviewed every single requirement for the needs of HS2, rail passengers and the community”, adding: “Euston needs to become a station that both the nation and local community can be proud of – and share.”
But Camden council, whose residents will suffer the greatest disruption during the construction, criticised the revised plans. “The council feels serious questions have been left unanswered on how major transport projects, such as Crossrail 2, will integrate with the station, and worries Camden will lose out as the full opportunity for local jobs and affordable homes on the site will not be realised as there is no commitment to comprehensive development of the station.”
Walker confirmed that the plans finally ruled out any possible link between HS2 and HS1, the high-speed train line to Paris which starts at nearby St Pancras. A mooted travelator appears off the cards for now: instead, Walker said the new station layout, merging with Euston Square underground station, would allow passengers with heavy luggage to take the Circle line for one stop to change to trains to Europe.
The transport secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, said the plans were “the first steps towards creating a station in Euston of which the both the local community and national passengers can be proud”.
But there are fears within the industry that the promised wider development of Euston may not materialise, and Network Rail will have to design any eventual station rebuild around HS2’s bolt-on terminus.
Labour’s shadow rail minister, Lilian Greenwood, said: “When you look at the comments George Osborne made last year, the reality doesn’t match up. As we’ve seen with the ‘northern powerhouse’, there’s a gap between the rhetoric and the reality.”
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A zoo in China with a paltry line-up of animals, including inflatable penguins and a single tortoise, has drawn laughs and derision from Chinese netizens.
The zoo opened recently in China's Yulin city, which is usually in the news for its annual dog meat festival, Chinese news site The Cover reported on Thursday (Nov 30).
The Guishan zoo put out an advertisement saying it had a "penguin invasion", and added that the zoo had activities on Nov 25 and Nov 26, which could "educate visitors about living creatures".
A banner, which shows animals such as an ostrich, a peacock, a crocodile and penguins from the animated film Madagascar, proclaims: "Where to go this weekend? A new zoo has moved in - come visit."
Photos going viral on China's Twitter-like site Sina Weibo show scenes at the zoo.
One shot shows six inflatable penguins in an "enclosure". Another shows a single blow-up penguin in a moat, with children looking on.
Other sights at the zoo include a few roosters in a cage, some geese and a "longevity tortoise" that supposedly invites luck. It was placed in a clear fish tank and several dollar bills and coins had been tossed inside.
One Sina Weibo user posted photos of the "zoo" and wrote: "My friends happily bought three tickets to the new zoo and thought they could go see some animals, but who knew when they went in...(this was what they saw)".
Another user sarcastically marvelled at the "rare, wild animals".
"Yes, there are even penguins! I laughed until my face cramped," he wrote.
In 2013, an "African lion" in a zoo in Henan was revealed to be a Tibetan mastiff when it barked.
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There is that long standing debate for which a great many fans are split almost down the middle pertaining to the life and death of one Camp Director namedfrom Friday the 13th Part 2 . A confusing ending to the film further frustrates fans when it comes to making a final determination on Paul's fate. That being said, one photo surfaced in 2009 that caused a little bit of a stir in this debate which was never fully brought out into the open.The back cover of the 2009 Deluxe U.S. DVD release displays a peculiar image of Paul Holt (right side of back cover art below) where he looks to be either in some sort of pain or even worse! There has been forum chatter with regards to this photo with speculative explanations for the image. Is this some sort of a behind the scenes image that was snapped quickly by the crew? Is this a promotional image that was used early on for the film in 1981? Perhaps, this is some sort of lost image of a scene that was supposed to show Paul dead after his encounter with Jason?Well, the mystery was cleared up by Crash Cunningham ( Interview Here ) a few years ago with this description of the image used below.Below is the photo as seen on the back of the DVD cover as well as the actual photo from the set which shows actor John Furey in his now infamous pose!
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Over the last few weeks in this space, we took a position-by-position look at the ball-in-play (BIP) profiles of 2015 regulars and semi-regulars to gain some insight into their potential performance moving forward. As I wrote the following, snow fell outside my window in blatant disregard for the dawn of baseball season. Regardless, we continue our similar BIP-centric analysis of qualifying 2015 starting pitchers, division by division. We began with NL East starters. Today’s second installment focuses on the NL Central.
First, some ground rules. To come up with an overall player population roughly equal to one starting rotation per team, the minimum number of batted balls allowed with Statcast readings was set at 243. Pitchers are listed with their 2015 division mates; those who were traded during the season will appear in the division in which they compiled the most innings. Pitchers are listed in “tru” ERA order. For those who have not read my previous articles on the topic, “tru” ERA is the ERA pitchers “should” have compiled based on the actual BIP frequency and authority they allowed relative to the league. Here we go:
Starting Pitcher BIP Profiles – NL Central Name AVG MPH FB/LD MPH GB MPH POP % FLY % LD % GB % ADJ C K % BB % ERA – FIP – TRU – Arrieta 84.89 88.56 82.79 2.1% 20.7% 21.0% 56.2% 73 27.1% 5.5% 45 60 58 Lester 87.44 91.15 85.87 2.5% 26.8% 21.8% 48.9% 91 25.0% 5.7% 86 75 76 J.Garcia 87.88 92.01 85.92 1.1% 21.2% 16.5% 61.2% 81 19.0% 5.9% 62 77 79 Hendricks 88.24 91.05 87.22 2.4% 24.5% 21.8% 51.3% 91 22.6% 5.8% 101 86 80 G.Cole 89.08 91.69 86.86 1.8% 27.8% 22.4% 48.0% 99 24.3% 5.3% 67 68 81 C.Martinez 87.63 91.79 85.99 1.7% 23.7% 20.1% 54.5% 91 24.4% 8.3% 77 82 81 F.Liriano 86.36 90.48 84.08 2.5% 23.9% 22.4% 51.2% 99 26.5% 9.1% 87 82 84 Fiers 88.51 91.60 85.65 5.3% 36.8% 20.3% 37.6% 96 23.7% 8.4% 95 103 87 Lackey 88.59 90.95 88.04 3.9% 29.5% 20.6% 46.0% 96 19.5% 5.9% 71 92 91 Hammel 89.02 92.20 85.68 1.5% 35.7% 24.5% 38.3% 112 24.2% 5.6% 96 94 92 Haren 88.54 91.85 86.51 5.4% 43.8% 20.2% 30.6% 94 17.2% 5.0% 92 118 92 Wacha 87.48 91.62 85.94 3.6% 28.4% 22.2% 45.8% 95 20.1% 7.6% 87 99 92 Cueto 87.27 90.32 85.58 4.3% 31.3% 21.8% 42.5% 105 20.3% 5.3% 88 91 95 DeSclafani 89.10 92.07 87.39 3.4% 30.3% 21.2% 45.1% 101 19.2% 7.0% 104 94 97 Locke 87.21 90.70 85.61 1.5% 23.4% 24.1% 51.0% 96 17.5% 8.2% 115 101 100 Lynn 88.96 91.86 88.72 3.2% 31.0% 21.6% 44.2% 107 22.2% 9.1% 78 88 100 J.Nelson 86.62 90.74 84.48 3.1% 26.3% 20.0% 50.6% 102 19.7% 8.6% 105 105 101 Burnett 90.48 94.10 88.84 2.0% 22.1% 22.5% 53.4% 113 20.5% 7.0% 82 86 105 Jungmann 87.64 91.94 84.67 2.4% 30.7% 20.6% 46.3% 110 21.4% 9.4% 97 101 105 Leake 89.64 92.98 87.23 2.2% 24.4% 21.6% 51.8% 111 15.3% 6.3% 95 108 114 Morton 89.99 94.09 87.72 2.0% 19.5% 21.2% 57.3% 102 17.1% 7.3% 123 107 117 Garza 88.27 91.05 87.61 4.3% 28.6% 22.1% 45.0% 111 15.6% 8.6% 144 127 120 Lohse 88.20 92.44 84.26 3.0% 35.2% 23.3% 38.6% 122 16.2% 6.5% 150 131 123 W.Peralta 89.79 93.96 87.11 1.9% 26.5% 19.9% 51.6% 122 12.6% 7.7% 121 124 136 Lorenzen 88.78 91.11 86.55 1.9% 29.3% 28.2% 40.5% 128 16.1% 11.1% 138 138 139 AVERAGE 88.22 91.69 86.25 2.8% 28.1% 21.7% 47.5% 102 20.3% 7.2% 96 98 98
Most of the column headers are self-explanatory, including average BIP speed (overall and by BIP type), BIP type frequency, K and BB rates, and traditional ERA-, FIP-, and “tru” ERA-. Each pitchers’ Adjusted Contact Score (ADJ C) is also listed. Again, for those of you who have not read my articles on the topic, Unadjusted Contact Score is derived by removing Ks and BBs from opposing hitters’ batting lines, assigning run values to all other events, and comparing them to a league average of 100. Adjusted Contact Score applies league-average production to each pitchers’ individual actual BIP type and velocity mix, and compares it to league average of 100.
Cells are also color coded. If a pitcher’s value is two standard deviations or more higher than average (the average of all players in the league, not just at the player’s position), the field is shaded red. If it’s one to two STD higher than average, it’s shaded orange. If it’s one-half to one STD higher than average, it’s shaded dark yellow. If it’s one-half to one STD less than average, it’s shaded blue. If it’s over one STD less than average, it’s shaded black. Ran out of colors at that point. On the rare occasions that a value is over two STD lower than average, we’ll mention it if necessary in the text.
Before we get to the pitchers, a couple words regarding year-to-year correlation of pitchers’ plate-appearance frequencies and BIP authority allowed. From 2013 to -15, ERA qualifiers’ K and BB rates and all BIP frequencies except for liner rate (.14 correlation coefficient) correlated very closely from year to year. The correlation coefficients for K% (.81), BB% (.66), and pop up (.53), fly ball (.76) and grounder (.86) rates are extremely high. While BIP authority correlates somewhat from year to year — FLY/LD authority is .37, grounder authority is .25 — it doesn’t correlate nearly as closely as frequency. Keep these relationships in mind as we move on to some random player comments.
Jake Arrieta’s line is even better than it looks. His overall and fly ball/line drive authority allowed were over two standard deviations lower than average. He was excellent across the board, maintaining stellar K and BB rates while posting the lowest Adjusted Contact Score in the league, earning him NL Contact Manager of the Year honors. Many of the planks of his breakout season should carry forward: he’s a high-K, low-BB, ground-ball generator, and that’s about as ideal a combination as there is. Only a couple caveats: the track record of 29-year-old first-time ERA qualifiers is not great, and continued extreme squelching of fly-ball authority shouldn’t be expected. A healthy Arrieta should be one of the best pitchers in the NL in the intermediate term, but 2015 will go down as his career year.
Jon Lester’s strong 2015 campaign was lost in Arrieta’s considerable shadow. His BB rate dropped considerably in 2014, and his relatively newfound high-K, low-BB status provides a strong foundation and gives him some margin for error with regard to contact authority allowed. He needs it, as his frequency profile is unremarkable, lacking a go-to pop-up or grounder tendency, while he has allowed an average-or-better liner rate in three of the last four seasons. Lester performed near the upper boundary of his range of capabilities in 2015, as he limited hitters to lower-than-average fly-ball authority. His decline phase will track the deterioration of his K and BB rates; he’s a strong K/BB guy with average to slightly above-average contact-management ability.
Oh, if Jaime Garcia could only stay healthy. Hardly anyone induces more grounders; his grounder rate was in the 98th percentile in 2015, and has been in the 88th percentile or higher every single year since 2010. His liner rate allowed was over two STD below league average last season, way down in the thirrd percentile. That, obviously, is bound to regress a bit. The negatives? Well, he hasn’t pitched enough innings to qualify for an ERA title since 2011. One shouldn’t expect quantity out of Garcia, but on a per-inning basis, he’s one of the more reliable contact managers in the NL and a well above average starter overall.
Want to talk about an underrated starter? How about Kyle Hendricks. He totally transformed himself in his first full season in the Cubs’ rotation, dramatically increasing his K rate and morphing from a pop-up generator to a grounder inducer. Doing it the second time around separates the men from the boys, but Hendricks would seem to have above-average core skills in both the K/BB and contact-management components of pitching, giving him a high floor and a considerable ceiling, albeit one which he may have reached in 2015.
Pretty strong starting-pitching division, wouldn’t you say, when Gerrit Cole is the fifth guy mentioned. Cole was noted for allowing very loud contact as an amateur despite his elite stuff. He still has work to do, but has come a long way under the Pirates’ tutelage. Can’t say I thought he’d ever be a league-average contact manager. His K/BB foundation is formidable: his BB rate was over a full STD better than league average, and his K rate is strong and has more upside. Cole still allows hitters to square up the ball; his liner rate allowed was in the 77th percentile in 2015, and has been higher than average in each of his MLB seasons. Still, his overall authority allowed remains in the average range. Expect continued enhancement on the contact-management front; if he can become even a 90 contact manager, we’re looking at 70-75 “tru” ERAs, and potential Cy Young seasons.
The Cards need Carlos Martinez to take the next step toward stardom in 2016, with Garcia’s health always in question and Lance Lynn on the sidelines following Tommy John surgery. Though Martinez’ 2015 ended early due to a shoulder injury, he sure looked good beforehand. His evolution from thrower to pitcher has been a quick one; all that’s left is for Martinez is to further reduce his BB rate into the average range. He’s a grounder machine — his GB rate was in the 87th percentile in 2015 — and that combined with his high K rate portends excellence. He’s capable of posting Adjusted Contact Scores in the 80s or better, and with an improved BB rate, can be a 70-75 “tru” ERA guy and Cy Young candidate.
Kudos to the Pirates for recognizing the underlying strengths of Francisco Liriano. Yes, he’s always going to walk guys, but man, he misses tons of bats and racks up the weak contact, especially on the ground. His overall authority allowed has been over a full STD weaker than average in each of the last three seasons, despite high liner rates in the 70th percentile or higher in three of the last four seasons. He doesn’t just induce grounders, many of them are topped straight into the dirt. He’s better than a 99 Adjusted Contact Score pitcher. Expect a 90 or better, making a sub-80 “tru” ERA a very real possibility.
Mike Fiers moved on from the division in the Carlos Gomez deal, and is now an Astro. He’s tended to pitch beyond his stuff, relying upon a surprisingly good K/BB foundation and an elevated pop-up rate. His K and BB rates have both started to come under a little strain, affording him less margin for error with regard to contact management. His low pop-up rate is very real, in the 86th and 91st percentile in his two years as a qualifier. This also means high fly-ball rates, which can be a problem when he’s missing his spots, which he’s done a bit more in recent seasons. He’s survived while pitching in a couple tough home parks for fly-ball pitchers, but his command has begun to waver. Fiers’ decline could be a swift one, and I’m wary of him in 2016.
John Lackey is one durable cat. He takes the ball every fifth day, and does just about everything in the league-average range. He retains one big plus: a solidly lower than league average walk rate. His BIP mix is unremarkable, save for a subtle pop-up tendency which has come and gone in recent seasons. He’s about as average a contact manager as you’ll find. There is nothing in his profile to discuss a near-term implosion; his decline will be slow and steady, and most likely tied to deterioration of his K and BB rates.
Jason Hammel has his warts, but he’s a pretty darned good fifth starter. His K/BB foundation is strong, but necessary, given his career-long struggles with contact management. He’s developed a fairly significant fly-ball tendency, but hasn’t been able to suppress authority in the air to any significant extent. His liner rate allowed was way up in the 97th percentile last year, and this was nothing new, as it has been in the 72nd percentile or higher each of the last three seasons. You’ll note that no one near him on the list has an Adjusted Contact Score anywhere near as high as his 112; pitchers at that level tend to have to fight for survival. Watch for any breakdown in Hammel’s K rate, as he can’t live without it.
Plenty of people have predicted stardom for Michael Wacha. I am not necessarily among them. He’s as solid as they come, with a very high floor, but to this point there isn’t much in his line that hints at greatness. His pop-up rate was in the 72nd percentile, and he did hold down BIP authority to a respectable level. Wacha’s greatest strength is his lack of weaknesses; he can be a 90 Adjusted Contact Score guy, but he’ll need to enhance his K/BB ratio, most likely by cutting the walks, to truly take a step up in class.
You might be surprised that we’re just now getting around to Johnny Cueto, who will pitch in the NL West this year for the Giants. Cueto’s best years in 2012 and 2014 were marked by exceptional contact management. His 2014 Adjusted Contact Score, for example, was 81. It shot up to 105 in 2015, but the reasons aren’t easy to identify using only the information listed. He’s developed a pop-up and fly-ball tendency in recent years, and in 2015, too many of the fly balls were at relatively low and dangerous launch angles. In addition, his liner rate was in the 10th percentile in 2014, and shot up to the 61st in 2015. All has to go perfectly for Cueto to excel, and his best days are likely behind him. His new home park, however, should lessen the blow, and allow him to improve upon his 2015 performance.
Anthony DeSclafani was average across the board in his rookie season. And there’s nothing wrong with league average, especially when pitching for a sinking club that was trading off assets. It’s hard to see any seeds of potential excellence, though his pop-up rate did rank in the 67th percentile. His floor is reasonably high, however, and 180 league-average innings are nothing to sneeze at.
Jeff Locke, Jimmy Nelson, Charlie Morton and Wily Peralta are all of similar stripes. All are significant ground-ball generators, posting grounder-rate percentile ranks from the 70s to, in Morton’s case, the 90s. Even with such tendencies, you need to whiff at least 16-17% of hitters to survive. Locke has done a nice job, slightly improving his K and BB rates annually to get to his 2015 level. Nelson likely has the best upside of the group: his K rate is highest, his BB rate should improve, and his overall contact-authority management was quite strong in 2015. Morton has always been a grounder machine, and prior to 2015, his authority management was strong as well. He was a solid buy-low acquisition by the Phillies and has league-average upside. Peralta’s 2015 K rate drop was alarming, and while that can be attributed at least in part to injury, he’s been hit very hard this spring while missing few bats.
Mike Leake deserves his own section, as he was guaranteed major bank by the Cards during the offseason. Leake isn’t going to strike out people, though he won’t walk them, either. His K rate has dropped, however, while the league average has increased, and was in the 19th percentile last season. While he is a grounder guy, he didn’t allow much weak contact last season. Here’s one for you: Leake allowed a .172 AVG and .181 SLG on grounders in 2015. Based on authority allowed, he “should” have allowed .272 AVG-.297 SLG. More than anything else, that’s the difference between his 95 ERA- and 114 “tru” ERA-. League average is his ceiling.
Want a recently unlucky guy likely to bounce back in 2015? How about Matt Garza? Don’t get me wrong, he’s in decline, as evidenced by his deteriorating K and BB rates. Still, he has a very strong pop-up tendency, in the 83rd percentile last season, and his liner rate percentile rank leapt from 19 in 2014 to 70 in 2015, and should regress somewhat. Garza actually had a 74 Adjusted Contact Score in 2014, best in the NL. He’s not that guy, but he’s not Mr. 144 ERA-. either. League-averageness in 2016 wouldn’t surprise me a bit.
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Ernst Ising's analysis of the one-dimensional variant of his eponymous model (Z. Phys 31, 253–258; 1925) is an unusual paper in the history of early twentieth-century physics. Its central result — demonstrating that a linear chain of two-state spins cannot undergo a phase transition at finite temperature — is correct, if somewhat trivial compared with other physics breakthroughs published in the 1920s. But it is Ising's fateful extension of his conclusions to two and three dimensions that proved spectacularly wrong and, paradoxically, earned him an enduring association with the model that now bears his name.
Credit: AIP EMILIO SEGRE VISUAL ARCHIVES A possible reason for Ising's unexpected celebrity is that his erroneous conclusions betray a superficial understanding of what turned out to be some of the deepest and far-reaching problems to be addressed in twentieth-century physics. The Hamiltonian of the model is simple to write down — it describes a network of spins interacting with each other through a coupling that only applies if the spins are next to each other — but the physics it displays is rich and non-trivial: not only does it provide an intuitive device for illustrating the essential features of phase transitions and critical phenomena, it neatly encapsulates the main traits of the many-body problem that has come to dominate areas such as condensed-matter physics. The broader class of spin models it belongs to was used to uncover concepts such as universality, renormalization, symmetry-breaking and emergence. Ising can perhaps be forgiven for not predicting all of that.
Famously, the two-dimensional version for the model was solved analytically by Lars Onsager in the early 1940s (Phys. Rev. 65, 117; 1944), a result that is rightly considered a towering achievement among many significant contributions made over the years by the likes of Peierls, Bethe, Yang, Kadanoff (see page 995) Fisher and Wilson, just to name a handful. But the three-dimensional lattice has never been solved exactly, in spite of a multitude of attempts and false dawns — including a claim by John Maddox (who would later become the editor of Nature) made at a conference in Paris in 1952.
Although the 3D model is thought by some to be analytically intractable (and has also been claimed to belong to the NP-complete category of computational decision problems), progress has continued and recent numerical techniques based on conformal field theory have shed further light on the structure of the problem (J. Stat. Phys. 157, 869–914; 2014). Nevertheless, the real value of the Ising model and its many derivatives lies precisely in the complexity they encapsulate. These have found use in fields as disparate as condensed-matter physics, physical chemistry, neuroscience and, more broadly, the study of so-called complex systems.
Ising studied a deceptively simple model that, unknown to him at the time, captures the essential physics of an extremely wide category of problems. He may have been wrong in his 1925 paper, but he tripped over a veritable physics goldmine.
Authors Andrea Taroni View author publications You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar
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Those who pledge $25 will receive an extra special, limited edition, hand made t-shirt! The details of which will be release soon. You will also receive a ticket to the premier and a film credit.
These shirts are going to be so very, very cool and very, very exclusive. Dig it? Of course you do! You're a super sweet person.
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AT EIGHT this morning junior doctors in England began a 24-hour strike during which they are providing only emergency cover, equivalent to that provided on Christmas Day. Patients have been advised to avoid hospitals if possible, referring themselves to local clinics and pharmacists instead. The first industrial action by doctors for four decades, the strike has meant the cancellation of some 4,000 operations.
The medics (some of whom, despite the term “junior”, are actually quite senior) are angry at Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, over his proposal for a new contract, which he has threatened to impose on them if no agreement is reached. Picket lines are due to go up at hospitals again on January 26th and in February (when a total walkout is planned leaving consultants, nurses and temporary staff alone to treat emergencies). The details of the dispute are fiddly, concerning working hours, basic and top-up rates of pay and working-time rules. But there are two, quite straightforward, main disagreements.
The first is about how much the NHS should bear down on hospitals about doctors’ working time. After withdrawing from negotiations last summer the BMA, their trade union, returned to the table in December. The result was a memorandum of understanding in which the BMA, the Department for Health and NHS Employers agreed on a series of rules on the length of shifts, the frequency of long shifts and rest time between shifts, and on the creation of an independent “guardian” role responsible for policing the enforcement of these rules at each NHS trust. But the BMA contends that this is not enough; that in a hectic hospital environment it can be too easy for doctors to have to work dangerously long hours, especially given the withdrawal of certain penalties for hospitals that exceed these limits. It argues that the rules should go farther (for example, it wants consecutive long shifts to be capped at three rather than the offered five) and wants the guardian role to have more teeth.
The second is about whether work in evenings and on weekends should command a higher value than that between 7.00 and 19.00, Monday to Friday. If you think the answer to that is “no”, then it is hard to disagree with Mr Hunt when he claims his reforms will leave 99% of junior doctors better, or no worse, paid than they are now. If “yes”, then the conclusion is less certain: though the basic pay for doctors will rise, partly to compensate for the end of automatic increments for seniority, top-up pay for unsocial hours will no longer be paid for Saturdays or weekday evenings between 19.00 and 22.00. Moreover, as this will make it cheaper for hospitals to roster doctors during these hours, more will be working time for which they were previously paid a premium. If the value of their work in this time is indeed greater than during the “normal” working week, it is fair to say that more than 1% will probably lose out.
That the dispute is hard to arbitrate reflects the fact that the factors in contention—the number of hours a doctor can safely work and the stringencies needed to enforce them; the value of time at different points in the day and week—all contain a large qualitative component (though both sides have reams of quantitative studies saying different things). The health service is fleshy and human. Like the body, it runs on a series of delicate balances, not binary switches. Hence the ambiguities and mutual incomprehension that swirl around the dispute and that have made a resolution, thus far, impossible.
As such, blame for the strike is quite diffuse. Mr Hunt’s goal of a seven-day NHS is laudable but he took far too long to realise that the way he was presenting it implied that doctors were not working hard enough. Already at breaking point (many British junior doctors are leaving for the Australian and New Zealand health systems), lots of medics immediately turned against him. Over-simplifying clinical research underlying the case for the reform, documenting higher death rates in the system on weekends, was a similarly unforced error. Thus seeds of resentment were sown that have been nurtured perhaps too enthusiastically by the leadership of the BMA, whose rallies resonate to unfounded claims that Mr Hunt wants to privatise the NHS and to juvenile abuse of a health secretary who—the doctors neglect to acknowledge—has a manifesto commitment to fulfil. The doctors are within their rights to strike (daily tolerating punishing hours and thankless conditions at an hourly pay rate that would insult many in less skilled jobs), yet their decision to do so seems odd after talks at which, even the BMA conceded, progress was made. That the rhetoric surrounding the strike suggests that the very existence of the NHS is at stake, and not just the exact pay and protections of a portion of its staff, perhaps concedes that the details of the matter do not, unembellished, match the scale of the action.
Still, it is hard not to sympathise somewhat with both sides. Doctors have a hard lot and deserve better pay and conditions, not a questionable promise of razor-thin improvements. Mr Hunt, far from wanting to kill off the NHS, rightly intuits that the system only has a future for as long as taxpayers are willing to fund it—and is therefore concentrating heavily on improving patient experiences (reportedly inspired by Eric Topol’s reformist “The Patient Will See You Now” on the future of medicine).
No, if there is one party in the Hunt-doctors dispute that deserves most criticism, it is the British public. This is the electorate that notionally adores the NHS, propels a mushy song by health workers to the top of the Christmas charts, happily accepts the left’s bogus insinuations that the only alternative is an American-style private health-care model, equally happily votes for Tory politicians promising to expand services to weekends and yet, despite all this, shows remarkably little willingness to pay more in tax towards what remains a relatively cheap system. If the BMA really wanted to change things, it would seek to disprove this argument by polling voters to establish where spending should be cut, or taxes raised, to pay for the seven-day NHS for which they have voted.
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There was a time in the fantasy genre when magic was simply, er, magical, and didn’t require a whole lot of explanation.
But time has a habit of making everything more complex, and so it’s unsurprising that magic systems have followed suit. These days, there are basically two schools of thought when it comes to magic in books, as outlined in a widely circulated essay by author Brandon Sanderson concerning “hard” (rigorous adherence to rules) and “soft” (looser, more hand-wave-y) magic systems. It’s now possible to classify just about every fantasy book into one of those two categories, and many readers have some very strong opinions about which is preferable and why.
Of course, we’re advocates for an author choosing the type of magic system that best fits their narrative, but for purposes of classification, let’s imagine a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 indicates the least-rigorous kind of magic system (everything can be explained via the phrase “because magic”) and 10 is the most-rigorous (finishing a book or series in this category earns you an honorary doctorate in that magic system).
Here’s how we’d rank 16 fantasy books and series on our rigorous/non-rigorous scale—but before we dive in, let us note that we aren’t suggesting one type of magic system is better than another; storytellers should be allowed the latitude to cast their own spell over readers.
The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
Magic System Rating: 1 (Because Magic)
It’s difficult to have a conversation about classifying fantasy books without at least mentioning Tolkien. The man was writing a modern myth, and myths don’t usually explain their magic in great detail, so it’s little surprise that Tolkien’s magic displays very little that’s systematic in the modern sense. In Tolkien’s universe, magic stems from wisdom and inherent power—the closer you are to Iluvatar, the creator, the more inherent power you have. As a result, the elves and Istari are always more magically capable than men, and the eldest and wisest among them are the most powerful. But Tolkien also presents all power as inherently corrupting, and magic the most corrupting of all. In the end, despite the reams of detailed backstory, history, and character biography the man created, his magic has almost no rigor at all, rather originating from the individual will and knowledge of its practitioners.
A Song of Ice and Fire, by George R.R. Martin
Magic System Rating: 1 (Because Magic)
Martin is writing a purposeful deconstruction of epic fantasy tropes—including magic systems—and has actually put some work into making his magic frustrating and inconsistent beyond a few broad-stroke rules (there’s definitely some like-for-like business, with equivalent sacrifices needed to produce an effect). Most of the people actively using magic in his world seem befuddled by the whole process; the general sense is that it’s unreliable and often ineffective—but when it works, boy howdy does it ever work (shadow assassins, am I right?). It’s a fascinating twist on the whole concept, as its lack of rigor is intentional, and serves the larger design of the narrative—a design we must note is not yet complete, so there may be more to come on this front.
The Belgariad, by David Eddings and The Books of Earthsea, by Ursula K. Le Guin
Magic System Rating: 2 (Simple, but Effective)
These two mainstays of post-Tolkien fantasy offer a slight refinement on the “obscured by the mists of time” approach J.R.R. took, offering extremely simple magic systems that apply a very, very small instructional set. In Eddings’ old-school classic, certain folks can employ the Will and the Word—want something hard enough, and speak a word, and it happens (within some extremely broad limitations set by the gods). In Earthsea, everything has a secret, true name in the ancient language of the dragons; if you learn it, you have power over that thing or person (and by the way: you can’t lie in the dragons’ language—unless you are, in fact, a dragon). These rules are so basic as to allow for just about anything to happen, magic-wise, but they do offer at least a sketch of a system on which to hang your pointed, star-and-moon-covered conical hat.
The Eternal Champion, by Michael Moorcock
Magic System Rating: 3 (Non-Rigorous, but With an Explanation)
The legendary Moorcock also follows the old-school habit of not explaining his magic too deeply, but he does at least provide an explanation of how it works, along with a dose of unreliability. Most magic in his universe is accomplished by contacting, bargaining with, or summoning and controlling demons and elemental beings—if you’re looking to smash an advancing army, you could summon an incredibly powerful, army-smashing demon. The problem being that all these immensely powerful beings have their own agendas, so it’s not uncommon for these sorts of spells to go awry—or for someone to lose control of them entirely, resulting in chaos. It’s a neat way to cover for the fact that your magic system isn’t so much a system as a loose set of guidelines.
Shades of Magic, by V.E. Schwab
Magic System Rating: 4 (Mystery Box)
V.E. Schwab’s magic system in the excellent Shades of Magic series is organized, but not terribly rule-laden. We understand the mechanics of the wizard-like Antari’s blood magic, but much of the ways and hows of magic’s function in the three magical Londons (Red, White, and Black—Grey London is our London, and thus has no magic) is left mysterious. Not that this hurts the story in any way—Schwab expertly gives readers exactly enough information to make the system workable without overloading them with detail that, frankly, isn’t necessary to appreciate her story, and might even ruin the spell of awe and wonder cast by the character-centric narrative.
The Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling
Magic System Rating: 5 (Faux-Rigor)
Rowling’s omnipresence makes her an automatic reference in this discussion. Though they take place at a magic school, the magic system she’s developed for the Harry Potter universe isn’t actually all that rigorous. Magical ability is genetic, so you’re just sort of born with it, and behind all the words and wands there’s precious little explanation of exactly how it all works (although, to be fair, there’s a bit more detail when it comes to potions). Despite how much Rowling has added to the universe via Pottermore reveals and controversial tweetbombs, we’re still not clear whether you can just add the word maxima to any spell in order to increase its power.
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke
Magic System Rating: 5 (Faux-Rigor)
Clarke also does a fantastic job of hiding a pretty vague magic system beneath a lot of superficial detail, lending an appearance of a complex set of rules governing the use of magic without ever offering a rational set of rules. Clarke isn’t floundering, though—one of the great qualities of the novel is the fact that the actual magicians in it are often just as befuddled by the details of magic. It makes sense, since in-narrative, it’s presented as a lost art, only suddenly returned to the world in the early 19th century. The combination of oddly specific spells (for example, one involving a mirror, some flowers, and a specific set of patterns) and unanswered questions (which flower?) creates its own sort of magic: the illusion of a detailed system.
The Wheel of Time, by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
Magic System Rating: 6 (Both Rigorous and Non-Rigorous)
The magic system in The Wheel of Time is often misunderstood, for two reasons: one, it’s purposefully obscured, in that many of the supposed rules are never explained and much of it is chalked up to innate skill and talent. Two, it starts off as a relatively rigorous system that then decays into something much softer as the plot points demanded it. The magic system is extremely consistent and pattern-based—once you know how to bend and twist a strand of the One Power to produce a certain effect, you can repeat the recipe over and over again with the same result—and the characters consistently work within those rules, and are often forced to be clever in using their knowledge in order to overcome obstacles (one of Sanderson’s own rules about hard magic). But an arms race of ever more powerful characters and plot twists that undermine the rules (Androl Genhald, your ears are burning) lowered the numerical ranking by a few points.
The Kingkiller Chronicle, by Patrick Rothfuss
Magic System Rating: 6 (Both Rigorous and Non-Rigorous)
The magic systems Rothfuss invents for his beloved epic fantasy are a curious hybrid. On the one hand, Sympathy—the linking of two objects so they share the effects of a single force—is extremely detailed, as are alchemy and other magics, to the point where Rothfuss says he has equations in his notes to back up every use of magic in the books. You don’t get much more rigorous than Sympathy. On the other hand, he also has a system of “true name”-style magic that is completely unexplained and non-rigorous. Rothfuss has explained that he simply wanted the best of both worlds: to give readers the satisfaction of understanding a magic system and appreciating its cleverness, combined with the sense of awe and wonder that unexplained magic can offer.
Tales of the Dying Earth, by Jack Vance
Magic System Rating: 7 (Rigorous)
There aren’t many SFF writers who have a whole style of magic named after them, but if you Google “Vancian Magic,” you’ll find your way to Vance’s Dying Earth cycle. Vance has a simple system: magic spells must be memorized, but they are fantastically long, so people can only memorize a few at a time—and spells are forgotten the moment you cast them. This kind of resource-limiting magic system is straightforward but adds that spice of limitation and obstacle that Sanderson codified in his essay. Vance doesn’t make any effort to explain precisely why magic works or how the spells are structured, which dings a few points on the rigor scale, but it’s a powerful idea that’s been borrowed by plenty of writers since.
The Broken Earth trilogy, by N.K. Jemisin
Magic System Rating: 7 (Rigorous)
No conversation about fantasy storytelling these days is complete without checking on what Jemisin’s doing—she’s hugely influential, highly successful, and what literary scientists classify as damn good. Her Broken Earth series creates a distinction between magic and what she terms orogeny; the latter is the ability by some in the seismically-unstable world of the Stillness to harness that seismic energy (and other forms of energy) and channelit as they will. Orogeny has plenty of defined rules that approach a scientific depth of complexity and rigor (the author worked with geologists to develop the science behind her magic), but Jemisin is famously disinterested in codifying her magic systems, and reacts humorously to any attempt to get her to offer a dissertation on the subject.
The Magicians, by Lev Grossman
Magic System Rating: 8 (It Eats Rigor for Breakfast)
As a deconstruction of Harry Potter, Grossman’s series would tend towards the rigorous side of the spectrum, wouldn’t it? Instead of a vague wand-and-word system that is more fun than sensible, Grossman explores what it might actually be like to study magic as a complex and ancient discipline. The spells are complex and follow specific patterns, require a lot of basic memorization and learning of fundamentals before you can skate off into theory, and the whole things feels like work the same way higher math feels like work. Yet the feeling that you too could cast spells if you just studied hard enough more than makes up for it.
Vita Nostra, by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko (translated by Julia Meitov Hersey)
Magic System Rating: 8 (It Eats Rigor for Breakfast)
Russian authors Marina and Sergey Dyachenko take a similar approach to Grossman’s The Magicians in sketching out the way magic works in their award-winning 2006 novel, which was finally released in the U.S. in 2018—though rather than mathematics, its rules veer closer to language theory and linguistics. When 16-year-old Sasha Samokhina enrolls at the Institute for Special Technologies, she is thrust into a magical education that couldn’t be any further removed from Hogwarts. In their first year, the students spend most of their time reading nigh-incomprehensible texts, training their brains to unlock the power inherent in language. Once they’ve mastered that (a process that literally transforms their brains), they develop more advanced abilities to manipulate the world through the definitional power of language. To say much more would steer us into spoiler territory; needless to say, you’ll finish the book feeling as if your own mind has been rewired.
Master of the Five Magics, by Lyndon Hardy
Magic System Rating: 8 (It Eats Rigor for Breakfast)
As the title suggests, there are five magical systems (at least initially) in Hardy’s 1980s classic, and they are all rigorously defined, with explicit rules and laws spelled out for you. The five magics are thaumaturgy, alchemy, magic, sorcery, and wizardry, and each discipline has its own set of rules. For example, the rules for wizardry, which is the magical discipline concerned with summoning demons, are The Law of Ubiquity (Flame permeates all) and The Law of Dichotomy (dominance or submission). In other words, you can summon demons through fire (fires built from different fuels will summon different or more powerful demons) and once a demon is summoned, the wizard must either dominate the demon’s will, or be dominated instead. Simple and elegant—and that’s most impressive is that Hardy developed these laws and rules for all five of his disciplines; he then goes on to illustrate additional meta-rules, applicable after his protagonist achieves the titular honor.
The Craft Sequence, by Max Gladstone
Magic System Rating: 9 (We Got Rules for Our Rules)
Gladstone true brilliance in this series is in his thinking about magic in terms of contracts and legalese, resulting in an extremely rigorous system that is also endlessly, infinitely flexible—just like real life contract law. Add in the realization that the gods of this world draw their power directly from belief—belief that can be engineered and manufactured like a commodity—and boom, you’ve got a transactional magic system that is unique, compelling, and quite rigorous. In Gladstone’s universe, the force of magic itself—the power of the gods—is actually pretty gormless and non-rigorous, but it is made rigorous by the application of Craft, and the manipulation of those rules in accepted ways. That is some deeply magical thinking.
The Cosmere novels, by Brandon Sanderson
Magic System Rating: 10 (You Got Science in My Magic)
Unsurprisingly, the man who wrote one of the most influential modern essays on the fantasy genre (and who’s also kind of successful as a writer of fantasy fiction) has produced one of the most rigorous magic systems in history. For extra points, the magic system he’s crafted, Investiture, is a stealth meta system that encompasses several other already-rigorous magic systems laid out in separate fantasy series that have slowly been revealed to be not so separate after all—to be, in fact, part of a larger, integrated universe. Sanderson’s achievement here can’t be understated: Investiture is only partially revealed at this time, but what’s clear is that the different magic systems found across Sanderson’s books—from Mistborn‘s Allomancy (the manipulation of ingested metals gives users superhuman abilities), to Warbreaker‘s BioChroma (magical power is drawn from colors present in the user’s environment), to Elantris‘ ritual-based Dor—all follow the same general guidelines, as they’re all part of the meta-system he’s crafting. It’s all quite detailed and consistent, yet tons of fun to think about.
Dungeons & Dragons
Magic System Rating: 11 (Ph.D.-Level Magic)
Okay, it’s not strictly a work of fiction, but by necessity, D&D remains the gold-standard for hard magic systems—because if it wasn’t, the game it powers wouldn’t work. Every single detail is mapped out, every aspect of magic is controlled and explained, and every outcome makes sense based on detailed rules of interaction. The real magic here is how the, um, magic of magic is maintained despite the rigor applied to it; in part this is due to the introduction of chance in the form of a roll of the die and the (typically) unknown stats of the object of your spell, but part of it also stems from the spirit of the endeavor: D&D isn’t trying to suppress your imagination or sense of awe, it’s just seeking to channel them in a coherent and replicable fashion.
What books have your favorite magic systems, and how would you rate them?
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The final score of Saturday’s game at Ohio Stadium wasn’t indicative of how Ohio State’s defense played.
While the Buckeyes only gave up two touchdowns, which ultimately led to a 30-14 win over Minnesota, they gave up 396 yards to the Gophers’ offense – including 238 in the first half – for an average of 7.1 yards per play, and continued to look vulnerable on the defensive side of the ball throughout Saturday’s game.
As such, the Buckeyes’ defensive coaches and players left Saturday’s game unsatisfied despite coming away with a 16-point victory.
“We understand the standards at Ohio State, and when you don’t meet those standards, you’re disappointed,” said Ohio State co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Alex Grinch. “I think if you polled the defensive coaches and the defensive players, there’s some level of disappointment.”
Most of Minnesota’s offense in Saturday’s game came from just two players. Running back Mohamed Ibrahim rushed for a career-high 157 yards and two touchdowns, and wide receiver Tyler Johnson caught eight passes for 119 yards.
In total, the Golden Gophers rushed for 178 yards – their second-highest total in any of their six games this season, and well over Ohio State’s goal of holding opposing offenses under 100 rushing yards.
“I was disappointed in the run (defense),” said Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer. “Their back had 160 yards rushing against us, and that's not acceptable.”
Ibrahim had four runs of 15 yards or more in Saturday’s game, and Ohio State linebacker Pete Werner said he thought those long runs resulted from players missing their gaps.
“Those little mistakes will give up big plays,” Werner said. “I got to watch the film on that. But I just know we got to stay in our gaps.”
Johnson, meanwhile, consistently found openings in Ohio State’s defense on slant routes, which the Buckeyes will now have to work on figuring out how to defend more effectively going forward.
“We're a team that challenges every throw, and when you get beat, that's a problem,” Meyer said. “So that's something that is not a strength right now.”
Werner said he thought the Gophers brought a good game plan to Ohio Stadium on Saturday, and acknowledged that he and his teammates had a difficult time dealing with the slant routes.
“They had a good game plan, and they used it pretty well,” Werner said. “They had a RPO concept that brought me in as a linebacker, and then used the one-on-one slant concept and kind of dialed back there. It’s a hard route to defend from my standpoint. I got to try to get my hand on the ball for that. But yeah, that’s a tough one to defend, especially with our defense.”
“We understand the standards at Ohio State, and when you don’t meet those standards, you’re disappointed.” – Ohio State co-defensive coordinator Alex Grinch
Although Minnesota only reached the end zone twice, it had other opportunities to score. Emmit Carpenter missed a pair of field goals. After its back-to-back touchdown drives in the first and second quarters, Minnesota was back in Ohio State territory and threatening to score again when Tyler Johnson lost a fumble – though it was very close to being an incomplete pass – that was forced by Shaun Wade and recovered by Jeffrey Okudah.
The Gophers’ 396 total yards were also their second-highest offensive total of the year, and the fifth time in seven games that Ohio State gave up at least 390 yards on defense. That wasn’t lost on the Buckeyes.
“Although they did score zero points in the second half, we did miss a lot of things, missed our keys on a few plays where things in practice where we did well,” Werner said. “We got to learn from that.”
RELATED Ohio State Held Under 100 Rushing Yards for Just the Third Time in the Urban Meyer Era
As Meyer noted after the game, the Buckeyes were without five of their regular defensive starters for most of Saturday’s contest.
Defensive end Nick Bosa missed his fourth straight game while recovering from core muscle surgery, while defensive end Jonathon Cooper and linebacker Malik Harrison both missed the game after spending time this week in concussion protocol. Cornerback Damon Arnette and defensive tackle Robert Landers also left Saturday’s game early with undisclosed injuries.
That thrust some of the Buckeyes’ backups into much more significant playing time; Jashon Cornell, Tyreke Smith and Tyler Friday all had to play regularly in the defensive end rotation, Davon Hamilton played more snaps than usual at defensive tackle, Justin Hilliard started in place of Harrison at linebacker and Kendall Sheffield and Jeffrey Okudah each played nearly all the snaps at outside cornerback.
As Grinch said after the game, though, the Buckeyes can’t use that as an excuse. More than halfway through the regular season, their backups need to be ready to play if called upon, and the other starters need to be able to step up to account for those who are injured.
“We’re running out of time in terms of being young,” Grinch said. “Is it a work in progress? I think it always is, but it’s time now for us to get our feet underneath us and perform better.”
The Buckeyes did shut the Gophers in the second half of Saturday’s game, and that was a positive they could hang their hat on. After going to the locker room and making adjustments, the defense was more successful in the third and fourth quarters than it was in the first half – much like the Buckeyes’ previous game against Indiana, when they allowed 20 points before halftime but only six points after halftime in their 49-26 win.
“The strength is that they came out and shut them out in the second half, a lot like the game last week where we held a team to 92 yards in the second half,” Meyer said. “And the best thing is we created some turnovers, and that was the difference in the game.”
Two Ohio State defensive backs had interceptions in Saturday’s game: Sheffield picked off a deep pass on Minnesota’s opening possession, and Isaiah Pryor – who was benched at times in Saturday’s game in favor of Shaun Wade after making some mistakes early – intercepted a deep ball in the fourth quarter.
Additionally, the Buckeyes came up with some big plays in the second half to hold the Gophers to their missed field goal attempts instead of allowing them to extend drives that could have gone for touchdowns; Hilliard broke up a pass on 3rd-and-6 in the red zone to force the field goal attempt in the third quarter, while Wade and Okudah had back-to-back pass breakups on slant routes in Ohio State territory to force the fourth-quarter field goal attempt.
“What you don’t want to discount again is shutting the team out in the second half, which is difficult to do, and three takeaways, which was exciting,” Grinch said. “And some guys that may have missed a play earlier in the game, or at some point over the course of the season, make a play today. So some obvious positives.”
That said, slow starts have been a recurring problem for Ohio State’s defense – the Buckeyes have trailed in the second quarter or later in four of their last five games – and while that does speak to their ability to make halftime adjustments, it also means they need to come out of the gates stronger to avoid forcing their offense to climb out of deficits.
Grinch said the Buckeyes’ early defensive struggles in games have happened in part because opposing offenses have brought different looks into games against Ohio State than they have in their previous games.
“We’re going to see teams’ best, and we’re going to see maybe a little bit of different flavor some weeks,” Grinch said. “A week ago, our opponent (Indiana) I think went empty (formation with no running backs) seven times the entire season (before playing Ohio State), and then in our game alone, they ran it 18 times. And so there’s a little bit of that adjustment.”
Again, though, the Buckeyes can’t use that as an excuse.
“We prepare all week for teams, and sometimes they don’t give us what exactly we prepare for,” Hilliard said. “But as far as defense, we got to be able to just go down to our base rules and be able to do anything, play anything.”
RELATED Videos: Hear From Urban Meyer, Alex Grinch, Pete Werner, Justin Hilliard and Others After Saturday's Game
The next test for Ohio State’s defense will come next Saturday against Purdue, which is averaging 510.2 yards of offense per game and 33.5 points per game this season after a 46-7 win over Illinois on Saturday, so the Buckeyes will need to improve quickly this upcoming week ahead of their trip to West Lafayette.
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The last one week has been an eventful week for many reasons- first the airstrikes, then the attempt to violate India’s airspace followed by the capture of our wing commander and his subsequent return with the Prime Minister of Pakistan requesting for a de-escalation of the current situation.
The irony, however, is that despite the Prime Minister of Pakistan asking for peace, his army continues with its ceasefire violations. The confused signals are indicating that either both the military leadership of our neighbour and its political leaders are not on the same page or perhaps, they both are on the same page and are attempting to send a signal to the world that it wants peace while it provokes the Indian leadership.
The message from India’s political leadership is clear, if there is an attempt of provocation, the political leadership will back whatever the military leadership deems as a befitting reply. This is significant as the Prime Minister in the run-up to 2014 campaign had stated categorically that the response of Indian Government after 26/11 was too weak and he would have responded differently. Over the last week, we’ve seen precisely what Prime Minister Modi meant but beyond that, we also saw what he managed to achieve over the last 5 years.
Through successful diplomacy and multiple outreach programs by India’s Prime Minister and External Affairs Minister have ushered in a new global political scenario whereby most nations view India as a key strategic partner. Our greater engagements have enabled us to help the entire world understand our concerns and it is this understanding that has led it to stand firm with India post-Pulwama attacks. In fact, for the first time since 1971 India violated the airspace of Pakistan and attacked their terror camps- for most countries air strike is the first response however India has refrained from using it until recently. Post the airstrikes, most nations recognized India’s legitimate right to undertake such preemptive strikes- this shows that time is now on India’s side.
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Diplomatic pressure in itself was enough to ensure that despite the capture of one of India’s brave fighter pilot, Pakistan was bound to eventually return him to India but the fact that his return came within 48 hours after his capture combined with repeated unsuccessful attempts by Pakistan’s Prime Minister to talk to India’s Prime Minister indicate the growing diplomatic influence that India yields.
It is through this diplomatic influence that India has ensured that it changes its Pakistan policy and looks at the challenge of dealing with Pakistan in a more comprehensive manner. While Pakistan’s political leadership claims to broker peace, the military leadership is ensuring that a de-escalation of the current situation becomes a distant dream. Their continuous provocation has resulted in a befitting reply from the Indian armed forces across the LOC. It is clear from India’s side that talks and terrorism or provocation cannot simultaneously coexist.
It is worth mentioning that while Pakistan lives in fear of escalation from the Indian side, India has continued with business as usual approach. Despite the Opposition, political analysts and certain sections in the media going all out against the Prime Minister of India, he has remained calm as he continued to work towards ensuring that our pilot comes back to India as soon as possible. While launching the Khelo App, as soon as the Prime Minister was informed of the attempt by Pakistan to target our military base, he cut the program short and rushed back to get a hold of the situation. He continued with his work, while he ensured that all necessary measures were taken to ensure a swift return of our hero but the fun part is that he was criticized for this too! Some people just love to hate Modi because they love to love “Gandhi’s”.
India has just unleashed a prolonged period of economic hardships on Pakistan due to the increase in duties and decision to speed the process of ensuring that India’s share of water as per Indus Water Treaty no longer goes to Pakistan. While Pakistan digests the impact of these measures, their immature decision to send in an F-16 will result in more trouble as the US sold them under the condition that they were to be used for the sole purpose of anti-terrorism activities. Add to this the decision to completely diplomatically isolate Pakistan and we would have perhaps managed to ensure a complete and systematic collapse of the Pakistani Economy. The new approach towards dealing with Pakistan combined economic, political and diplomatic might of India with its military might and this must be viewed by Pakistan as a stern warning should it not change it ways and stop supporting terrorist groups.
It is in the interest of Pakistan’s political leadership to curtail the military leaders and mend their ways. Handing over India’s most wanted should be the only acceptable peace gesture and Pakistan must surely contemplate it. Pakistan can no longer afford hostilities with India- India has always wanted peace and stability in the region. It is time, that Pakistan takes charge and delivers on its promises on terrorism.
What the military leadership of Pakistan doesn’t understand is that the war is already over and they’ve already lost it- time is on India’s side and it is business as usual in India while Pakistan continues with blackouts every night. We’ve struck them hard and they’re scared as they live in fear and despair. India has won already, but the war isn’t over unless they dismantle all their terrorist camps. There may be casualties as we tread on this path, but we shall emerge victorious- for time is on our side.
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It was announced this weekend that Milo Yiannopoulos will keynote the Conservative Political Action Conference opening this week in DC. Now, a video has emerged of Milo defending sex between adolescents and older men. From the transcript:
MILO: The law is probably about right, that’s probably roughly the right age. I think it’s probably about okay, but there are certainly people who are capable of giving consent at a younger age, I certainly consider myself to be one of them, people who are sexually active younger. I think it particularly happens in the gay world by the way. In many cases actually those relationships with older men…This is one reason I hate the left. This stupid one size fits all policing of culture. (People speak over each other). This sort of arbitrary and oppressive idea of consent, which totally destroys you know understanding that many of us have. The complexities and subtleties and complicated nature of many relationships. You know, people are messy and complex. In the homosexual world particularly. Some of those relationships between younger boys and older men, the sort of coming of age relationships, the relationships in which those older men help those young boys to discover who they are, and give them security and safety and provide them with love and a reliable and sort of a rock where they can’t speak to their parents. Some of those relationships are the most –
Milo, who is Catholic, then credits the Catholic priest who molested him for teaching him how to perform oral sex skillfully. One of the people in the group says to Milo: “You are advocating for cross generational relationships here, can [you] be honest about that?” He replies
Yeah, I don’t mind admitting that. I think particularly in the gay world and outside the Catholic church, if that’s where some of you want to go with this, I think in the gay world, some of the most important, enriching and incredibly life affirming, important shaping relationships very often between younger boys and older men, they can be hugely positive experiences for those young boys they can even save those young boys, from desolation, from suicide (people talk over each other)… providing they’re consensual.
Molesting 13 year old boys can save them from suicide? Yes, says the CPAC keynoter, in a line sure to delight the hearts of NAMBLA members.
You can read the whole thing and watch the video here.
Milo has responded forcefully on his Facebook page. He points out, among other things, that he does not defend sex with pre-pubescent children. Well, okay, but how, exactly, does it make acceptable defending what is, legally speaking, the rape of teenage boys?
This is unconscionable. CPAC deserves to be radioactive after this. Run, don’t walk, away from these scumbags. This is true:
Milo-to-CPAC demonstrates how thoroughly the pretense that conservatism is about socially conservative morality has been abandoned. — Josh Barro (@jbarro) February 19, 2017
Matt Schlapp, head of the American Conservative Union, which sponsors CPAC, circles the wagons:
Jonah 1st amendment is dead on campus. Conservatives should fight back. As radioactive as milo is he is fighting back. https://t.co/grkdlGNBt3 — Matt Schlapp (@mschlapp) February 20, 2017
Look, I fully defend the right of Milo Yiannopoulos to speak on college campuses without being threatened by violence. But that is a very different thing from defending what he says, or his personal integrity.
Religious and social conservatives had better wake up and realize that there is no room for us in movement conservatism — at least not if our principles and self-respect matter to us.
A man who praised gay sex between adults and adolescents is the keynote speaker at the Conservative Political Action Conference, the highest-profile meeting of movement conservatives. Why? Because he makes liberals mad.
This scandal shows why it is more important than ever for conservatives to get straight in their minds that conservatism is not mere anti-liberalism. Matt Schlapp and the American Conservative Union have forgotten this. Don’t you make that mistake. Defending pederasty is a stain that will not come out.
UPDATE:So now CPAC has disinvited him. That’s the right thing to do, but I don’t think they will be able to easily shake off the stink of having invited him in the first place. Why, exactly, would young conservative men and women of vision, character, and intellect want to go to an event like that?
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A shocking video reportedly shot in San Francisco purports to show a homeless man eating his own feces, in yet another sign of the city’s degradation.
In the now-deleted video, posted Sunday by congressional candidate DeAnna Lorraine (R-Cali.) ahead of Super Tuesday, a man wearing a hoodie is seen digging into the back of his pants then putting his hands to his mouth.
“Oh c’monnn San Francisco… why you want to keep our city so sh*tty?! Save our [poop emoji]y city. Clean it up and Vote #DeAnna2020 on March 3rd!” the candidate challenging Rep. Nancy Pelosi for the District 12 seat wrote on Twitter.
The video below appears courtesy of PCMDNews.com,
Repulsed viewers sounded off on social media:
Omg this is heart breaking! This is a human being! Wtf is wrong with @SpeakerPelosi @GavinNewsom ? Why don’t they care!!! Put up port/potties & more shelters or something!!! They have no heart sitting in their mansions! You’re their leaders – help them — JobaTheCat (@cat_joba) March 1, 2020 This poor guy is a walking petri dish, good luck with Coronavirus. — ElizabethWarwick (@ElizabethWarwi9) March 1, 2020
The left-leaning coastal city has had a hard time dealing with the growing number of homeless people as of late.
Just last December, Safeway shoppers were treated to a homeless man on drugs using a grocery store aisle as a port-a-potty.
The disgusting incident is just the latest grotesque snapshot from the bay area, as San Francisco continues its de-evolution into a third world hellhole thanks to detrimental liberal policies.
San Fran poop map. The literal s*hole pic.twitter.com/0YDXLA3NZp — raidergiant (@RaiderGiant) July 31, 2019
Alex Jones is live delivering the latest on this and more. Tune in!
Owen Shroyer and Alex Jones discuss the leftist policies contributing to the rising homeless epidemic. Alex may have a suggestion, or 2, on how to combat it.
The Save Infowars Super Sale is now live! Get up to 60% off our most popular products today!
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Crown Heights, Brooklyn - A woman was walking down the street in Brooklyn when she was suddenly sucker punched.It happened on Saturday, March 9th at around 12:10 p.m. at the northeast corner of Nostrand Avenue and Crown Street in Crown Heights.The man walked up to the 27-year-old woman and suddenly punched her right in the head.He then ran off northbound on Nostrand Avenue.The victim was able to drive herself to Kingsbrook Hospital.
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Brother Wolf signals mission change, shift away from animals with history of aggression
Elizabeth Anne Brown | The Citizen-Times
ASHEVILLE - Brother Wolf Animal Rescue will shift away from dogs with severe behavioral issues in order to serve the greatest number of animals possible, executive director Leah Craig Fieser told the Citizen Times.
"The key is Brother Wolf now believes in using the resources (we) have to save the greatest number of lives because that is what we are here to do," Fieser said.
But some longtime supporters and volunteers feel this is a betrayal of BWAR's founding mission.
"Seven of my loving, furry friends may be killed by the end of the year unless Brother Wolf becomes the uncompromised compassion shelter it was before new leadership came on board," said Chester Lilly, who volunteered with BWAR for five years.
'You cannot fix aggression'
Moving forward, the organization will raise its standards for adoptability when it comes to aggression.
"We do not feel like it's a responsible decision for an animal rescue to adopt out an animal who has a severe, damaging bite history to adults or children," Fieser said, adding the same applies to dogs that have "severely damaged or even killed another animal."
The executive director, who has been at Brother Wolf since January, said the nonprofit has placed animals with serious bite histories in adoptive and foster homes in the past. "The problem is that behaviorists agree, aggression is not something you can fix. You cannot fix aggression."
"You can try to keep (the animal and others) safe, but safety precautions are bound to fail at some point," she added. "We as an animal rescue organization really have that responsibility on us to say, what kind of animals are you placing in the community, not just for the person who adopts the animal but for their neighbor? What about the kid that delivers the news, what about the dog that lives next door?"
A recent update to the shelter's website has added language about community safety in BWAR's no-kill philosophy.
"We use euthanasia as a compassionate, end-of-life decision when an animal is suffering from a severe medical or behavioral condition or is a danger to other animals or people," BWAR's website states.
"We consider the animal’s quality of life, community safety, and whether it’s realistic to manage aggressive or difficult behaviors or health conditions in a home without risk to people or other animals."
Ideological clash with volunteers
Some Brother Wolf volunteers have protested the euthanasia of animals they believed were adoptable, beginning with Ferguson and Rhubarb in September and Tucker in late November.
"Rhubarb ... has two bites, one adult and one child, with severe dog aggression," BWAR animal care manager Brian McDermott told the Citizen Times by phone in September.
At one point when Rhubarb was living in a home environment, a neighbor's unleashed dog rushed in the front door and Rhubarb attacked, Fieser explained. "The (neighbor dog's owner) had to beat Rhubarb with a golf club until she was unconscious because she wouldn't let go," she said.
"Ferguson has three or four (previous bites), one pretty serious to a photographer on (Brother Wolf) campus," McDermott said.
Kayla Wellman, who says she fostered Ferguson, remembers his behavior differently.
"Ferguson just needs love and attention," Wellman said. "When I fostered Ferguson even the staff at Brother Wolf noticed a difference in him and were hoping I’d be a foster fail," meaning that she would adopt the dog.
Behaviorist perspectives
Jillian Orlando, a board-certified veterinary behaviorist based in Raleigh, works with families whose pets have "problematic behaviors" from house soiling to fear and aggression. Orlando said she had not heard of Brother Wolf before her interview with the Citizen Times.
Orlando said that the "history of aggression" category can be a big bin — from animals who have attacked family members without warning to dogs who snapped at a child after parents let "the kids basically torture the dog."
"It's always great if you can take these things on a case-by-case basis rather than having blanket policies," she said.
Dogs with a history of significant aggression will "always need" specialized management, Orlando said, but advising a rescue organization with an aggressive dog is worlds away from advising a family with an aggressive dog.
Beyond obvious questions of liability, Orlando said it's reasonable for shelters to be almost prohibitively choosy about potential adoptive families for dogs with significant bite histories.
"The treatment and management recommendations (for a dog with aggression) are typically tailored to your family, your situation, (the dog's) specific triggers," she said.
Rescues "can't necessarily know for sure that the new potential adopters will manage the dog correctly," Orlando said.
"People always say, 'Well, what if I find a home with no kids and no dogs?' That person has to commit to never having that dog around other kids or other dogs," she explained. "Is that something that's actually feasible? Will they be able to do that?"
Community criticism
Some longtime volunteers have expressed shock and frustration that BWAR seems to be moving away from its mission of giving "problem dogs" a chance.
Chester Lilly, the BWAR volunteer, was asked not to return after criticizing the shelter's euthanasia decisions and repeatedly posting negatively about BWAR on social media, according to both Lilly and Fieser.
Lilly said he enjoyed volunteering with "fearful and behavioral problem dogs" under the guidance of BWAR's staff behaviorists at the time.
"We had many successful stories with placing many of those dogs at BWAR but there have been some that just haven’t met the right person yet," Lilly said. "These dogs usually do require a lot of guidance to work with but sometimes the right individual comes along and they hit it off very quickly."
For some of the dogs in question — Rhubarb, Ferguson and Tucker included — only a handful of volunteers and staff are able to work with or handle them safely, Lilly and Fieser agreed. In some cases, reactive dogs or dogs with a history of aggression have only one person they tolerate.
'We don't have a sanctuary'
Fieser said she understands the frustration about cases like Rhubarb and Ferguson.
"People are saying, 'Brother Wolf said they were going to sanctuary these animals,'" meaning that they'd keep custody of the animals permanently without looking for an adoptive or foster home. "That's valid."
Supporters recall plans for a $4.9 million, 83.5-acre facility in Leicester to provide a permanent home for high-needs animals.
Background: Brother Wolf Animal Rescue sells Leicester sanctuary
"Part of the reason Brother Wolf said they were going to build a sanctuary is because they knew they had a population of animals who could not be placed into homes," Fieser said. "It is very sad and unfortunate how that project was managed and that it never came to fruition, but we don't have a sanctuary. We are a converted warehouse — it is not OK to warehouse animals" indefinitely.
'The many versus the few'
"What we're really facing is a moral dilemma," Fieser said. "It's choosing the many versus the few. There's no great answer either way.
"But we feel that as an animal rescue organization, we have the responsibility to use the resources that we have to make the greatest impact that we can."
Only Texas and California euthanize more animals a year than North Carolina.
"I get emails every single day of dogs that are dying that have heartworms and that's why they're being put to sleep," Fieser said. "I got an email about a cat who ... died because she needed stitches and antibiotics. These are needless deaths."
Though many assume the label "no-kill" means a shelter never euthanizes animals, the term actually refers to shelters with a "90% or more save rate," she said.
In 2018, 95.2% of animals in Brother Wolf's care had "live outcomes," meaning they were either adopted, returned to their owner, altered and released (as in stray cat colonies) or transferred to another organization.
What "no-kill" means is a question that the Asheville Humane Society has grappled with as well.
As Tracy Elliott, then-director of AHS, wrote in a 2017 opinion piece:
"In the worthy pursuit of achieving a no-kill goal, and responding to enormous public pressure to do so, some shelters have lost sight of an animal’s right to express normal behavior and to be free of fear and distress,' he wrote. "Dogs stacked in crates for months on end is not humane. Neither is keeping a suffering cat alive to achieve a goal."
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Iran’s Revolutionary Court has sentenced 16 female members of the ISIS terrorist group to jail.
Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi said the women who had moved to Syria to join ISIS and receive terrorist training were arrested upon their return to Iran.
Based on the indictment issued by the Public Prosecute Office, the ISIS women will have to both serve their prison terms and pay the money they received as salary from ISIS and undergo some other supplementary punishment, a Farsi report by the Persian-language ISNA said.
Last week, Iranian judiciary began the trial of 26 of ISIS members which targeted the Iranian Parliament and the Mausoleum of Imam Khomeini last year, injuring and killing more than 50 people.
Following the attacks, Iran announced the death of 5 of the attackers, and 17 Iranians, with dozens wounded in the first attack by ISIS on the Iranian territory.
The five attackers were Iranian members of ISIS, and according to the prosecutor, had entered Iran in mid-February 2017 from Iraq.
The prosecutor called for the execution of those arrested after their conviction of purchasing, carrying and keeping light, semi-heavy and heavy arms and conducting terrorist attack were upheld.
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Start at the beginning: At Wrigley Field, in the lineup for the Mets in a game against the Cubs, Youngblood has one hit in two at-bats. He then leaves the game when he receives word that he has been traded to the Expos.
Several hours later, at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, Youngblood enters right field in the sixth inning for defensive purposes and has one single in one at-bat in the Expos’ 5-4 loss to the Phillies.
“I heard in the third inning that I was traded,” Youngblood says after his adventure concludes for the day. “I made plane reservations immediately. I showered and packed and made it to the plane with 20 minutes to spare. I had dinner on the plane and caught a cab here. It’s funny — I left there in the third and got here in the third.”
A footnote: Both of his hits that day came against future Hall of Fame pitchers — Ferguson Jenkins of the Cubs and Steve Carlton of the Phillies.
A Day’s Work in the First Inning
Von Hayes of Philadelphia becomes the first player to hit two home runs in the first inning — a solo shot and a grand slam. He finishes with six runs batted in as the Phillies crush the visiting Mets, 26-7, on June 11, 1985.
A Different Kind of D.H.
Manager Billy Martin of the Yankees uses starting pitcher Rick Rhoden as the designated hitter in a June 11, 1988, game against Baltimore. It is the first time since the inception of the designated hitter 15 years before that a pitcher has started a game as the designated hitter.
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The beautiful and serene Pavey block, located on the west side of North High Street between Northwood and Oakland Avenues, has lent an historical elegance to the northern gateway of OSU for 100 years. Developers plan to demolish the block and replace it with a giant monolith that will house 420 people in just over 100 units. Area residents, and those interested in historical preservation, are quite concerned. Not only are there concerns about density, infrastructure, parking, traffic, and the destruction of dozens of old growth trees, but there is concern that these beautiful homes that line North High will be forever lost. In February 2015 , the University Area District Plan was ratified. The proposed developments north of Lane Avenue do not take into account the plan guidelines. We need City Council's intervention.
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The smallest recorded spy was the Frenchman, Richebourg (1768-1858), who measured 58 cm (1 ft 11 in) as an adult. Richebourg was employed by the aristocracy to act as a secret agent during the French Revolution (1789-1799), dispatching messages into and out of Paris, whilst disguised as an infant and carried by his 'nurse'.
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Comments below may relate to previous holders of this record.
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Inspiration
ThriftFly is a network to connect frequent fliers connect and share incredible airfare deals. Save money on your next vacation or dream adventure to your bucket list destinations by finding deals shared by users on the app
Add, tip and report expired flight deals
Users sign up with 25 Kin added to their account as sign up bonus. User can then add a flight deal from the add deal page. User inputs the source location, destination location, date of onward and return journeys, airline code and arrival and departure time and dates. On addition 15 Kin is awarded to the user for sharing the deal. Thriftfly then verifies the deal online checking the average prices on the same route and make the deal live so that it becomes available to other users on the platform. Other users on the platform can then favorite the deal if they like it, report the deal as expired if the fare is no longer available. Every tip transfers 1 Kin to the user who posted the deal. Reporting expired deals on verification also fetches the user 1 Kin
Thus ThrifyFly is a user controlled network where users share data verified by the admin and checked for errors by fellow users.
Leaderboard
Leaderboard enables users to see top contributors in terms of points earned(Kin), deals added and deals expired reported. This adds a unique gamification feature to the app giving more encouragement and reasons for users to stay more active and post more incredible deals flying around.
How I built it
I used Firebase to save user info, flights info and Kin Android Client SDK for the android app and Django app powered by Kin Python SDK to verify account create and send Kin transactions from the backend.
Challenges I ran into
Setting up Kin backend sdk on my server was a challenge as I took some time to making it work fine without any glitches
Accomplishments that I'm proud of
Integrating Kin SDK into the app and publishing a fully fledged server to facilitate creating accounts and send Kin
What I learned
It's my first Blockchain app and it was a brilliant experience learning a completely new field that I've never touched on before
What's next for ThriftFly
I wish to make the social network more rewarding with more functionalities and more social and sharing mechanisms. Implement email alerts for new deals and add follow locations feature to users to track their bucket list destinations. Automated deals verification and deals expiry checks are also on the way to eliminate turn around time between deals addition and the same becoming live
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Theresa May will announce a crackdown on social media abuse, amid concerns the coarsening of political debate is deterring women from entering public life.
In a speech to mark the centenary of women's right to vote on Tuesday, Britain's second female Prime Minister will praise the "heroism" of suffragettes as she outlines proposals to deal with online "bitterness and aggression".
A record number of women were elected to Parliament in last June's snap General Election.
But there is growing concern among political parties and MPs that increasing misogyny on social media will deter women from standing for election.
Speaking in Manchester, Mrs May will say: "While there is much to celebrate, I worry that our public debate is coarsening.
"That for some it is harder to disagree, without also demeaning opposing viewpoints in the process."
The Prime Minister will say online abuse is often targeted at women, gay people and members of ethnic minorities, as she urges social media companies to do more to stamp out abuse.
Mrs May will announce a series of measures to try to tackle online aggression, including a new annual internet safety transparency report that will provide data on how social media companies are dealing with abusive material.
The Prime Minister will also introduce a social media code of practice later this year.
And she will endorse the recommendations of a Commons report into intimidation, which called for legislation to shift the balance of liability for illegal content to the social media companies.
In addition, Mrs May will ask the Law Commission to review legislation to ensure actions classed as illegal offline are also illegal online, in an attempt to better police the internet.
Statue in memory of Suffragette
"In the face of what is a threat to our democracy, I believe that all of us - individuals, governments, and media old and new - must accept our responsibility to help sustain a genuinely pluralist public debate for the future," the Prime Minister will add.
Her speech will mark the 1918 Representation of the People Act, which granted the vote to many women aged over 30.
A century later and women now make up 32% of all MPs.
Nearly 45% of the Labour benches are made up of women, boosted by the party's policy of all-women shortlists.
The Tories are lagging behind as just over one in five of their MPs are women.
But Conservative Party chairman Brandon Lewis told Sky News the party would not be introducing all-women shortlists to get more women on the Conservative benches.
Instead, the party is appointing a vice-chair of candidates - Maria Caulfield MP - to encourage more women to stand.
"We are working to change the culture across politics through cracking down on abuse and intimidation," said Ms Caulfield.
"Gender quotas and shortlists are short-term fixes, which do not address the underlying problems we are tackling."
Image: A record number of women were elected to Parliament last June
Nicky Morgan, the former education secretary and equalities minister, said she too was now ambivalent about all-women shortlists, having given them conditional backing ahead of the 2015 General Election.
"We had this thing about all-women shortlists in the Labour Party and then I watched misogynistic abuse that Liz Kendall and Yvette Cooper got when they stood for the leader of the Labour Party," she told Sky News.
"You have these shortlists and they've had them for at least 20 years.
"But, if you actually look at the Labour Party and the way those particular females candidates got trashed by their own members, actually what those all-women shortlists didn't do was change the culture."
Harriet Harman, former deputy Labour leader and the longest-serving female MP in the House of Commons, admits there has been resistance to all-women shortlists but says there were necessary to change representation in Parliament.
She also believes that while Labour has done the heavy lifting of getting women into Parliament, it is Mrs May who has the power as Prime Minister to effect real change for women on equal pay, domestic violence and childcare provision.
"When I was first in Parliament in 1982, it was 97% men and 3% women," she told Sky News.
"That was the way it had been for the previous 50 years.
"It was almost like there was an invisible glass ceiling and we were determined and used all-women shortlists to increase that percentage of representation and now we've got over 40%."
Ms Harman also said female politicians were more willing to work cross-party to campaign on women's issues.
She said one milestone would come in April, when companies employing over 250 people will be forced to publish gender pay audits - a move that could lay bare the discrepancy in pay between men and women.
Mrs May will address female MPs past and present at a gathering in Westminster Hall later on Tuesday to launch a year-long Vote 100 programme of events to celebrate a century of female suffrage.
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I don't always violate the prime directive But when I do, it's with my penis
678 shares
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“When people ask me if a god created the universe, I tell them that the question itself makes no sense. Time didn’t exist before the big bang, so there is no time for god to make the universe in. It’s like asking directions to the edge of the earth; The Earth is a sphere; it doesn’t have an edge; so looking for it is a futile exercise. We are each free to believe what we want, and it’s my view that the simplest explanation is; there is no god. No one created our universe,and no one directs our fate. This leads me to a profound realization; There is probably no heaven, and no afterlife either. We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe, and for that I am extremely grateful.”
― Stephen Hawking
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Broad-spectrum hemp with zero THC for the mind, body & soul.
Honesty and integrity are at the core of everything we do and what we stand for. We’re here to rekindle the relationship that humans have to nature and empower both parties as a result.
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Related Articles Princess Mako to marry and become a commoner, report says
Head in the clouds: Dutch king was guest pilot for 21 years The middle-school princesses have been on display lately across Europe, including two who are next in line for the throne.
In Spain, the royal family turned out Wednesday on the occasion of 10-year-old Princess Sofia‘s first communion. Her father, Felipe, is the king. Older sister Leonor, 11, is first in line; then comes Sofia.
Norway’s Constitution Day called for traditional garb Wednesday for 13-year-old Princess Ingrid and her family. She’s second in line to the throne, after her father, Crown Prince Haakon. Brother Sverre, 11, is third. (Haakon, you might recall, raised a few eyebrows last week when he shaved his beard in the middle of his parents’ gala birthday dinner. He seemed to be on good behavior Wednesday.)
And a few weeks ago in the Netherlands, the king’s family took to the streets, including the three sisters at the front of the succession line: Catherina-Amalia, 13; Alexia, 11; and Ariane, 10.
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Relive the glory days of Jewish boxing, when sluggers Barney Ross and Sammy Luftspring ruled the ring, with the Menschwarmers’ special guest, Lou Eisen, an encyclopedia of boxing knowledge. Lou talks about the earliest Jewish boxers, the sport’s evolution and an era when thuggish Nazis forced Jews to hit back in the streets.
Listen to the latest episode of Menschwarmers, our Jewish sports podcast, right here:
Menschwarmers is hosted by Gabe Pulver and Jamie Hirsh, and produced and edited by Alex Rose. Michael Fraiman is the supervising producer. Our music is “Brass” by 4bstr4ck3r feat. Daman. You can follow the Menschwarmers on Twitter, and check out more podcasts by The CJN Podcast Network here.
Related Reading:
Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts:
Share and Enjoy !
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Il est minuit et demie environ ce soir de « grand débat » sur BFM TV : c’est l’heure du « débrief » , animé par Jean-Baptiste Boursier. Autour de la table, la fine fleur des éditorialistes de BFM TV : Anna Cabana, Camille Langlade, Bruno Jeudy, Thierry Arnaud. La soirée est « historique » dixit la chaîne (c’est la première fois que l’ensemble des candidats à l’élection présidentielle débattent ensemble). Pourtant la satisfaction est loin d’être partagée sur le plateau : suite au débat, certains « experts » balancent entre indignation et stupéfaction...
L’« irrespect » de Philippe Poutou
Indignation, d’abord. Il est rapidement question de Philippe Poutou, et de ses prises à partie de François Fillon puis de Marine Le Pen sur leurs affaires respectives de détournement de fonds public. Des interventions remarquées et largement acclamées sur les réseaux sociaux...
(extraits des interventions de Philippe Poutou lors du « grand débat »)
Des interventions qui ont, semble-t-il, agacé les « experts » de BFM TV, qui tiennent d’emblée à le faire savoir :
Bruno Jeudy : « Il y a eu quelques coups d’éclats [...] Philippe Poutou est à mon avis un des plus mauvais débatteurs de la soirée »
Anna Cabana : « Il y a eu des agents d’ambiance... Moi non plus je ne trouve pas que Philippe Poutou mérite quelque honneur que ce soit, il s’est quand même conduit de façon très irrespectueuse [...] On peut marquer les esprits, tout en se conduisant de manière irrespectueuse néanmoins... Maintenant, les petits candiats ont fait sourire »
La discussion reprend quelques minutes plus tard plus spécifiquement sur l’intervention de Philippe Poutou, après la diffusion d’un extrait :
Bruno Jeudy : « Sur l’aspect affaires, je n’ai pas grand chose à dire [...] c’est sur son comportement tout au long du débat, à la fois on a l’impression que c’est un candidat qui a un pied dedans un pied dehors, qui va voir ses supporters pendant le débat, qui refuse d’être sur la photo, qui emploie des mots lorsqu’il parle de la police "qui fait chier les jeunes", je trouve que c’est un candidat qui par moment n’a pas le respect pour être candidat à la présidence. »
Thierry Arnaud : « Oui je suis assez d’accord avec Bruno, je n’ai aucun doute que la séquence fasse un carton auprès de nombreux téléspectateurs, qu’elle soit largement reprise sur les réseaux sociaux [...] pour le reste Philippe Poutou ne m’a pas convaincu. »
Anna Cabana : « Je rejoins ce que vient de dire Thierry : Nathalie Arthaud, elle avait de la dignité, une spontanéité, une éloquence, elle était dans son couloir... Philippe Poutou, en revanche, il apostrophait les uns et les autres par leur nom de famille, sans même mettre ni madame, ni monsieur ni un prénom, il s’asseyait derrière son pupitre, se retroussait les manches, se retournait pour parler avec son public, refusait de prendre place sur la photo collective... et au fond à part des invectives [...] Il y a un irrespect dans sa posture de bout en bout, et une forme d’indignité par rapport à la solennité d’un débat présidentiel. »
Bref, Poutou l’ouvrier aurait mieux fait de « rester à sa place » voire « rester dans son couloir ». François Fillon et Marine Le Pen ont beau être accusés de détournements de fonds publics, ils savent se tenir au moins !
Il n’y a guère que Camille Langlade pour apporter un bémol dans l’unanimité qui règne sur le plateau : « Ce qui me gêne dans ce que vous dites, c’est que sans Philippe Poutou, on aurait peut-être eu aucune phrase sur les affaires [...] il n’y a eu que des allusions des autres candidats, et Philippe Poutou, on aime on aime pas, on le trouve irrespectueux, je suis tout à fait d’accord avec vous là-dessus sur cet aspect-là, mais il reste le seul à parler clairement des affaires et attaquer clairement François Fillon là-dessus. »
La percée « irrationnelle » de Mélenchon
Après l’indignation, la stupéfaction. Le plateau n’est pas au bout de ses peines. Quelques minutes plus tard, le traditionnel (et très contestable) sondage des téléspectateurs est présenté par Bernard Sananes d’Elabe. Or c’est Jean-Luc Mélenchon qui est jugé le plus convaincant, avec le second programme le plus convaincant à un point près de celui de Macron.
En réaction à ses résultats, Bruno Jeudy manque de s’étrangler :
« C’est surtout la montée de Jean-Luc Mélenchon, il y a une part d’irrationnalité maintenant dans sa montée, c’est vrai que sur les qualités de débatteur, c’est incontestable que ce soir il est encore le meilleur [...] il a bien choisi ses répliques et ses angles d’attaque, c’était très différent comme stratégie comme quoi c’est vraiment un as dans le débat ; en revanche, c’est vrai que ce qui apparaît comme paradoxal, c’est que son projet maintenant deviendrait presque à l’égal de celui d’Emmanuel Macron, et même devant celui de François Fillon, comme le meilleur projet ! Je pense que beaucoup de français n’ont pas totalement regardé le projet... ou alors la société française est en train de basculer vraiment vers l’envie d’une sixième république, l’envie d’idées assez... mais peut-être, hein, je m’interroge sur cette forme d’irrationnalité qui fait que la forme prend le pas sur le fond. »
Les sympathisants de Jean-Luc Mélenchon apprécieront : leur adhésion serait nécessairement due à une question de forme et aux talents d’orateur du candidat, son programme étant apparemment, sur le fond, incompatible avec la société française...
Bref, c’était le « débrief » de BFM TV... L’ouvrier est tenu de rester à sa place, et les électeurs de rester « réalistes ».
Frédéric Lemaire
PS : En prime, ce commentaire de Luc Ferry qui donne le la du mépris de classe qui s’est exprimé contre Philippe Poutou depuis le débat d’hier :-)
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The Costume Designers Guild Local 892 is gearing up to fight for pay equity in its 2021 contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, establishing a pay-equity committee to raise awareness of the scale disparity between the mostly female CDG membership and the mostly male membership of the Art Directors Guild Local 800.
Committee head Kristin Burke says the CDG is using production designers as an example of a higher-paid comparable position under the California Fair Pay Act. Passed in 2016, the amendment extends the equal pay for equal work provisions of 1949’s California Equal Pay Act to cover “substantially similar work” — a definition that includes skill, effort, responsibility and duties.
“It’s about our day-to-day responsibilities, accountability, working conditions, education that may or may not be necessary and the overall effect of our work, which is to create a world,” says Burke, a costume designer appointed by the CDG to head the committee.
Two-time Oscar-nominated costume designer Arianne Phillips further links the positions of costume designer and art director as key department heads who are considered to be off-set— that is, not part of the actual filming process. “We are on par with our job descriptions and our contributions,” she says. “We don’t get paid overtime or meal penalties or anything that a shooting crew would make.”
Tracking the specifics of pay disparity is somewhat difficult. Production designers retain an honorary title within the ADG, as do supervising art directors; neither is recognized anywhere in the contracts with producers. Instead, the agreements set scale rates for art directors, leaving the top two art department positions to negotiate over-scale rates for themselves.
Costume designers seek parity with art directors, who are paid nearly $1,000 more per week when comparing the ADG’s Crafts Wage Schedule for feature films with Showbiz Labor Guide’s West Coast IATSE Basic Agreement for costume designers on feature films. The ADG did not respond to requests for comment.
CDG president Salvador Perez says costume designers’ contributions are undervalued in another way: Their work generates ancillary income from sales of children’s costumes, toys, clothing and other products. Other departments that create marketing opportunities for studios, such as composers and musicians, earn residuals. “The financial gains from merchandising are [significant],” says Perez, yet “we don’t get any kind of compensation, let alone credit.”
Costume designers gave up ownership of their work in movie and TV productions decades ago (though stage productions still allow designers to earn royalties and residuals). That means they’re frequently overlooked in the studios’ quest to capitalize on what they’ve created. For example, Burke’s costumes from “Insidious” and “Insidious: Chapter 2” were displayed at Arclight Hollywood to promote the second film, and although she sat and sewed them by hand at her kitchen table, her name was nowhere to be found on the installation. Arclight Hollywood did not respond to requests for comment. Neither did Olson Visual, the company that created the display, or multiple studios contacted for this story.
“I don’t think there’s a conspiracy out there to deny us credit that’s due,” says Phillips, “but I do think there’s an ignorance about it. It doesn’t occur to them that a person actually created these costumes.”
While there have been some gains, it’s been an uneven path. “Game of Thrones” costume designer Michele Clapton narrated a traveling costume exhibit based on the show and is helping to curate a display for the “Game of Thrones” studio tour set to open next year in Northern Ireland. HBO confirms it will have her name attached. But a new collection of clothes based on “Game of Thrones” costumes from apparel designer John Varvatos includes no mention of Clapton.
Jeff Peters, VP of licensing and retail at HBO, responded via email that although HBO is a fan of Clapton’s work, she was attached to another project when the clothes were designed and “since no HBO talent or crew was part of the creative process, we did not feature any specific names in the marketing, which is our general approach.”
Clapton is working on location and responded to requests for comment via an email sent through HBO: “I’m very excited to see that there is such strong consumer interest in these types of film, television and fashion collaborations. I know that the increase in these partnerships will continue to highlight the creativity and hard work which costume designers put into their craft, and that is very gratifying. I strongly believe that participation by costume designers and recognition of their roles in these projects is an important topic, and I’m encouraged that our industry is engaged in this incredibly vital discussion.”
The CDG goes back to the negotiating table in early 2020. Until then, the goal is to spread awareness. “We’re fighting for scale,” says Burke. “We have to make the point that our work is valuable.”
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While he was in the neighbourhood Justin got a chance to play A Song of Ice & Fire with Designer Michael Shinall from CMON at the BoW US Studio.
Using the Stark vs Lannister Starter Set the guys give a quick demonstration of how the mechanics of the game will play out and the various tactical options available.
The set-up is a 16pt game, which is half the size of the starter box, and they will be playing one of the five Game of Thrones game modes - Control Point. This involves capturing and controlling one of the three control points on the map, for which they will gain objective points and bonus tactical abilities.
Will this be a Whispering Wood or a Red Wedding?
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First things first, The Eyes of my Mother is a beautiful looking film. Director Nicolas Pesce’s choice to film in black and white makes for a stunning visual experience. The blending and fading of dark and light tones embellishes the film with a classic noir presentation. This is one of those movies where you will notice the lighting, and how it can saturate or highlight a scene. In addition, there are several impressive long shots, and Pesce’s framework lends an intellectual depth to the story. Many of his techniques are not routine, and this approach lends an artistic quality to the film. With a screen time of 76 minutes, Eyes unfolds over the course of 20 years. The short screen time makes for a dominate film, where every scene is used to it’s fullest potential.
Eyes is a dark film, following Francisca, a reclusive young woman struggling to put together the pieces of adulthood after a series of traumatic events. Unfolding in three chapters, Francisca’s desire for companionship manifests into helpless desperation, provoking extreme measures. Francisca is relatable in many ways, as all humans craving companionship are, and Eyes reveals that sanity can be a fine line to those lost in the trappings of isolation. There is nothing that occurs in this film that hasn't happened in real life, and that may be perhaps the most terrifying aspect of all.
These are the rare unspoken of horrors that rarely see the spotlight of mass media. The snippet on the news that gets just a brief mention before moving onto the sports highlights. Eyes isn't overly gruesome, but it doesn't necessarily need to be. Nevertheless the film is very disturbing, revealing the sinister undertones of a broken existence. For a horror film, it doesn’t have the stereotypical jump scares, but it taps into something much deeper. If axe wielding murderers and blood splattering gore are your thing, this film may miss the mark. This is a stripped down horror film that presents the primal unraveling of human nature.
Eyes is an impressive directorial debut for Pesce, who also wrote the screenplay. For a film that uses blindness as a metaphor, Pesce presents a movie that is very visual. Kika Magalhaes shines in her role as Francisca. Her duo language performance unfolds both in English and Portuguese (subtitles provided). The role required a wide range of emotions and she convincingly pulled off the challenging role.
Overall, The Eyes of my Mother is an eerie yet beautiful film, and another impressive horror release that steers clear of the tired cookie cutter formula. Eyes could best be described as art-house horror, much like The VVitch, there is a balance between the execution of the film, and the story it is trying to tell. There is the same amount of effort given to the presentation and framework as there is the performances on screen. Neither is more important than the other, and the results make for a stunning film. Pesce is definitely a director to keep your eye on, his debut is that impressive.
Score
- Lee L. Lind
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Help us bring basic income closer to reality in Europe!
The Funding is over, just SIGN NOW http://sign.basicincome2013.eu
European Citizens' Initiative for Unconditional Basic Income (www.basicincome2013.eu) proposes a new form of total social security for all citizens. It aims to eradicate poverty, protect people from the consequences of un(der)employment and recognise the essential labour which happens outside the market. Our goal is to collect 1 million signatures by January 2014 to force the European Commission to do research into the policy and organise an official hearing about basic income in the European Parliament.
We’re now calling on all basic income supporters and the 125,000 people who have already signed our initiative here: http://sign.basicincome2013.eu to donate and help us finance the collection of the rest of the 875,000 signatures needed. It’s important that we do it now - while the whole of Europe is excited about basic income. With enough contributions we can reach millions rapidly and make basic income a political topic which can’t be ignored anymore. Please click the button “Back This Project” in the upper right corner of this page and donate now.
This was as hard as it sounds. In many European countries, the word “basic income” was not even recognised by search engines. Many of us had thought it was a good idea on our own but didn’t know many others who had looked into it. And there the initiative organisers were trying to find like-minded people who would help us collect a million signatures.
Luckily, we’re proud to say that almost all European countries now have national basic income groups, websites, and people in social media who are promoting the idea. During the last eight months there have been more articles about basic income in both mass and alternative media than ever before.
We went to demonstrations. We organized talks and gave interviews for the mass media. We have made wonderful friends across Europe and successfully mobilized passionate people who will one day help make basic income a reality.
In September 2013 Croatia happened. This newest member state of the European Union started promoting their freshly built basic income website and their Facebook page. Fast forward to October the 15th: to everyone’s surprise, Croatia, as the last country to enter the race for signatures, became the first country to collect their minimum quota of signatures. They achieved it in only 45 days, sitting at their desks, using nothing but the power of the Internet, their website, their Facebook page and the enormous attention of the media.
Which brings us back to the power of the Internet.
Inspired by Croatia, other countries started using this simple tactics: use Facebook to spread the central website’s message about basic income, occasionally pay for the most successful Facebook posts to reach a huge number of people overnight and watch the signatures pour in.
See the whole Croatian campaign from start in September - 100% of signatures were collected using nothing but a website and a Facebook page:
Croatia spent only 89 euros on paid promotion. The rest of the campaign was 100% purely organic internet wizardry, amplified by the media attention. The result: 9000+ signatures and quota reached in only 45 days.
And now take a look at Sweden and Portugal’s signatures going up like crazy, once those countries began implementing Croatia’s tactics:
Now, take a look at Germany, suddenly awakened from a slumber in October when a popular German-speaking Facebook page with 70,000 fans shared just one link to www.basicincome2013.eu once:
And now finally, take a look at the experience of another successfully completed European Citizens Initiative (“Right2Water”, source):
Take a look again: this ECI collected 1.2 million signatures, and most of them were collected online during the last three months of the campaign. This is exactly where our initiative is right now.
People think that "not everybody uses Facebook", but a 192 million European Union citizens in fact do (source: Internet World Stats). Facebook is a tremendous tool for reaching all of them almost overnight, informing them about what basic income and our ongoing European citizens’ initiative are, and presenting them with a button to click to sign the initiative online.
You already saw how Croatia reached its quota in only 45 days. But why wait so long? Well, that’s how long it takes if you have enough time to do it for free, using the so-called organic features of Facebook. With more funds at their disposal, Croatia would have reached its quota in probably half that time.
You’ve also seen how Sweden, Germany and Portugal used Facebook to increase the number of signatures. Everything points in one, single direction: it is possible to collect a massive number of signatures in a very short period of time. We’re talking about a couple of weeks. Probably even days.
So, it's not like basic income lacks public support: on the contrary! Our biggest challenge now is reaching a million supporters in time with almost zero funding.
We’ve built an amazing international community of organisers who are becoming a future force for basic income. You should witness the passion, excitement and frustrations of our activists when we’re collaborating online, watching the signature graphs go up and down daily, brainstorming all the possible ways to get more signatures than the day before, debating about the various approaches to basic income implementation.
You’ve seen the heat with which we defend your right to have your survival guaranteed by your government. So we’re asking you now: will you please donate a small sum of money so our passionate organisers could continue fighting for basic income? If your answer is yes, please scroll up this page right now, click the “Back this project” button in the upper right corner and choose your reward… Stop reading and scroll up now :)
Our European Citizens’ Initiative for Unconditional Basic Income is probably the largest active basic income movement in the world right now. Thousands are working on raising awareness of their friends, family and complete strangers on the streets of our cities. Our potential to quickly convince people about the benefits of basic income is immense and we need to seize this opportunity now, while Europe is still buzzing with activity. A person is never able to shrink back into their former mental boundaries once they hear about the possibilities opened up by basic income.
That’s an opportunity right there, to move quickly, and bring the day closer when basic income is implemented in the first European country. The first country to implement basic income will create a political and social ripple effect throughout the world - mark our words! Can you imagine what the world would look like if all seven billion people could live like decent human beings without the stress and worry about potential homelessness and hunger?
Donations for the European basic income movement begin at only 1 EUR. Scroll up this page and click "Back this project" to donate now. You can donate no matter where in the world you live.
Unconditional basic income is a new form of total social security for all citizens. It’s an unconditional monthly sum, paid out to by the government to every citizen - rich or poor, old or young, employed or unemployed. Basic income is designed to protect us from poverty and negative consequences of job loss, without sacrificing our dignity, privacy or peace of mind. See this 3-minute video:
An ECI is a way for EU citizens to have their voice heard by the lawmakers.
European Citizens’ Initiatives (ECI) are aimed at increasing direct democracy in the EU. The initiative enables one million citizens to call directly on the European Commission to propose a legal act in an area where the Member States have conferred powers onto the EU level.
If our ECI is accepted, it will make the lawmakers look at this policy, debate it and carry out pilot studies. Where studies into unconditional basic income have been done in Canada, India, Namibia and other places, it has proved highly effective in improving the education, health and nutrition of the poorest people, while raising the level of economic activity overall.
We’re activists, academics, journalists, authors, European basic income veterans gathered around www.basicincome2013.eu. Learn more about us. Some of us have only recently come to know about basic income but immediately felt its justice.
We have official support of BIEN (the Basic Income Earth Network), the world’s oldest and the most important basic income organization.
We need a million European signatures for basic income, but it has proved too challenging with almost zero funding. That’s why we’re asking all basic income supporters to help by donating a small sum of money which we will use to finance the online and offline promotion of the initiative. It’s important that we succeed: with this we can make basic income a hot political topic and pressure our lawmakers in Europe to take the eradication of poverty seriously. We have time until 14 January 2014 to collect the last 875,000 signatures. Thank you and please donate now, any amount between 1 - 499 euro will be accepted.
And don't forget to SIGN the initiative http://sign.basicincome2013.eu
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As you are probably already aware, fans finally released Pokemon Uranium earlier this week. However, it would seem as though Nintendo isn’t happy with the situation and has issued multiple takedown notices against the fan-made title. The team behind Pokemon Uranium has issued a statement and says that after receiving 1,500,000 downloads of the game they have since been contacted by lawyers representing Nintendo of America issuing multiple takedown notices. You can read the statement by the team, below.
Source
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SpaceX launches Falcon Heavy rocket SpaceX's Falcon Heavy, the world's most powerful rocket, thundered to life Tuesday and shot away from Florida on the power of 27 engines and nearly 5 million pounds of thrust, kicking off a spectacular maiden flight to send founder Elon Musk's cherry red Tesla Roadster on a "just for fun" journey beyond the orbit of Mars.
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A powerful New Zealand First figure helped establish a forestry company that then pushed for money from two key funding streams controlled by a New Zealand First Minister.
Photo: RNZ / Dan Cook
An RNZ investigation has found Brian Henry, lawyer for Winston Peters and judicial officer for the New Zealand First party, became a founding director of NZ Future Forest Products in March.
The company immediately began its bid for money from the Provincial Growth Fund and also sought funding from the One Billion Trees programme - both overseen by New Zealand First Minister Shane Jones.
The Billion Trees funding bid was rejected by officials at Te Uru Rākau, Forestry New Zealand, on 22 August.
Less than a week after that rejection, Future Forest Products appointed the partner of New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters as a director of the company.
Jan Trotman, who has extensive experience as a director and senior manager of commercial businesses, shares a home with Mr Peters, who is also deputy prime minister, in central Auckland.
Ms Trotman was made the fourth director of the forestry company on 27 August, when the company bid for at least $1 million from the Provincial Growth Fund was still live.
Company Office records show it was Mr Henry who completed Ms Trotman's application for a director's certificate.
Photo: RNZ / Patrice Allen
National regional development spokesperson Chris Bishop is calling for the Auditor-General to investigate Future Forests Products' dealings with the Provincial Growth Fund.
"We know that the Provincial Growth Fund is incredibly opaque in the way in which it operates and who gets funding, how they get funding, what criteria are used to assess who gets funding," Mr Bishop said.
Mr Henry refused to answer any questions about his involvement with the company or its application for public money.
Mr Jones, who is minister for forestry and regional economic development, also refused to be interviewed for this story.
But his spokesperson said the application for funding from the One Billion Trees programme never reached ministerial level. Forestry officials decided Future Forest Products was not eligible and the minister was not involved.
The company's bid for funding from the Provincial Growth Fund was then knocked back this month, after Labour Party ministers rejected it.
Mr Jones' spokesperson said the minister sought advice from the Cabinet Office as to whether he had a conflict of interest because of his relationship with Brian Henry. The Cabinet Office believed there was a potential conflict of interests and so he recused himself from the Future Forest Products application for Provincial Growth Fund money, she said.
Answers to parliamentary written questions lodged by National's finance spokesman, Paul Goldsmith, show the forestry company's Provincial Growth Fund bid was under consideration for at least six months.
Representatives from Future Forest Products held personal meetings, video conference calls and email exchanges with officials from the Provincial Development Unit over the application, from March to October.
On 7 November, government ministers met to consider the application. A spokesperson for Mr Jones said the minister was at the meeting but left the room for that agenda item and the decision to reject the bid was made by Labour ministers Grant Robertson, Phil Twyford and David Parker.
Photo: RNZ
Future Forest Products has shown interest in the government's efforts to make Gisborne a centre for wood processing excellence.
In February 2018, Mr Jones announced $200,000 for the Eastland Community Trust to develop a 'wood cluster centre of excellence' in Gisborne. Then in March 2019, regional economic development ministers approved another $19.5 million for the project, according to a Cabinet paper obtained by RNZ under the Official Information Act. That same month, Future Forest Products was set up.
A Gisborne Herald report, published in September this year, said Future Forest Products specialised in engineered timber and was looking to bring a state of the art processing plant to Gisborne at a cost of about $45 million.
An RNZ Official Information Act request shows that David Henry, Brian Henry's son and a fellow director of Future Forest Products, emailed that article to Mr Jones asking whether the minister had seen it.
Mr Jones said that was the only correspondence he has had with the company.
Future Forest Products was working with the Eastland Community Trust in Gisborne to develop the wood processing plant to produce timber to be used in modular housing, the trust told RNZ.
***
As managing director, David Henry has been the public voice of Future Forest Products but its ultimate investors and shareholders are a mystery.
The company is entirely owned by Kinleith Continuation LP, a limited partnership entity.
On its website, the Auckland District Law Society describes the limited partnership regime - which has only existed since 2008 - as being set up "with the express intention of appealing to foreign investors".
Both partners have to register their details with the Companies Office, but only the general partner's details are made public - the limited partner's details and their level of investment remain confidential. The partnership agreement itself does not need to be registered.
David Henry is listed as Kinleith Continuation's public partner but RNZ was unable to obtain details of the limited partner or the entity's shareholders.
Both Kinleith Continuation and Future Forest Products are registered at the same address - a flat on Auckland's North Shore purchased last year by a company that Brian Henry and his wife own.
Kinleith Continuation LP is also the sole shareholder of a UK-registered investment company, Percheron (UK), which lists David Henry and British financier Jay Barrymore - who once dated Harry Potter film star Emma Watson - as its directors.
As well as its bid for government funding, Future Forest Products has also been busy with acquisitions in its short existence.
On 29 August it announced it had entered into an agreement to acquire Claymark Group Holdings, a New Zealand-US wood product manufacturer.
And just last week, the company said it had entered into a "strategic transaction" to purchase a 25 percent stake in Northland lumber company North Sawn Lumber and help it build a sawmill in Ruakaka.
In an op-ed published by the National Business Review in August, David Henry said Future Forest Products' "growth ambitions" would require $900m over the next decade. "While Kiwi investment is always welcome, the majority will be overseas capital," he wrote.
However, the rest of the op-ed called for the government to guard against "short-term opportunism" and only allow foreign forestry investment from "international investors with genuine sustainability and social licence objectives".
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CHICAGO (AP) - Public park advocates have filed a lawsuit against the city of Chicago seeking to stop construction of the Obama Presidential Center.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports the federal lawsuit by Protect Our Parks Inc. seeks a court order barring the Chicago Park District and other city agencies from approving the building of former President Barack Obama's center in Jackson Park. The group also wants to bar the city from giving control of the center's site to the Obama Foundation.
The lawsuit says the original plan was to transfer public park land to the foundation for the purpose of housing an official federal Obama library, but that now the center will not include Obama's official presidential library.
A spokesman for Mayor Rahm Emanuel says the center is an opportunity to invest millions of dollars on Chicago's South Side.
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Allan McNish admitted he has never driven as cautiously as in the Shanghai 6 Hours to seal the World Endurance Championship title with Tom Kristensen and Loic Duval.
McNish, who undertook the final stint in the #2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro, explained that the cautious approach planned by the trio before the laps counted down towards the finish of Saturday's race.
The car was running in third place, its eventual finishing position, which was one spot ahead of where the trio needed to finish to take the WEC drivers' crown, despite team-mates Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler sealing a last-gasp victory.
"Loic had a bit of moment when a GT car spun coming out of Turn 13 and went left of the track in avoidance," explained McNish, who ran fourth behind the two Toyotas and Lotterer from the start before the retirement of the #8 Toyota.
"All we saw on the TV screens was an R18 exiting stage left at high speed.
"We also had a little bit of fear about the astroturf [which lined certain sections of kerbing], because the car picked some up when Tom was driving.
"We tended to be a bit more cautious after those things, even though we were being very cautious already. I don't think I've ever been so far away from other cars in traffic in my entire career."
The drivers of the #2 Audi chose a conservative strategy despite pre-race rhetoric about going for the win after struggling to find a handling balance during free practice and seeing the pace of the Toyota TS030 HYBRIDs.
"We realised it was going to be tough to get ahead of the Toyotas and win the race, so we played it more conservatively," added McNish.
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松井愛莉
松井愛莉
松井愛莉が刹那的な美しさを表現
東京ファッション・ウィーク
同ブランドでは2017春夏のコレクションのテーマを「leave」に掲げ、感情に身を委ね、自ら枠を越えて歩き出す理屈なき選択と、そこから生まれる不安定な感情、ぎこちなくも感情の赴くままに進む女性の刹那的な美しさを表現。また、18日に東京・淀橋教会で発表するランウェイショーに先駆けショートフィルムを先行発表。毎シーズン映画のストーリーのような情感を大切にし、それをデザインに落とし込んでいる同ブランドは、今回、制作するにあたり今シーズンのテーマ“leave”の女性像をイメージし、松井を起用した。松井には素直で可愛らしく、いわゆる“良い子” というキャラクターイメージが先行している印象があったそうだが、その彼女の感情の奥底を掘り起こすかのようにイメージの振り幅を強くつけることで、今回のコレクションの女性像と変化する感情が生むシチュエーションを描いた。感情的で色っぽく、どこか危うさ漂うぎこちない女性を演じてもらうことで、理屈なき感情が描く刹那的な美しさを表現している。東京ファッション・ウィークは、1985年に発足した東京コレクションが前身。東京コレクションは、パリ・ミラノ・ニューヨーク・ロンドンの世界四大コレクションの次席に位置づけられている世界的なコレクションのひとつである。（modelpress編集部）
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Not sure if i would do anything for love Or just not that
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IN THE first few decades of cinema, patrons would buy a ticket that granted general admission to the theatre. Several features would be playing on a loop, and you could choose whichever you fancied. You might enter halfway through the main movie, watch it until the end, see the cartoons and the newsreel and then start from the beginning to catch what you’d missed. It functioned rather like a big public television.
Then, in 1960, a director decreed that no one would be permitted to enter screenings once his new film had begun: the integrity of the viewing experience was paramount. The film was “Psycho” and Alfred Hitchcock’s edict—part artistic statement, part marketing ploy—placed new emphasis on plot twists in the final act. (He also asked critics not to discuss those key details.)
Today, writers and film-makers are obsessed with spoilers. J.K. Rowling has urged those watching “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”, a stage play, or the new “Fantastic Beasts” films to “keep the secrets”. Anthony and Joseph Russo, the directors of Marvel films, have issued statements requesting that fans not ruin them for others. When “Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood” screened in Cannes, a similar plea from Quentin Tarantino was read to the press, to much exasperated booing.
Audiences are zealous about the matter, too. Many viewers will go offline prior to episodes of a favourite television show, or mute certain words on social media so as to avoid seeing potentially spoiling posts. Writers must declare that their review contains spoilers, or face a backlash. One fan was assaulted outside a screening of “Avengers: Endgame” for “loudly revealing” the movie’s outcome.
Narratives have always had twists and unforeseen turns. “Citizen Kane” (1941) reveals a crucial detail in the last minute; whodunnits keep audiences guessing until a last gasp-inducing denouement . Yet Michael Curtiz didn’t ban viewers from entering “Mildred Pierce” (1945) late, nor did Orson Welles embargo the press on matters relating to “Rosebud”. Surprises were there to be had, certainly, but they weren’t particularly treasured or protected. (A notable exception is a production of “The Mousetrap” on the West End, which for decades has asked its patrons to keep quiet.)
In films of the 1990s such as “The Crying Game”, “Seven”, “The Usual Suspects” and “Fight Club”, the twist ending came of age; M. Night Shyamalan, a writer and director, became something of a master of the form. The ascendancy of the twist coincided with the spread of the internet, and the spoiler hysteria began. With so much analysis of films and television online, new rules of debate were inaugurated whereby warnings must be given about spoilers, or readers must be allowed to opt in to them.
Film-makers realised that fans were invested in the surprise and pandered to them. Joseph McGinty Nichol released false spoilers for “Terminator: Salvation”; other directors shot multiple endings for their films. “The Last Watch”, a documentary about the making of the last season of “Game of Thrones”, shows scripts being shredded following the cast read-through and actors being flown out for needless location shoots to mislead journalists and fans.
This is all rather ridiculous—and cynical. Shocking plots are what get people talking, tweeting and tuning in. In television, they help to guarantee huge ratings on the day of broadcast. The hubbub encourages fans to book their cinema tickets in advance. The Russo brothers begging viewers not to ruin the Avengers films probably helped them to secure the biggest opening weekend in film history. See it now, that seemed to say, or have someone else spoil it for you.
This attitude stifles proper discussion of stories by critics as much as viewers, and it inflicts damage on storytelling as a craft. By promoting one technique, the twist, and one effect, surprise, stories get bent out of shape. They try too hard to counter expectation and resist predictability. “The Lord of the Rings” is totally predictable from beginning to end, but the series does not suffer for it. William Shakespeare gave away the end of his tragedies by billing them as such and no one seemed to mind (“Romeo and Juliet” even told the audience the story in a prologue). “Columbo”, a classic crime serial, reveals who commited the murder at the beginning of each episode and succeeded in making the investigation thrilling to watch.
Stories that promote surprise over character end up as mere soap opera, a series of sensational shocks. That corrodes credibility, while some reveals—they were all dead! it was all a dream!—do not so much blow minds as waste time. More significant than all of this, though, is the fact that surprise is overrated. A study carried out by Jonathan Leavitt and Nicholas Christenfeld in 2011 found that knowing how the story ends doesn’t hamper enjoyment—it increases it. In other words, spoilers don’t spoil anything.
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Montebello Mayor Christina Cortez told The Times on Thursday afternoon that she is “very disappointed and, like everyone else, shocked” by her husband’s arrest on suspicion of selling methamphetamine.
Los Angeles County sheriff’s detectives took Ruben Guerrero, 44, into custody as he was leaving his Montbello home about 6 a.m., officials said. Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said Guerrero had previously been observed selling drugs, which led to his arrest.
Cortez said she had not spoken to her husband since his arrest.
“I would urge everyone and the public to let this investigation take its course,” Cortez said. “As a mother, as a daughter and as an elected official, I have supported the education of understanding the dangers of drugs. Today’s events will not change that.”
After Guerrero’s arrest, a search warrant was served on the home in the 1500 block of Los Angeles Avenue, which property records showed Guerrero and Cortez own.
Cortez said she and her children were home when the search warrants were served.
Another search warrant was served at a property next door that Cortez said belonged to her 89-year-old grandmother. The mayor said it was “unfortunate” that her grandmother’s home was involved.
In a statement, sheriff’s officials said: “No one else at the locations where the search warrants were served has been implicated in the sales of narcotics.”
Cortez thanked “everyone for their support today.”
Guerrero remained in custody Thursday evening at the sheriff’s East L.A. station, where he was booked on suspicion of selling meth and narcotics near a school. He was being held in lieu of $60,000 bail.
ALSO:
Residents used rock climbing gear to escape six-alarm fire
Simi Valley fireworks disaster caused by faulty pyrotechnic shell
Two San Bernardino councilmen charged in separate criminal cases
kate.mather@latimes.com
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Okay, regardless of ANYTHING else, this is an amazing tool.
I’m considering using this at the beginning of the year just to have a nifty little archive of everything I’ve done since starting the blog.
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TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The new horror video game called “Devotion” created an uproar among Chinese netizens when a poster in the game was discovered to mock Chinese leader Xi Jinping, by referring to him as “Winnie the Pooh.”
In only a few short days, the game has been review bombed, boycotted, and finally removed from the Steam video game platform, due to efforts of enraged Chinese gamers, leading the game’s developer, Red Candle Games (赤燭), to issue a formal apology.
The game was released on Steam on Feb. 19, and by the next day it was discovered and reported by Germany’s Spiel Times, that one room in the spooky game environment included a poster with an ancient style Taoist seal that included the words “Xi Jinping Winnie-the-Pooh,” reports Polygon.
The offending in-game image (From Red Candle Games / Devotion)
Another scene in the game reported by other angry Chinese players is said to reference the name “Baozi,” (包子) another nickname for Xi Jinping, who has been called “Steamed Bun Xi” (習包子). A newspaper page visible in the “Devotion” game environment mentions a criminal called “Baozi”who attacked elementary school children.
Newspaper from the game (Image shared to PTT)
After Chinese internet users were initially alerted to the in-game imagery mocking Xi Jinping, the company posted to its Facebook account on Saturday, Feb. 23, apologizing for “an inadvertent mistake springing from the use of trendy language online.”
However, on Sunday, Feb. 24, after considerable backlash posted in the Steam game reviews, and a general boycott among Chinese gamers, the company issued a more formal apology, in which they also confirmed that the game has been removed from Steam’s platform in the China region.
Polygon reports that the game has over 18,000 reviews on Steam as of Sunday, with about 9,000 thumbs down reviews, and almost 6,000 thumbs up reviews. The report says that among the nearly 600 reviews written in English, the game has wide approval.
Red Candle’s statement also admitted that one of the developers had included the imagery in the games, and that no one else in the company had noticed until after the game had been released and it was discovered by players, reports Channel News Asia.
Polygon notes that the developer in question supports Taiwanese independence, and a search of his online social media presence was easily discovered by the angered netizens.
One commentator suggested that Chinese netizens were not angered over the mockery of Xi specifically, but because they felt they had been tricked into purchasing a game which insulted their nationalist sensibilities, and had been developed by an advocate for Taiwan independence.
“As a game company, Red Candle Games has immense room for improvement. We are deeply sorry for the trouble it caused to everyone, and that we sincerely ask for the forgiveness of our players.”
Reportedly, the partnership between Red Candle Games and its Chinese distributor has been terminated. A Taiwanese investor operating in Shanghai has also cut ties because of the fallout surrounding “Devotion’s” release.
"This is not the position of Red Candle and this is not the intention of Devotion... We are deeply sorry for hurting everybody,” read the Sunday statement from Red Candle Games.
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Derangement
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie toured disaster areas with President Obama yesterday and praised his quick response to Hurricane Sandy, in a moment of non-political unity that was actually pretty wonderful to see.
When Christie first praised the President, I wrote:
Kudos to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie for putting partisan politics aside, but you know the right wing base is not going to like these comments one bit.
And sure enough, the conservative base responded to Christie with an overwhelming deluge of hatred, insults, and conspiracy theories. The hate is all over the right wing blogs today, and LGF reader Silvio Breckman collected some of the vile tweets they’re sending out on Twitter:
@govchristie traitor.. we got a election to win and your cuddling with obama.. you idiot — Jordan Welte (@WelteTheGerman) October 31, 2012
@govchristie bullshit you would have gotten Fed $$$ anyway NY turn down Obama visit ! #backstabber — Dom Turzio (@TurzioDom) October 31, 2012
@govchristie As a survivor of multiple hurricanes, my sympathy, but do you have to publicly pander to the traitor Obama?He’s lying yo you. — Michaela T. Hill (@tejaschica1) October 31, 2012
@govchristie traitor!!!!You’re words are being used by your enemies and to bolster a man who must be defeated. Shame on you. — Joe Jensen (@jnjensen1958) October 31, 2012
@govchristie If you ever run for POTUS U won’t get my vote.Way to stab your party in the back you traitor #TCOT#teaparty#Ccot — LongIslandPatriot (@LIpatriot1) October 31, 2012
since deleted: RT @jahbalon This fat Muslim lover #Governor Christie is actually throwing @barackobama a lifeline - Damn you #Christie — Silvio Breckman (@silviobreckman) November 1, 2012
@govchristie Too bad he didn’t have the same for Bengahzi personnel that he abandoned to die, & then Lied abt. Trust him at UR peril. — Gary Tanner (@whithorn20) October 31, 2012
However, @govchristie, you should be ashamed of the butt-kissing you gave to #Obama. Dear @mittromney, don’t put him in your cabinet. #trust — Conservative Voice (@ConservativeVox) October 31, 2012
@govchristie you are an asshole, the Mayor of NY didn’t entertain a visit, you politicized your catastrophy and with the wrong party — Meg Jones (@artbyyou) October 31, 2012
@govchristie did you have a chance to ask Obamaabout Murder and Benghazi? —SpreadButter (@SpreadButter) November 1, 2012
@govchristie Thanked Obama & said, “He called me 3 times”…Wow, Thats 3 MORE times than he called #Benghazi to offer his HELP!! #7hoursofhell — OurLibertyRocks (@OurLibertyRocks) November 1, 2012
@govchristie is concerned with praising Obama he forgets the ORIGIN of the money that Obama is handing out. #taxpayers #sellout. — Ben (@benstoic) November 1, 2012
Never forget how fat boy @govchristie dissed Mitt and kissed the Kenyans ass for fed taxpayer money. what a bloodsuking pol.#tcot — Gunther Duden (@ChrisMatthewspu) October 31, 2012
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE IS FUCKING CAMPAIGNING FOR 2016. HOW THE FUCK YOU TALK SHIT ABOUT OBAMA. THEN SUCK HIS DICK ALL DAY LONG? — Brad (@TALLBRADLY) November 1, 2012
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For the second year running, the city of Melbourne in Australia will become a hive of activity later this weekend. The Melbourne Esports Open is aiming to build upon its inaugural success in 2018 and this year, they’re playing host to the biggest LAN event in the ANZ Rainbow Six region -- the Six Masters. With the prize pool doubled from last year’s A$25,000 winnings, eight all-ANZ teams will battle it out for the title of the best team in the sub-region.
With that in mind, we spoke briefly to a member from four of the squads -- Oddity Esports (ODD), FURY, Mindfreak (MF) and Team SiNister (SiN) -- all of which will also be playing at the Ubisoft Experience event in Sydney on September the 14th for charity. The Ubisoft Experience is a celebration of the community that it has cultivated through its titles, or as Ubisoft themselves put it, “the place where we all finally meet and celebrate our love for gaming together.”
This is a placeholder for a tweet. To change it, you'll need to delete this entirely and re-embed it. https://twitter.com/Rainbow6ANZ/status/1161194047601401856
If you’re unfamiliar with any of these teams or it’s been a while since they last crossed your mind, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Here’s a brief summary of each of these teams:
Mindfreak are a name many may be familiar with -- they’ve had three different rosters to date. Most will know the name as the organisation that the now-Fnatic roster played under before their big acquisition, but this current roster previously played under the Dark Sided name, where Fnatic players Virtue and speca honed their craft.
Tied with FURY on 9 points after the group stages of Six Masters, MF stole a map away from Fnatic but couldn’t bring the points home. Currently sitting in fourth place just behind Oddity in the Pro League (PL), both teams took a map victory apiece when they met earlier in the season. Mindfreak now look to focus on their quarter-final matchup with ACME Association this weekend.
The Six Masters 2019 Finals bracket
Team SiNister, meanwhile, returned to Rainbow Six’s professional circuit with the acquisition of the Avant Gaming roster. Currently languishing in last place during the regular season of the PL, their Six Masters online phase went more smoothly, with wins over Oddity and Team CryptiK. With names like Kaya “Loona” Omori, one of only two female players in Pro League, and CoconutBrah regular Erik “Nikoh” Ahrenfeld (who is currently on the team as a substitute), SiNister will be hoping to turn their fortunes around when they take on FURY on Saturday.
On the coattails of Fnatic and 0RGL3SS are Oddity Esports, who for the duration of this PL season and last, are chasing the two big dogs within the region, and giving them a real fight. Oddity have the distinction of being one of only two teams so far to have forced Fnatic into dropping points, a real mark of how this relatively new roster has come under the experience and guidance of Brandon “Raven” Langiano and Todd “Todd” Francis, who both have prior experience within ANZ Pro League (with Dark Sided and Athletico Esports respectively).
Their Six Masters run was rocky in contrast, with just a single win to their name, and they were forced to play with Raven in the lineup whilst Todd was unavailable. Squeaking into the LAN stages ahead of Team Cryptik, they now face a Fnatic side returning from a disappointing Raleigh campaign.
The final standings for Group A for the Six Masters
FURY have been struggling similarly to their quarter-final opponents SiNister within the PL -- just two points separate them both as it currently stands. Six Masters’ online component was more fruitful for the team however, collecting a 3-2 record to put them in third place in Group B behind Fnatic and Mindfreak. One of a handful of New Zealanders within ANZ Pro League, Josh “Warden” Wadham was on hand to answer our queries ahead of the upcoming events.
Here are our burning questions for these competitors:
How have you been preparing for the Six Masters Finals?
Bailey “Cutie” Murdoch (MF):
Well, we've been preparing for Six Masters by bootcamping at RMIT University in Melbourne thanks to MindFreak. This has helped the team get together and meet each other for the first time, which will build more team synergy and a positive atmosphere. Other than that, we've been doing VOD reviews and adapting to our personal play style and team coordination, practicing things such as using each other more to help take areas of the map.
Kaya “Loona” Omori (SiN):
Loona
We've been having a really rough Pro League season, so lots of things needed to change: How we prepared, roles, our strats and all that. We're going into the event with a better mentality, win conditions, and hopefully a better understanding of Siege.
Todd “Todd” Francis (ODD):
Oddity has sorted out a mini bootcamp for us, which helps a lot and is great for morale and team chemistry. We have also been studying the teams we will potentially be playing, so nothing should catch us by surprise.
Josh “Warden” Wadham (FURY):
We have been bootcamping since Sunday.
How important do you think events such as these are to the growth of the ANZ scene?
Cutie:
I think events like this are extremely important for the growth of ANZ because, in a way, it’s the grassroots of international Siege. Without these, only a few teams will get to have practice at LAN which, in my opinion, is very different to online with factors such as physically being there and having a crowd watching, etc. Eight teams had played in the Six Oceanic Cup Finals in March this year Without these LANs, the only teams from ANZ who would have made a LAN would be Fnatic, 0RGL3SS, and ourselves, via either the Pro League APAC Finals or the APAC Invitational/Major qualifiers. It gives teams a goal to strive for and it’s extremely good that some of them have been opened up to Under-18 teams, bringing in more competition. A good example of this is the Oceanic Cup where we lost to Extricity for a spot at that LAN event.
Loona:
It is important obviously for exposure and sets a good example of the kind of competitive Siege people wouldn't see online or in multiplayer. I think it benefits the players with the experience of being on stage in front of an audience versus a stream, and for the in-game experience that plays out differently to online a lot of the time.
Todd:
It's nice to have the opportunity to attend events such as Six Masters and UbiXP, even though in the grand scheme they don't mean that much. APAC LAN and global LANs is what everyone wants to be attending, which has been locked out by Fnatic and 0RGL3SS for quite some time, but attending these other events helps improve the quality of all the other teams.
Warden:
I think events are extremely important for the local scene, as well as allowing teams who don’t generally get top 2 in the PL the opportunity to attend a LAN.
Despite that, the scene still sees players struggle significantly. What improvements would you make to the region?
This is a placeholder for a tweet. To change it, you'll need to delete this entirely and re-embed it. https://twitter.com/Joey_Joyous/status/1135114851574046720
Cutie:
What most APAC PL players would want is more monetary support. With my knowledge of organisations, I know not all can do this, but I believe that once a team has been properly provided with their needs to improve, the team’s skill ceiling is extremely high. If you look at the results of Fnatic, you can see the benefits that monetary support does for a team. Not to say this is the only thing that can make a team great, but I believe for a region like this, it helps a lot in terms of hours put in and out of game.
Loona:
The scene really just needs more money and exposure -- our players don’t have the ability to completely focus on Siege as they need to study or work for money. Obviously our subregion has very little experience compared to NA or EU, which makes our teams not as well-rehearsed and decent paying orgs won’t take a second look. In the case of 0RGL3SS though, they’ll get a decent org too -- the difference [between them and Fnatic] was that Fnatic (Mindfreak at the time) made Invitational and did decently, whereas 0RGL3SS haven’t made it out of APAC LAN. It will happen soon for them and it’s heartbreaking Joey couldn’t wait around for that.
Todd:
Todd (via Oddity Esports)
It's hard to say. Anything that helps organisations get more exposure, which should allow them to support their teams, would obviously be good.
How do you balance your career as a professional R6 player with other responsibilities?
Cutie:
For me, personally, I find it quite easy. In a way I’ve shaped my life around Siege already and I'm thankful for my family allowing me to do this. They support me all the way which takes a lot of stress off my back. Whereas for some people like ItBeStyle, they are putting everything they can into making this work. He starts work most days from 4am to 6am because he's a tradie, then still manages to be on time for scrims and risks that precious sleep that he desperately wants. Personally, I don't think many people would be able to do that and I know I definitely wouldn't be able to.
Loona:
I work a lot and my whole team studies or works full time. I work during the day and have scrims/practice at night, like I have two jobs. It gets very tiring but that’s how our scene works for now. Recently, I have had no choice but to work full time just before MEO which is definitely not ideal, but I know we can win if we all focus.
Todd:
Luckily for me, my work is pretty flexible, but it's still a challenge to balance. I missed most of the Six Masters online phase, but luckily we still made it to the LAN stage. I know it's a bit of a struggle for a lot of other people within ANZ. It's hard to juggle work, uni, and Siege, especially when financially, Siege gives very little within ANZ.
Warden:
Personally, I work every day so as soon as I get home, I’m playing Siege and that can be four hours up to eight a night.
What aspect of UbiXP are you looking forward to the most?
Cutie:
Cutie (via Dark Sided)
With the UbiXP, I’m quite looking forward to meeting a lot of people who said they're coming to watch our team play! As well as seeing the other teams, the fans get to meet and talk with their favourite players. It's nice that Sydney is getting a LAN with new teams, because I believe it'll bring in a lot more people with the chance to meet new players.
Loona:
I love the fun side of Siege, the competition will be all fun and jokes which is really all the game was for us when we all started playing it. Also, I’m excited to meet more people that I play with or happen to think I’m okay at the game.
Todd:
Mostly just hanging out with my team, it's not often that we get the chance to meet up in real life.
Warden:
Warden (via Cameron Thistlethwaite)
I’m mostly looking forward to meeting all the new people attending it, as well as putting on an awesome show match.
---
That's all from us here at SiegeGG for now, tune in to this weekend's Six Masters tournament on the main Twitch channel, twitch.tv/rainbow6 from wherever you are in the world, starting later today at 5 PM AEST (GMT+10), and 10 AM and 9 AM on the subsequent days, before UbiXP on the 14th and 15th of September.
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Hong Kong protesters tear-gassed by police as tensions spiral over extradition bill Thousands are protesting against a controversial extradition bill.
Police fired tear gas at throngs of protesters in the streets of Hong Kong on Wednesday amid growing anger over the government's proposal to change an extradition law.
The controversial extradition law amendment, which would allow individuals to be sent to mainland China for trial, was scheduled to be introduced to Hong Kong's Legislative Council on Wednesday, but the session was postponed due to the protests. The bill will be voted on June 20.
So far, 22 people have been injured in the clashes, with 10 of those in stable condition, according to the Hong Kong hospital authority. The condition of the remaining 12 people is unknown.
"Didn't we say at the end of the Umbrella movement we would be back?" opposition lawmaker Claudia Mo shouted to her supporters, referring to the name often used for the pro-democracy street protests that deadlocked the former British colony in 2014. "Now we are back!"
The protesters, many of them young people, occupied the streets outside the Legislative Council complex in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory and ultimately clashed with riot police, who responded by hitting them with batons and firing multiple rounds of tear gas. Crowds were seen fleeing clouds of smoke.
Some people used their vehicles to block off roads, forming makeshift barricades.
A number of protesters were seen throwing bottles, umbrellas and other objects at riot police.
Hong Kong Police Commissioner Stephen Lo said at a press briefing Wednesday that his officers had to fire tear gas, rubber bullets and bean bag rounds, otherwise "protesters would have used metal bars to stab our colleagues."
He called the situation "dangerous" and "chaotic," but said he's confident his officers can contain the rioters, according to RTHK, Hong Kong's main English-language public broadcaster.
Amid the chaos, the Hong Kong Legislative Council announced it would cancel Wednesday's planned session, where lawmakers had planned to debate the extradition law amendment. Some politicians weren't able to make it inside the building due to the protests.
Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union, the city's largest educational union, has announced an island-wide strike in protest against what they've described as an "evil" law.
The violent clashes come just three days after a largely peaceful march in central Hong Kong that organizers said drew over a million people.
Despite the mass protests and heightened police presence, the bill is expected to become law. Hong Kong's leader, Carrie Lam, has said she plans to sign the legislation.
Concern has been mounting in recent years in the semi-autonomous region that the central government in Beijing is undermining the freedoms guaranteed to its citizens under the terms of the territory's 1997 handover from the U.K. to China.
Mass protests against changes to the territory's electoral system in 2014 saw demonstrators occupy and paralyze parts of the city's government and commercial district for around six months.
In 2016, six pro-democracy lawmakers were disqualified from their offices in a controversy over protests inserted into their oaths of office. In 2018, a political party calling for independence from China was also banned by the local government.
ABC News' James Longman contributed to this report.
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And we know how to apply a function to this value:
Simple enough. Lets extend this by saying that any value can be in a context. For now you can think of a context as a “box” that you can put a value in:
Now when you apply a function to this value, you’ll get different results depending on the containing box. This is the idea that Functors, Applicatives, Monads, Arrows etc are all based on.
In Haskell, Maybe type encapsulates an optional value which is either a value of type a (Just a) or empty (Nothing). It serves as a container referring to the “box” mentioned above where we can put stuff in. In javascript, there is no such thing like Maybe while we can easily see counterparts in other languages, such as Optional in Swift and Java 8, or Option in Scala.
Maybe is from Haskell to represent an optional value container with occupied and vacant state.
To wrap the value, let’s use Array in javascript to represent a containing box.
Functors
When a value is wrapped in a box, you can’t apply a normal function to it:
This is where map (fmap in Haskell) (<$> in Haskell) comes in. map is from the street, map is hip to containing box. map knows how to apply functions to values that are wrapped in a box. For example, suppose you want to apply a function that adds 3 to the wrapped 2 and assume there’s a map function exist:
Just what is a Functor, really?
A functor is any type that defines how map (fmap in Haskell) works.
And map magically applies this function because Array is a Functor. map was initially defined in ECMAScript 5. Now it’s widely supported in most of modern browsers and javascript runtimes. Before that, this is how map is implemented in Underscore.js :
Regardless it iterates each values, here’s what is happening behind the scenes when we write [2].map(plus3):
So then you’re like, alright map, please apply plusThree to a empty container.
It does end up with nothing. To illustrate it doesn’t apply a function at all, we tweak the function a bit:
Bill O’Reilly being totally ignorant about the functor
Like Morpheus in the Matrix, map knows just what to do; you start with None, and you end up with None! map is zen.
In javascript, Promise should be also considered a container that encapsulates eventual result of an asynchronous operation. It uses then function to interact with the yielded value based on its states:
In this case, Promise is also a functor. It has an interface where we can apply a function to its wrapped value.
Here’s another example: what happens when you apply a function to a list?
When an Array has multiple values, it naturally applies the function to each value and replaces the array with new values.
Okay, okay, one last example: what happens when you apply a function to another function?
Here’s a function:
Here’s a function applied to another function:
The result is just another function!
In javascript, we can achieve that by doing function composition:
Applicatives
Applicatives take it to the next level. With an applicative, our values are wrapped in a container, just like Functors:
But our functions are wrapped in a container too!
Yeah. Let that sink in. Applicatives don’t kid around. Unlike Haskell, javascript doesn’t have a built-in way to deal with Applicative.
Says we have two wrapped values and we want to add them up:
What if we put a curried add function in map if the container is a functor ?
Now we have a wrapped curried function, how can we apply it to another wrapped value ? Assume ap (<*> in Haskell) is a function that can apply the function contents of a functor to an wrapped value.
If the we have multiple wrapped functions and values, we might expect this to happen:
Applicative pushes Functor aside. “Big boys can use functions with any number of arguments,” it says. “Armed with curry function, map (<$> in Haskell) and ap (<*> in Haskell), I can take any function that expects any number of unwrapped values. Then I pass it all wrapped values, and I get a wrapped value out! AHAHAHAHAH!”
Monads
How to learn about Monads:
Get a PhD in computer science. Throw it away because you don’t need it for this section!
Monads add a new twist.
Functors apply a function to a wrapped value:
Applicatives apply a wrapped function to a wrapped value:
Monads apply a function that returns a wrapped value to a wrapped value.
Monads have a function flatMap (liftM in Haskell) (>>= in Haskell pronounced “bind”) to do this.
Suppose half is a function that only works on even numbers:
What if we feed it a wrapped value?
We need to use flatMap(>>= in Haskell) to shove our wrapped value into the function.
You can also chain these calls:
You might have the question that why don’t we just use map. I am glad you ask ! This is because half returns a wrapped value. If we use map, we are putting a container inside another container.
But why do we return a wrapped value in half ? In this case, we use the wrapped value to represent potential empty value and prevent the following calls in the chain from being executed if it’s empty. Let’s look at an other example:
Here’s a simple http request utility where we wrap the response in a promise:
With above utility, we try to make sequential calls to get the info of the first connection of contact 1.
The onFullfilled lambda can return either a value or a promise (thenable). When it returns a value, then is like a map function. When it returns another promise, then acts like a flatMap. The resolution state of returned promise will control the following operations and yield the eventual value (contact info of the first connection of contact 1.).
Conclusion
So, we can see the following traits:
A functor is a type that implements map. An applicative is a type that implements ap. A monad is a type that implements flatMap. Array implements map, so it’s a functor. Promise implements map and flatMap through then, so it is a functor and a monad.
What is the difference between the three?
functors : you apply a function to a wrapped value.
: you apply a function to a wrapped value. applicatives : you apply a wrapped function to a wrapped value.
: you apply a wrapped function to a wrapped value. monads: you apply a function that returns a wrapped value, to a wrapped value.
So, dear friend (I think we are friends by this point), I think we both agree that monads are easy and a SMART IDEA(tm). Now that you’ve wet your whistle on this guide, why not pull a Mel Gibson and grab the whole bottle. Check out LYAH’s section on Monads. There’s a lot of things I’ve glossed over because Miran does a great job going in-depth with this stuff.
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Michael Brown. Walter Scott. Freddie Gray. Tamir Rice. Those are just four of the unarmed black men killed by on-duty police officers in the last year. How many deaths there were in total, surprisingly, no one actually knows. That’s because there is no federal law in place that requires every incident of police violence and homicide by a police officer to be collated in one place.
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This government knows who I call on my cell phone . . . It doesn’t keep track of the names of the people it kills, and the circumstances under which it killed them. When it comes to overall crime, there is a wealth of data available to law enforcement, governments, and researchers through the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, which compiles crime statistics of virtually every criminal act in the United States. But the UCR is very crucially defunct in one metric: the number of incidents of homicide by law enforcement. And there, the UCR only reports two points of data: people killed by police in justifiable action and the weapon used in those homicides. The UCR does not report non-justified police-induced deaths, nor does it include all the deaths by police that were deemed “justified.” In fact, out of the 17,000 law-enforcement agencies in the United States, only 750, or 4.4% of them, submitted death-by-police data to the FBI in the most recent year available. “Frankly, this government knows who I call on my cell phone, who I email, and probably even the contents of those calls and emails. The fact that it doesn’t keep track of the names of the people it kills, and the circumstances under which it killed them, is beyond my comprehension,” says D. Brian Burghart, editor of the Reno News & Review, and founder of Fatal Encounters, a project that crowdsources media accounts and public records to create a national database of people killed by law enforcement. Alongside Killed by Police, which scours local media for reports of officer-involved homicides, Fatal Encounters may be the most thorough aggregator of such incidents, tracking killings between January 1, 2000, and the present. Among its findings so far: there are about 1,110 police homicides per year, or about three a day; African-Americans account for about three in 10 deaths, and whites roughly half. D. Brian Burghart, founder of Fatal Encounters Photo: courtesy of Eric Marks Earlier this month, the Guardian launched “The Counted,” a reported and crowdsourced chronicle of deaths by police throughout 2015, based partly on Burghart’s open-source database. According to the Guardian‘s analysis, of the 464 people killed so far this year in incidents with law enforcement up to May 31, 102 were unarmed, and black Americans were more than twice as likely to be unarmed when killed during those encounters as white people were. Burghart and a team of 20 volunteers have collected over 7,000 records, with comprehensive data for 15 states and partial data for the rest of the U.S. “These numbers are tracked in most developed countries,” says Burghart. “My feeling is, just as with other data, if the government collected this data, law enforcement would use it to modify policies and procedures.” While criminologists say that police-involved homicides in the U.S. are at their lowest point in history, scrutiny from the public–abetted by cell-phone cameras–has forced these incidents, and the lack of detail about them, into new relief.
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A partial map of fatal encounters with police since January 1, 2000, as assembled by Burghart and volunteers. Washington is making efforts to collect more data. Last month, the White House announced an initiative to gather data at an initial 21 police departments around the country, “to increase transparency, build community trust, and support innovation,” as well as “to identify problems, increase internal accountability, and decrease inappropriate uses of force,” which were recommendations made in December by President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. Meanwhile, a bill proposed last month by Senators Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) and Barbara Boxer (D-California), called the Police Reporting of Information, Data and Evidence Act, would require states to collect information whenever police maim or kill anyone. For now, Burghart says it’s up to the public to police the police. The ultimate goal of Fatal Encounters is to become obsolete, replaced by a public database that Burghart believes could help establish better relations between the public and police. Until then, he says, “This is about the most depressing hobby I ever heard of.” A Database Of The Dead Despite incidents like the atrocious murder of Walter Scott by a white police officer in South Carolina in early April, Burghart says it’s important to keep in mind that most law enforcement officers don’t like to open fire. “Some of my reporting in the Reno News & Review has shown that officers almost always have severe psychological and emotional trauma when they kill somebody in the line of duty,” he says. Burghart also stresses that in many cases, police homicides are justifiable. “Every human being has the right to defend themselves. I’ve looked at thousands of these things now, and most are clearly self-defense.”
The deadliest states According to police-involved homicide data from Fatal Encounters, between July 2013 and December 2014, the five deadliest states per 1,000 population are, in order, 1) New Mexico
2) District of Columbia
3) Arizona
4) Nevada
5) Oklahoma The safest, in order: 47) Massachusetts
48) New Jersey
49) New York
50) New Hampshire
51) Rhode Island Map of officer-involved homicides, 2000-2014, by Fatal Encounters; data analysis by Sarah Cohen, New York Times. See the full spreadsheet. But that justification doesn’t excuse the lack of data. Alongside the right to defend oneself, Burghart is also an outspoken defender of the public’s right to know who and how and why public servants kill. “These are public employees paid with tax dollars. This is how we are supposed to manage our government personnel in this country.” The idea for Fatal Encounters came in May 2012, when Burghart drove past a group of police cars on the side of the road. After turning on his police scanner, he found out that the police had shot and killed the driver of a stolen car (a man named Jace Herndon). Yet once the news reports appeared, Burghart was shocked to discover no reports of the police shooting. “And then a few months later,” Burghart wrote on his site, “an 18-year-old, naked and unarmed college student, Gil Collar, was killed by University of South Alabama police on Dec. 6, 2012. Early reports said the officer never got within five feet of the kid, and no nonlethal methods were tried. ‘Wow, how often does that happen?'”
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Burghart soon discovered that there was no adequate database by which citizens, researchers, or law enforcement can track trends in officer-involved homicides across regions or time. “I don’t think [the absence of statistics] says that much about law enforcement, but more about government,” says Burghart. I ask if there’s any trends that can be extrapolated from the current amount of data Fatal Encounters has collected. There are some, says Burghart. “People of color are killed at greater rates than they exist in the population. Mentally ill people are a high percentage, maybe 25-30% of the people killed by police, particularly when you consider that drug abuse is considered a mental illness. Most people, around 96%, of people killed by police are men.” It also appears that police in Western states kill more people than police in Eastern ones, though Burghart stresses that could change when data for larger states like Florida are complete. Burghart notes that the current crowdsourced data is revealing, not only about police homicides, but also about the way homicides by police are reported by the media. “The race of both victims and police are not reported by media far too often,” he says. “The media gutlessly lets police withhold names of people they’ve killed on the thinnest of rationales. Media rarely get photos of victims from families, so often the only publicly available image is a mug shot, which of course, works to support the narrative that the person killed is a career criminal.” He also notes that in the data collected, it becomes evident that the official dispositions of officer-involved homicides are rarely reported. “It seems as though the media just assumes if an officer killed somebody, it’s justified, but that creates a de facto collusion to tell the law enforcement story, but not another side.”
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Cause of death and cause of death by race during police encounters Graphic: via Fatal Encounters Fatal Encounters offers five different tools to help the public track and build the largest known database of police homicides. The first tool is the morbidly named Database of the Dead, which allows users to access records of people who have been killed by law enforcement. Maps are another popular tool, allowing people to visualize police homicides by location over time. Other tools include a database of law enforcement agencies that people can contact for public records requests, a tool to submit incidents of fatal encounters with police, and a tool that allows the public to download the data for their own use. Eventually, Burghart hopes that better data and projects like his and the Guardian’s “The Counted” won’t just assist journalists and researchers, but help communities and police departments identify which policies and scenarios tend to lead to a use of lethal force. “Comparing this data to other giant data sources, we’ll be able to research whether veterans are killed at a high rate. We’ll be able to see the effects of poverty on policing and officer-involved homicides. We’ll be able to see which communities kill mentally ill people, and at what rates. We’ll be able to see if communities where police kill more people, have more people killing police.” From Public Records To Crowdsourcing Media Reports When Fatal Encounters began in March 2014, the database was assembled from media reports and public records, but Burghart soon discovered how challenging making requests for even public data could be. Dozens of public records requests he’s made at the federal level and in several states have become ensnarled in bureaucracy and a patchwork of record-keeping systems. If it’s wrong in our database, it was probably wrong in the original media reports. The responses he’s received have run the gamut, he says, “from sending the information without comment or delay”–he’s had relative success with police departments in Texas, Nevada, and Idaho–“to a delayed response to the law in such a way as to make the information useless, to outright refusal to obey public records laws, and challenging me to sue for the information to which every American is entitled.” Two victims listed on Fatal Encounters Fatal Encounters now relies on a team of 20 volunteers who sort through crowdsourced data to fill in gaps in public records. Using the tools on its website, more than 1,000 people have contributed incidents of police homicide directly to Fatal Encounters. All crowdsourced reports must be submitted with supporting evidence, including government or media reports of the homicide. The Fatal Encounters team then checks the information submitted against any other public accounts of the incident. If everything checks out, it’s added to the database.
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“I check the information submitted against the published accounts, which is not true fact checking, since I’m not calling primary sources, but our records at least reflect what’s in the public record,” Burghart admits. “In other words, if it’s wrong in our database, it was probably wrong in the original media reports.” He also notes that Fatal Encounters receives corrections and clarifications several times a week. What the Data Reveals About The Police (And The Media) In one video produced by Fatal Encounter volunteers, which shows police homicides over time, it’s not hard to be startled by the trend line in the lower left-hand corner. It steadily increases until 2011-2012, when it begins to radically spike. But Burghart cautions that true conclusions can’t be drawn just yet. “While I believe police homicides are increasing, we don’t have the data to prove that yet,” he says. “Part of the apparent increase is because of the growth of the Internet–which means we have access to more information each year progressing from 2000. Part of that is because in the early 2000s, digital memory was expensive, so media outlets routinely purged their archives. Also, because of the crowdsourced aspect, people tend to remember the more recent homicides, so they are more likely to report those.” Burghart hopes that his data collection may get a bit easier in the future, thanks to The President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing and the White House’s new Police Data Initiative. In December, the report specifically advised that “policies on use of force should also require agencies to collect, maintain, and report data to the Federal Government on all officer-involved shootings, whether fatal or nonfatal, as well as any in-custody death.” Yet as most policing is done on a state and local level, the federal government has little control over forcing police agencies to submit to the request; currently, the White House is only threatening to withhold 10% of federal grants from police departments who receive federal funds and who refuse to comply. Meanwhile, the White House’s Police Data Initiative will begin with an initial set of 21 police departments who have committed to releasing a total of 121 data sets including uses of force, police pedestrian and vehicle stops, and officer-involved shootings. “The problem for me is that all this stuff takes time to set up, and things change quickly,” he says. He points to other research that’s been vulnerable to the political climate: AIDS in the 1980s, studies of gun violence by the Centers For Disease Control, or research on climate change or sex education. “The start of studies is widely reported, but the gradual defunding is quiet.”
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Burghart also questions the logic behind the 21 police departments that are initially participating in the White House’s police data initiative. “One issue with the communities selected is that they seem to enhance the myth that police violence is primarily an urban problem. That’s not what data shows.” Until there’s a national legislative push to require all police departments to transparently report all data surrounding police homicides, it will be up left to nonprofits like Fatal Encounters and its volunteers to fill the gaps. “We literally have an army of volunteers out there, helping with data entry, helping with a redesign of the site, doing visualizations, doing research with the data.” Burghart notes that the only things that stand between a comprehensive public database of police homicides is time and money, and he’s seeking people who can donate either or both. “The government ignored the need to comprehensively collect this information for a very long time,” Burghart says, “and there’s a lot of data to collect.”
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natelife:
PRO TIP: In a two man break with 1km to go, give dude in front the worst pain face shake of head, and attack like your life depends on it at the first sign of road furniture!!! (Dudes standing on said furniture were EXCITED to see this move go down!!!) | Nate ★ Life GIF!
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