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How To Fix A Fork (In The Road)
The practice of street design evolves slowly, but it does evolve.
Every decade or so, a new technology like the bulb-out or the cycle track arrives on the scene to help us make our streets better. This quick article — for serious street geeks only — addresses a new type of street modification that holds great promise for improving the safety and walkability of a certain type of intersection: the fork. If your community has no forks — or you are not a serious street geek — please feel free to stop reading here. But that does mean that you will miss the awesome video.
Forks often need fixing because they create complicated intersections with dangerous sight lines and signals with too many phases, impeding the flow of both vehicles and pedestrians. Forks are fixable because they hold redundant roadway, an excess of asphalt that serves no purpose except to encourage higher speeds and lengthen crossing times.
The first person in the current era to have acted upon this crisis/opportunity may have been Janette Sadik-Khan, who oversaw the reconfiguration of a number of forks along Broadway in Manhattan, most notably at Times Square. Her team’s interventions simplified those intersections in a way that improved both public safety and traffic flow while converting driving space into much-needed public space.
What makes forks fixable are the cross-streets: by rerouting traffic to a cross-street at the base of the fork’s triangle, one leg of the fork can usually be closed and turned into public space. Fork repair is easy in Manhattan due to the prevalence of cross-streets — 20 per mile — in the island’s tight grid. The simplest type of fork fix looks like this:
Notice how one block of one of the merging roadways is eliminated, replacing an unwieldy five-point intersection with something standard, and allowing the expansion of the small open space at the fork. The simplification of the traffic pattern explains why, in Times Square, the reduction of roadway led to improved safety and fewer delays.
A recent fork repair in my area, Cambridge’s Lafayette Square, shows a slight twist on the model pictured above. One leg of the fork has been snipped and replaced by a public plaza, as usual. But, because the north-south cross-street staggers, a dogleg curve was needed to resolve the traffic flow. It looks awkward. . . and works just fine.
These successes were on my mind when a new client asked me to meet him one morning in Boston’s very forky Kenmore Square, to review a tower he was building at a prominent flatiron corner — in the middle of the Square’s western fork.
“Got any ideas for the public space?” he asked. Realizing that the best outcome would require moving his tower—already submitted for approvals — I answered cautiously: “Probably nothing you are going to like.”
The challenge in Kenmore Square is that there are no cross-streets for rerouting traffic as in the above examples. The only opportunity lay in my client’s own site, which, if vacated, could become a cross-street instead. The good news was that the resulting street layout would create a new building site much larger than the old one.
The four-step diagrams below illustrate what seemed to be the best solution. Rather than fully closing one leg of the fork, it seemed wiser to close half of each, to limit the width of any one leg. In image two, a new cross-street through my client’s site allows one eastbound leg to be closed. In image three, it allows one westbound leg to be closed. The result is a new island big enough to hold both the displaced building and a public plaza.
In addition to removing asphalt and drastically shortening crossing distances, this change should also reduce dangerous driving by interrupting sight lines through the square. While it requires more turning motions, the new configuration adds efficiency by simplifying the main traffic signal from four phases to three. This outcome is the result of pulling the transition from Commonwealth to Beacon out of the square, so that it no longer conflicts with pedestrian flows. The result is a Kenmore Square whose heart is a public space rather than a busy roadway.
When explaining such a complicated street reconfiguration, conventional graphics can fall short. For that reason, we commissioned a video from a former game designer, Spencer Boomhower of Cupola Media. Any confusion that persists at this point should be clarified by the video.
Kenmore Square Square from Cupola Media on Vimeo.
So, how did my client feel about the new square? Excited enough to replace his already-submitted plan. More to the point, it became clear that this alternative proposal, with its traffic improvements and large new public space, addressed head-on a number of concerns already raised in the community.
City planner Jeff Speck, AICP, CNU-A, LEED-AP, Honorary ASLA, is the principal of Speck & Associates and the author of the best-selling book Walkable City and the just-released Walkable City Rules, 101 Steps to Making Better Places.
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Underserved populations need affordable access to quality products, and Companies, NGOs, and Governments seek knowledge about the growing Base of the Pyramid market.
18 months ago we set out to create a more reliable way for companies to understand these markets. We built our Mobile Data gathering technology and a network of Field Agents (local entrepreneurs, students and retail owners ) across Nigeria. This instantly created an infrastructure for companies to leverage when conducting surveys, market research, retail audits, mystery shopping and a host of other use cases. Companies launch data campaigns on our network and field agents receive them in the form of micro surveys or tasks which they perform in their communities. In exchange they receive small rewards which serve as extra income to them while the companies are gaining valuable information to help them improve their service delivery and track competition.
By leveraging our data crowdsourcing platform, we helped companies gather insights in a reliable way, reduced cost and drastically dropped their turnaround time for decision making.
However, we soon realized we could do more. The bulk of the economic activities that go on in emerging markets are done primarily offline and through traditional outlets which are fragmented. This creates huge problems for companies (including startups) trying to provide services and collect payments from these markets. Businesses are starting to realize they need to combine their online efforts with an offline distribution (field agent) network to effectively scale their services and collect revenue in emerging markets.
Today we are launching CrowdForce, Africa’s largest offline distribution network. A platform for businesses of all sizes to leverage our agent network to conduct research, provide services and collect payments in emerging markets. The CrowdForce mandate will start by creating three key solutions:
1. Access to Reliable Data
90% of Consumer Goods sales happen in traditional outlets which occur through a highly fragmented distribution chain and multiple intermediaries. CPGs and Governments already rely on our agent network to get real-time data to improve their supply chain, retail audits, understand consumers and monitor competition.
2. Access to Financial Services
The bulk of the 3 billion underbanked and unbanked are in these markets yet they transact volumes everyday. We will open up our network for Banks and money lending services to provide financial inclusion services on that will reach every community.
3. Access to Cryptocurrencies
While blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies have the power to transform these emerging markets far better than the banking system has done, many of them still lack an easy way to acquire cryptocurrencies. We will open up these network to Digital wallet and Exchange companies to use these network to serve as easy entry and exit points for customers to fund their wallets.
Our goal is to empower 1 million Field Agents with daily extra income while they in turn provide reliable relevant services to 1 Billion customers across emerging markets. These activities will serve to stimulate growth for startups, Banks, CPGs, NGOs and Government institutions.
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Can't say I'd ever heard of German Wizards Summer Leaguer Daniel Theis before today, and neither had Bradley Beal. We both know who he is now, though, and so does Tyler Honeycutt after his powerful, full-wind-up tomahawk got stonewalled right at the rim:
That is perfect. That is Hibbert-on-Melo, but better.
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JURUPA VALLEY, Calif. (KABC) -- A 7-year-old female Siberian husky will be reunited with her family in New Mexico after she was reportedly stolen from them more than five years ago.The 65-pound dog named Azula was turned in to the Riverside County Animal Shelter in Jurupa Valley by a good Samaritan last month. Azula was found to be microchipped and her owners lived in New Mexico.The shelter contacted her owner, Jezus Vigil, who they said was happy to hear his beloved dog was alive. He was also surprised to learn she ended up in California after being stolen from Vigil's property more than five years ago.Shelter employee Aimee Hoesman and volunteer Dani Kerr bathed and groomed Azula to make sure she was ready for her flight home. She will fly out from Ontario Airport on Thursday and land to be reunited with her family in the evening at Albuquerque International Sunport.As a thank you for arranging Azula's trip home, Vigil and his family made a large donation to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
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Belkin announced the Linksys EA6900 Wi-Fi router Thursday at the IFA conference in Berlin. It’s the first Linksys-branded product to come out of Belkin since the company bought the Linksys business unit from Cisco last March.
As router manufacturers are wont to do, Belkin also christened the device with a more elaborate second name: The Linksys Smart Wi-Fi AC1900. Why do companies do this? You’d think they’d have a hard enough time getting consumers to remember one name for a product.
Whatever you decide to call it, the latest device from Belkin is a concurrent, dual-band, 3x3 router. That means it can operate two separate networks simultaneously (one based on the new IEEE 802.11ac standard and a second based on the older IEEE 802.11n standard), and that it provides three transmit and three receive spatial streams to support physical data rates of 1.3 Gbps (for 802.11ac clients), and 600 mbps (for 802.11n clients).
The fastest 802.11n routers I'm familiar with top out at 450 mbps (150 mbps per spatial stream), so Belkin is apparently using a new chip that supports 256-QAM modulation to boost that rate to 200 mbps per spatial stream. But a network client must also be capable of handling 256-QAM modulation to achieve that top speed, and that's not common on older hardware. And as is always the case with Wi-Fi, real-world data rates on both bands will likely be much lower.
It’s always exciting to see external, removable antennas on routers.
Too many router manufacturers think about home décor before performance, so they hide the element that has the greatest impact on throughput and range—the router’s antennas—inside the case. I’m happy to see that Belkin allowed its engineers to outfit the EA6900 with external, removable, dipole antennas. Removable (and therefore upgradeable) dipole antennas are among the features that have made the Asus RT-AC66U my long-time favorite (Netgear, as you might have heard, has a very low opinion of it, but that’s another story). I might never upgrade my router’s antennas, but I like knowing that the option is available.
Too many router manufacturers think about home décor before performance.
The EA6900 is outfitted with an 800MHz dual-core processor, and it supports beam-forming technology to help the router and client establish the best wireless connection. (You can get a brief explanation of how beam forming works from this Macworld article.) The new router is outfitted with a four-port gigabit switch, one USB 3.0 port (which would be useful for sharing storage over the network), and one USB 2.0 port. Unfortunately, neither USB port can used to share a printer. The router is Wi-Fi and DLNA certified, and is compatible with both the Windows and Mac operating systems. As with many new routers these days, you won’t need a computer to set the router up. Belkin provides free Android and iOS apps so you can use your tablet or smartphone instead.
Belkin has also launched a new USB Wi-Fi adapter.
Belkin also announced a new 802.11ac wireless USB network adapter, their model number WUSB6300. This device will allow you to upgrade any desktop or notebook PC to 802.11ac speed. The WUSB6300 is a 2x2 adapter, though, so 802.11ac speed is limited to 867 mbps and 802.11n speed is limited to 300 mbps.
The WUSB6300 adapter is available now at an MSRP of $70. The EA6900 will be available in October for $250. (Belkin is currently offering a $20 discount on preorders.)
Update: While waiting for a fact-check from Belkin, I had speculated that the one of the EA6900's USB ports could be used to share a printer over the network. Belkin has since informed me that neither port can directly support a USB printer.
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Like many other multinationals over the past few decades, GlaxoSmithKline came to China for the chance to sell to 1.3 billion new customers in the world's fastest growing drugs market.
The company has invested heavily here, setting up clinical centers and research facilities in Tianjin and Shanghai. The drugmaker boasts that it has spent more than 1 billion yuan on research and development in China.
GlaxoSmithKline now stands accused of orchestrating a massive bribery and corruption scheme that included hundreds of millions of dollars in kickbacks in China. Four of the company's top executives have been detained by police and others have reportedly left the country.
It's not yet clear how much damage the scandal will do to GSK's reputation or bottom line. But the episode underscores the challenges of doing business in China, an enormous, rapidly developing market in which bribes and corruption are often deeply ingrained.
"There are certain industries where corruption is still very common," said Ben Cavender, an associate principal at China Market Research Group. The pharmaceutical industry, he said, is one in which bribery is endemic.
"GSK is not special in terms of what they do," Cavender said. "Most companies in this sector are probably using kickbacks or bribes."
It's not yet clear whether the GlaxoSmithKline allegations are tied to a probe of price setting practices at 60 pharmaceutical companies announced last month by authorities. But there are signs that investigators might soon name and shame more drug companies as part of a larger anti-corruption crackdown.
Wendy Wysong, head of Clifford Chance's anti-corruption practice in Asia Pacific, said Tuesday that her law firm is aware of four other pharmaceutical companies that are being investigated by local anti-corruption authorities.
Wysong declined to name the companies or say whether she represented any of the firms in question.
Related story: Rolls-Royce in China corruption probe
For now, it appears that GSK (GSK) will remain in the hot seat. Chinese authorities allege that the firm's employees used inflated charges at travel agencies to conceal the payment of bribes to doctors, hospitals and government officials.
It is likely that the bribery scheme was designed to encourage the use of GSK products, and to keep prices at artificially high levels.
GSK -- which makes Paxil, Avandia and Wellbutrin -- said Monday it was "deeply concerned and disappointed" by the allegations.
"GSK shares the desire of the Chinese authorities to root out corruption," a spokesperson said. "These allegations are shameful and we regret this has occurred."
Medical workers are thought to be particularly susceptible to bribery in China because their salaries often lag other fields -- even though extensive education is required to enter the profession.
"Doctors are severely underpaid relative to what they do," Cavender said. "They tend to have very low salaries and their compensation levels don't allow them to live a middle class lifestyle."
Related story: China opens investigation into drug prices
The pharmaceutical industry is also a place where the interests of the government clash with private enterprise.
The state finances medical care for many Chinese, making the government one of the drug companies' biggest customers. As a consequence, regulators often work to keep costs low through the implementation of price ceilings.
Lower pharmaceutical prices also helps keep inflation under control, leaving consumers with a little extra purchasing power -- a key factor as China works to encourage more domestic consumption.
After a series of high-profile scandals involving its own members, China's government is getting more serious about bribery. Former President Hu Jintao has even warned that a failure to tackle corruption could be fatal for China.
Cavender said that the GSK investigation is likely part of a much larger trend -- one with consequences for companies that draw the attention of authorities.
"For foreign companies doing business in China, it's going to be really important to keep to the exact letter of the law," he said.
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Sluggerrr has been at every home game since April 5, 1996.
Congratulations to Sluggerrr and the Kansas City Royals!Sluggerrr, the team's official mascot, has been inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame!The announcement came today from the hall of fame in Whiting, Indiana. “I’d like to thank all the Royals fans who helped vote me into the Mascot Hall of Fame, the front-office for supporting my ambitions and everyone involved with the Mascot Hall of Fame for voting me in,” Sluggerrr roared. “I take a lot of pride in being one of the mane attractions at Kauffman Stadium. I’d be lion if I said this wasn’t one of my proudest moments as the official mascot of the Kansas City Royals.”The Royals said Sluggerrr has appeared at every single Royals home game dating back to April 5, 1996.He's only the fourth MLB mascot to be inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame.This year's inductees include the Phillie Phanatic, Mr. Met and Slider of the Cleveland Indians.The Mascot Hall of Fame said Sluggerrr was selected for his "fun and innovative in-game antics, skits and videos, as well as a new school show program in 2017, which focuses on 'Striking Out Bullying' and teamwork skills."
Congratulations to Sluggerrr and the Kansas City Royals!
Sluggerrr, the team's official mascot, has been inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame!
Advertisement Related Content Eric Hosmer, Alex Gordon win Gold Glove Awards
The announcement came today from the hall of fame in Whiting, Indiana.
“I’d like to thank all the Royals fans who helped vote me into the Mascot Hall of Fame, the front-office for supporting my ambitions and everyone involved with the Mascot Hall of Fame for voting me in,” Sluggerrr roared. “I take a lot of pride in being one of the mane attractions at Kauffman Stadium. I’d be lion if I said this wasn’t one of my proudest moments as the official mascot of the Kansas City Royals.”
The Royals said Sluggerrr has appeared at every single Royals home game dating back to April 5, 1996.
He's only the fourth MLB mascot to be inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame.
This year's inductees include the Phillie Phanatic, Mr. Met and Slider of the Cleveland Indians.
The Mascot Hall of Fame said Sluggerrr was selected for his "fun and innovative in-game antics, skits and videos, as well as a new school show program in 2017, which focuses on 'Striking Out Bullying' and teamwork skills."
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The first and perhaps most important difference between the current Ebola outbreak and the the 2009 H1N1 pandemic is that Ebola it is very slow moving. For example, the first case of Ebola is thought to have occurred 307 days ago on December 6th in a two-year old boy. Since that time there have been an estimated 8,032 cases (granted these could be underestimates). If you compare a similar 307-day period for 2009 H1N1, April 12, 2009 to February 12, 2010 CDC estimated that between 42 million and 86 million cases occurred in the US with a mid-level estimate of 59 million people infected. Think about that - 7300 times more cases of H1N1 using the mid-level estimate during the same 307 days.Another difference between influenza and Ebola is the incubation period (time from exposure to symptoms). Generally, the incubation period for influenza is 1-4 days (2-day average). For Ebola symptoms appear 2 to 21 days after exposure with an average of 8 to 10 days.A final difference between Ebola and 2009 H1N1, which seems to be overlooked in discussions of airport screenings and other control measures, is infectivity during the incubation period. Put another way, can you transmit the virus without knowing you are sick? With Ebola, humans are not infectious until they develop symptoms . In comparison, with 2009 H1N1 it's reported "that pre-symptomatic influenza transmission occurred via both contact and respiratory droplet exposure before the earliest clinical sign, fever, developed" in a ferret model. This finding has been confirmed in humans. Interestingly, SARS is not infectious prior to symptom development (see CDC and Zeng et al ), which may explain why we were ultimately able to contain SARS (unlike influenza).To summarize, Ebola is slower moving, has a much longer incubation period (especially compared to the duration of a transcontinental flight), and is not contagious before symptoms develop. What does this mean? It means that if Ebola was as infectious as influenza, millions would have already died - apocalypse. It also means that since Ebola is not transmissible during its long incubation period, it may be possible to quickly isolate patients when symptoms develop. Thus, airport screening on exit or entry could limit transmission and perhaps through early diagnosis allow Ebola infected patients to receive life saving treatment more quickly.A more concrete example: Imagine a person infected yesterday with influenza but still asymptomatic during their two day-incubation period. This person would screen negative overseas and in the US. However, it's highly likely that they are already infectious or will become infectious during their flight. Thus, many other passengers in the airport and plane would take influenza home with them as a vacation souvenir. Screening doesn't work for influenza. This would not be the case with Ebola because they will detect their symptoms as they become infectious and only spread it though blood exposure - something unlikely so early in the infection even on a long transcontinental flight. And think about how many times another person has bled on you even when they were bleeding (i.e. the Ebola condition) versus how many times someone has coughed or sneezed on you when they were coughing and sneezing (the influenza condition). **cough**Airport screening for Ebola symptoms may still be ineffective, but I would like to see a few more mathematical models analyzing the epidemiology of Ebola and the impact of specific screening programs. In the meantime, let's focus our attention and resources on the horrible plight in West Africa.image source: xkcd
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But there it was in a Wilton Manors home: a real-life still, a jug of white lightning, and fixin's for producing even more, authorities said. There were even several cases of Mason jars, the traditional repository for illicit booze.
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And Now They Blame Ferguson On The Jews
This is one of those rare occasions when The Mike Report is speechless. These photos were taken in downtown Seattle earlier this evening in the wake of the Ferguson grand jury verdict. Upset with the verdict in Missouri? Then boycotting Israel makes perfect sense.
The banner was carried by members of the Palestine Solidarity Committee. The same group was associated with protests this Summer in downtown Seattle which featured swastikas and comparisons of Israel to Nazi Germany.
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Russia's Vladimir Putin won the backing of Turkey and Iran on Wednesday to host a Syrian peace congress, taking the central role in a major diplomatic push to finally end a civil war all but won by Moscow's ally, President Bashar al-Assad.
Syrian opposition groups, meeting in Saudi Arabia to seek a unified position ahead of peace talks, decided to stick to their demand that Assad leave power, Al Arabiya television reported, following speculation they might soften their stance after their hardline leader quit.
Two days after being visited by Assad in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, President Putin hosted his counterparts Tayyip Erdogan and Hassan Rouhani there.
In a joint statement, the three leaders called on the Syrian government and moderate opposition to "participate constructively" in the planned congress, to be held in the same city on a date they did not specify.
"The congress will look at the key questions on Syria's national agenda," Putin told reporters at the summit, sitting alongside Rouhani and Erdogan. "First of all that is the drawing-up of a framework for the future structure of the state, the adoption of a new constitution, and, on the basis of that, the holding of elections under United Nations supervision."
The U.S. is not walking away
While Putin, Erdogan and Rouhani stood side-by-side and declared victory in Syria, there was one major elephant in the room - the United State's large military presence in Syria. The U.S. has thrown its immense weight behind the Syrian opposition, the Kurds, Saudi Arabia and even Israel in the Syrian conflict and is working hard to check Iranian influence in the Middle East, which includes in Syria.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis renewed U.S. support for a political solution in Syria, but added the U.S. military is going to stay in Syria indefinitely: "we’re not going to just walk away right now."
Defense Department spokesman Eric Pahon doubled down on those comments Monday saying, “We will work with allies to put pressure on the Iranian regime, neutralize its destabilizing influences and constrain its aggressive power projection,’’ Pahon said. “I can’t get into any more detail.’
Mattis’s comments come as a new Defense Department report shows U.S. troops in the Middle East have increased 33% in the last four months and currently stand at 1,723 in Syria - up from 1,251 in June.
A "Syrian Congress"
There was no word from the leaders on who would be invited. The list of invitees has been a sticking point, with Turkey objecting to some Syrian Kurdish groups attending.
Syria's civil war, in its seventh year, has killed hundreds of thousands of people and created the world's worst refugee crisis, driving more than 11 million people from their homes.
All previous efforts to achieve a diplomatic solution have swiftly collapsed, with the opposition demanding Assad leave power, the government insisting he stay on, and neither side able to force the issue by achieving a military victory.
But since Russia joined the war on behalf of Assad in 2015, the balance of power has turned decisively in his government's favour. A year ago, the army forced rebels out of their last urban stronghold, the eastern half of Aleppo.
In recent weeks, the self-proclaimed caliphate of jihadist group Islamic State has collapsed. Government forces now effectively control all of Syria apart from a few shrinking rebel pockets and a swathe in the north held by mainly Kurdish forces backed by the United States.
Still seeking Assad exit
Opposition groups held their meeting on Wednesday at a luxury hotel in Riyadh, two days after the leader of the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) that has represented them at previous peace talks quit abruptly.
HNC chief Riyad Hijab had been known as an uncompromising defender of the position that Assad must have no role in any political transition for Syria, and his resignation had led to speculation the opposition could soften its stance.
However, a draft of the meeting's final statement still included the demand Assad leave office at the start of any transition, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television reported.
Having helped Assad's government reach the cusp of victory, Putin now appears to be playing the leading role in international efforts to end the war on Assad's terms.
In addition to hosting Assad, Rouhani and Erdogan, the Russian leader has also phoned U.S. President Donald Trump and Saudi King Salman in the past 24 hours.
Iran has long supported Assad.
Saudi Arabia, Iran's arch rival in the Middle East and long a backer of rebel groups in Syria and advocate of the position that Assad must leave, has been the main supporter of the HNC. But after King Salman made an historic visit to Moscow a few months ago, Riyadh appears to have come around to Russia's dominant role in Syria.
Similarly Turkey, traditionally one of the Syrian leader's implacable foes, has increasingly shown willingness to work with Russia to resolve the crisis.
"This summit is aimed at results. I believe critical decisions will be reached," Turkey's Erdogan said in Sochi before his meeting with Putin and Rouhani.
The Syrian government welcomed the final statement from the three-way Iran summit, Syrian state media said on Wednesday, quoting an official source in the Foreign Ministry. It described it as the culmination of Assad's summit with Putin.
The other major power with troops in Syria, the United States, has so far kept its distance. Washington has been arming, training and sending special forces to assist a Kurdish group fighting against Islamic State, angering Turkey which is fighting its own Kurdish insurgency.
Hard discussions
Still, any final settlement that keeps Assad in power will probably require the participation of some kind of opposition delegation willing to negotiate over the demand that he go.
U.N. peace talks mediator Staffan de Mistura, host of the formal peace process in Geneva, told the opposition groups at the Riyadh meeting they needed to have the "hard discussions" necessary to reach a "common line".
"A strong, unified team is a creative partner in Geneva and we need that, one who can actually explore more than one way to arrive to the goals that we need to have," he said.
De Mistura will meet Russia's defence and foreign ministers on Thursday to discuss preparations for a new round of Geneva talks, Russian news agency RIA reported.
Russia said on Tuesday that the resignation of such "radically minded" Syrian opposition figures as HNC chief Hijab would help unite the disparate opposition factions around a more "realistic" platform.
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The Turkish government has been rounding up refugees and transporting them to detention centers where they are abused and mistreated, according to Amnesty International. From there, many are deported back to "warzones" in Iraq and Syria.
In a Wednesday report titled 'Europe's Gatekeeper,' Amnesty alleges that Turkey has been “herding scores – possibly hundreds – of refugees and asylum-seekers onto buses” and transporting them “more than 1,000 kilometers to isolated detention centers where they have been held incommunicado,” the organization said in a press release.
It goes on to cite refugees who claim they were beaten and shackled for days before being sent back to the same countries they had fled.
Read more
“We have documented the arbitrary detention of some of the most vulnerable people on Turkish soil. Pressuring refugees and asylum-seekers to return to countries like Syria and Iraq is not only unconscionable, but it’s also in direct breach of international law,” said Amnesty International’s director for Europe and Central Asia, John Dalhuisen.
According to Amnesty, the mistreatment occurred “in parallel” with Turkish-EU migration talks which resulted in the EU pledging to provide €3 billion (US$3.3 billion) to help improve refugees' conditions in Turkey, in exchange for Turkey strengthening measures to restrict the flow of refugees towards the EU.
However, Amnesty alleges that the EU risks being a "complicit in serious human rights violations” by “engaging Turkey as a gatekeeper for Europe.”
The organization went on to confirm that EU officials in Ankara confirmed that six EU-funded open reception centers outlined in an October draft action plan would actually be detention centers.
“It is shocking that EU money is being used to fund an unlawful detention and return program. The EU must ensure that its funding and migration cooperation with Turkey promotes rather than undermines the rights of refugees and migrants,” Amnesty wrote on Wednesday.
Ankara has slammed the report, saying that less than 1 percent of Syrians face any kind of heightened restrictions, and insisting that all returnees are interviewed by UN staff.
Turkey hosts the world's largest number of refugees, including 2.2 million Syrians.
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TL;DR — Red4Sec finished, more audits coming, and an update regarding mainnet
Red4Sec, our auditor for the last 7 weeks, has completed their audit and submitted their report to QRL. Red4Sec consists of a talented team that has spent much of the past 2 months poring over our code 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. They were joined in parallel by our own team, also scouring our codebase for vulnerabilities and mishaps, as well as dealing with issues raised by Red4Sec as they came up.
During the analysis, whose report runs over 200 pages, a total of 67 vulnerabilities were detected. Many of these vulnerabilities did not pose any risk by themselves and therefore have been classified as informative.
All vulnerabilities were classified according to the impact level defined by CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System): critical, high, medium, low and informative.
A summary of the issues per project area is described below.
What Red4Sec covered
Red4Sec’s report was exhaustive, and covered the entirety of our project space, with the exception of our Post Quantum Cryptography, which will be covered by a further audit as it’s more specialized in nature. Below is a rundown of issues raised by Red4Sec by section of our network, as well as impact level.
Blockchain
QRL (Python)
Critical : 6 issues identified — All fixed by end of audit
High : 3 issues identified — All fixed by end of audit
Medium : 4 issues identified — 2 fixed by end of audit, outstanding fixes have now been applied (everything is fixed)
Low/Informative : 21 issues or queries which have all been reviewed by the team, with changes made to the codebase where necessary.
: 6 issues identified — All fixed by end of audit : 3 issues identified — All fixed by end of audit : 4 issues identified — 2 fixed by end of audit, outstanding fixes have now been applied (everything is fixed) : 21 issues or queries which have all been reviewed by the team, with changes made to the codebase where necessary. Qryptonight (C++)
Critical : 1 issue identified — fixed by end of audit
: 1 issue identified — fixed by end of audit Qrllib (C++)
Informative: 1 issue which was closed by the end of the audit.
Public facing Infrastructure
QRL Wallet (JS)
Critical : 1 issue identified — fixed by end of audit
High : 1 issue identified as informative by Red4Sec — the team rated it as High, however, and it was fixed by the end of the audit
: 1 issue identified — fixed by end of audit : 1 issue identified as informative by Red4Sec — the team rated it as High, however, and it was fixed by the end of the audit Block Explorer (JS)
Low/Informative : 1 Low and 1 Informative level issue which were both closed by the end of the audit.
: 1 Low and 1 Informative level issue which were both closed by the end of the audit. theqrl.org (JS)
Medium: 1 issue identified — fixed by the end of audit
Backend & Team processes
Infrastructure includes nodes, cloud services, mail services and any other service that QRL relies upon for development and other team processes.
Medium: 5 issues identified — all fixed by end of audit.
Low/Informative: 11 issues have been identified and all have been fixed.
Some words from Red4Sec:
In general terms, it has been detected that the design and logic of the project is well defined. The project code follows a methodology of safe programming and good practices. The project has great support from the team as some of the vulnerabilities have been resolved at the time they were detected by Red4Sec, mitigating the possible impact and repercussion that could cause to the project.
The whole QRL team thanks Red4Sec for their professionalism and attention to detail in improving the quality of our ecosystem.
More audits
As our codebase and ecosystem grows, it is important to continually appraise the security of our implementations.
We are, therefore, pleased to announce that we have signed an agreement with X41 D-Sec GmbH to undertake a secondary security audit in the coming months. This audit will be differently focused than the Red4Sec audit, leveraging some of the specific expertise at X41 such as covering the Post Quantum Cryptography portion of QRL.
Mainnet Progress Update
It has been a long ride to reach our main network, and our launch is just the beginning of the overall QRL journey.
A date for the launch of the QRL main network has been finalized and will be announced in the coming days.
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The U.S. military shut down a troll operation orchestrated by the Kremlin-supported Internet Research Agency's networks during the 2018 midterms in an effort to curb election interference, according to officials interviewed by the Washington Post.
The big picture: The Internet Research Agency was one of three entities indicted by Robert Mueller for conspiring to interfere in the 2016 election. This action, described as a success by Pentagon officials, is the first of its kind by U.S. Cyber Command, which was granted more authority by the Trump administration last year. The U.S. blocked networks in order to prevent potential disinformation campaigns and election interference.
Go deeper: Senate-commissioned reports show scale of Russian misinformation campaign
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8月8日、サッカー日本代表が2対2で引き分けたコロンビア戦は、オウンゴールを決めてしまった藤春廣輝選手に強烈なヤジが飛んだ。
そんな中、ゴールキーパーの中村航輔選手が語ったとされるコメントが話題を呼んだ。
中村航輔「全て自分の責任。弾く方向を間違えた自分の責任。藤春さんのアレは結果論。あそこにコロンビアの選手がいてもおかしくなかった」
チームメイトをかばう謙虚な内容であることから、TwitterやFacebookなどで「カッコイイ」「さすが」「素敵」と賞賛されていた。
ところで、このコメントの出所はどこか。
試合後にテレビの中継で本人が語っていたわけではないし、そのようなコメントをしたと伝える記事も見当たらない。現地にいる記者やスポーツジャーナリストがSNSで発信した痕跡もない。
BuzzFeed Newsが見つけた限りでは、2ちゃんねる（2ch）のあるスレッドへの投稿が、その“情報源”だ。8月8日12時30分。上述のコメントが、一言一句まで同じテキストで綴られている。スレッドの文脈としてはネタのようにも見える。
12時35分、同じテキストを、あるTwitterユーザーが投稿した。話を聞かせてもらえないかとリプライを送ったが、返信はない。
13時頃、2chまとめブログ「Samurai GOAL」が、上述のスレッドを元にした記事「GK中村航輔のコメントがカッコイイ！！「全て自分の責任。弾く方向を間違えた自分の責任。藤春さんのアレは結果論」」を掲載した。
また、ほぼ同時刻、2chまとめブログ「SAMURAI Footballers」が、上述のスレッドを元にした記事「リオ五輪･日本代表GK中村航輔のオウンゴール藤春へのコメントが男前すぎるwww」を掲載した。
13時8分、8万超のフォロワーを抱える、サッカー情報を発信するTwitterアカウント「SOCCER DAILY【話題＆最新】」が、2chに投稿されたコメントに「中村航輔がカッコよすぎる」と書き添え、中村選手の画像とともに投稿した。リツイート数は7000件を超えている。
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11 Jan 2016
Today I’ve released verson 0.6 of the three main Cap’n Proto crates: the runtime, the code generator, and the remote procedure call system.
The biggest change is that the RPC system is now asynchronous, built on top of the GJ event loop library.
promises
Cap’n Proto’s RPC protocol allows method calls to be made on distributed objects. It has a built-in notion of pipelining that can minimize network round-trips, and it allows object references to be transmitted within messages, alongside plain-old-data.
Such a system has an inherent need to deal with concurrency, both in its internal implementation in its publicly-exposed interfaces.
For example, it’s common for a user to want to implement an RPC method that makes a bunch of other RPC calls and then collects their results before returning. How should these actions compose? In the new version of capnp-rpc , which uses GJ’s Promise abstraction, each of the inner method calls returns a promise, and those promises can be collected with Promise::all() to form a new promise which can then be returned from the outer method.
To see more concretely what this kind of thing looks like, take a look at the calculator example, which also showcases some fancier features. There are also some more-practical examples in the form of Sandstorm apps: a simple GET/PUT/DELETE server and a word game.
error handling
A Promise<T, E> is essentially a deferred Result<T, E> , so it should be no surprise that today’s release pertains to our continuing story about error handling.
Last time, we described our switch to using Result<T,E> pervasively, so that we could return an Err(e) on a decode error, rather than panicking. That switch had some costs:
We now need to sprinkle try!() s in our code, one for any time we dereference a Cap’n Proto pointer. We also need to edit some return types from T to Result<T, E> , and in some cases need to define helper functions so that try!() has a place to return to.
In my opinion, (1) is not so bad, and it has the advantage of making control flow more clear. The proposed ? operator would make this even nicer.
In the asynchronous world of Cap’n Proto RPC, (2) becomes less of a hassle, because most functions that need to read a Cap’n Proto message are asynchronous, and therefore already return a Promise<T, E> . In such cases, we can use the pry!() macro that GJ defines. The pry!() macro acts like try!() , but in the early return case returns Promise::err(e) rather than Result::Err(e) .
a simpler error type
One error-related question that often arises when designing interfaces that use Promise<T,E> is: what concrete error type should be plugged in for E ?
In previous versions of capnproto-rust, I had defined an error enum capnp::Error with various cases, one of which wrapped a std::io::Error . This got me into trouble when I wanted to start using Promise::fork() , which requires that E be Clone . The problem is that std::io::Error is not Clone !
To address this problem, I have redefined ::capnp::Error to follow the design of kj::Exception. It’s now a very simple struct with a String description and an ErrorKind enum, where the only variants of ErrorKind are Failed , Disconnected , Overloaded , and Unimplemented . The observation here is that there seems to be very little gained by defining hierarchies of errors wrapping other errors.
-- posted by dwrensha
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De bevolking van Nederland groeide in de eerste drie kwartalen van 2017 met ruim 80 duizend inwoners. Het grootste deel van die groei was het gevolg van buitenlandse migratie. Het migratiesaldo kwam uit op 66 duizend. Daarnaast zijn er bijna 15 duizend kinderen meer geboren dan er mensen zijn overleden. Dat meldt het CBS op basis van de meest recente bevolkingscijfers.
Tot en met het derde kwartaal van 2017 schreven 181 duizend immigranten zich in bij een Nederlandse gemeente, vrijwel net zoveel als in de eerste negen maanden van vorig jaar. Ook het aantal emigranten bleef ongeveer gelijk: 115 duizend mensen vertrokken uit Nederland.
De groei door natuurlijke aanwas was lager dan in dezelfde periode vorig jaar, waardoor de totale bevolkingsgroei toch lager uitkwam. Tot eind september zijn 127 duizend kinderen geboren, bijna 4 duizend minder dan vorig jaar. Bijna 2 duizend mensen meer zijn overleden, 112 duizend.
Instroom Syriërs gedaald
De immigratie uit landen waar het onrustig is, zoals Syrië, is ten opzichte van de eerste drie kwartalen van vorig jaar gedaald. De grote aantallen die vanaf eind 2015 naar Nederland kwamen worden niet meer gehaald. Toch komen er per saldo nog altijd zo’n duizend Syriërs per maand bij. Zij vormen daarmee de grootste groep migranten.
Inmiddels telt Nederland
88 duizend
inwoners met een Syrische achtergrond,
0,5 procent
van de bevolking. De meesten (
71 duizend
) zijn recente immigranten. Zij hebben zich tussen 2014 en
1 oktober 2017
ingeschreven bij een gemeente. In Amsterdam zijn de meeste Syriërs gevestigd:
2 536
. In Rotterdam zijn
2 463
Syriërs, in Den Haag
1 533
In verhouding tot het aantal inwoners staan gemeenten met een asielopvanglocatie bovenaan. De daar ingeschreven asielmigranten zijn vaak nog in afwachting van woonruimte elders. Zo is in Noordenveld
2,3 procent
van de inwoners Syriër. In Cranendonck, waar een andere centrale ontvangstlocatie voor asielzoekers is gevestigd, is dat
1,5 procent
. Onder gemeenten met meer dan
100 duizend
inwoners tellen Arnhem en Enschede relatief de meeste recent gevestigde Syriërs, Leeuwarden de minste.
Meer immigratie uit landen in Europa
Uit andere landen is de immigratie juist toegenomen, vooral van mensen die geboren zijn in landen in Europa en op het Amerikaanse continent. Per saldo kwamen er bijvoorbeeld meer mensen uit de voormalige Soviet Unie, zoals Letland en Litouwen, maar ook meer mensen uit Turkije. Het vertrekoverschot - meer emigratie dan immigratie - van mensen die in Nederland geboren zijn is kleiner geworden. Het aantal Poolse migranten is nog altijd hoog, maar niet verder gegroeid.
Download CSV Toon tabel Bevolkingsgroei 2017, eerste drie kwartalen Bevolkingsgroei 2017, eerste drie kwartalen Totale bevolkingsgroei Natuurlijke aanwas Migratiesaldo 2000 93 50,5 40,1 2001 88,3 47,8 40,5 2002 67 45,5 21,5 2003 48,4 45,9 2,5 2004 31,6 43,9 -12,4 2005 22 39,5 -17,4 2006 14,7 36,6 -21,9 2007 35,9 38,4 -2,5 2008 59,5 38,7 20,8 2009 68,8 39 29,8 2010 63,8 36,3 27,5 2011 63,3 35,9 27,4 2012 42,3 28 14,2 2013 40,5 22,7 17,8 2014 58,2 29,5 28,7 2015 56,7 17,2 39,6 2016 83,4 20,3 63,1 2017 81,2 14,8 66,4
Natuurlijke aanwas blijft laag
Het aantal geboorten ligt de laatste jaren op een relatief laag niveau. Ook in 2017 zijn tot nu toe weinig kinderen geboren, terwijl het aantal vrouwen in de vruchtbare leeftijd weer toeneemt. Ten opzichte van de eerste drie kwartalen van 2016 kregen vooral minder vrouwen van rond
30 jaar
een kind.Doordat tegelijkertijd de migratie hoog is, is een steeds kleiner deel van de bevolkingsgroei afkomstig van natuurlijke aanwas. In 2017 was het aandeel natuurlijke groei tot en met september nog geen vijfde, in 2008 was het nog twee derde van de groei in de eerste drie kwartalen.
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China introduced a powerful weapon to the trade war on Monday, letting its currency weaken sharply in a move that left financial markets lurching and investors worried about how the worsening hostilities between Beijing and Washington would affect corporate profits and the already slowing pace of global growth.
On Wall Street, stocks experienced their steepest drop of the year, conclusively ending a period of steady trading during which the market notched record after record.
The recent calm was first punctured last week by President Trump’s threat to impose new tariffs on $300 billion of imports from China. But it was Beijing’s decision to allow its currency to cross the psychologically important barrier of 7 per dollar that pushed investors to abandon any lingering hope that a trade truce — worked out in a face-to-face meeting between Mr. Trump and Xi Jinping, China’s leader, a little over a month ago — would hold.
“That has just totally disintegrated,” said Ryan Detrick, senior market strategist at LPL Financial. “Now China is just clearly firing back, and that has people uncomfortable.”
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My Santa gave me a really awesome doctor who canvas bag that's bigger on the inside! It's really great cause now that I go backpacking I can just put all my stuff in the bag instead ;) and if that's not enough there's another gift on the way still! Will update when I get it!
Now for the sad part. I'm using a stock photo because someone actually stole it from me after I picked it up. I was out drinking some beers with my family and the grinch stole this and some other stuff from my bag. :( I'm doing everything I can to try and get it back, but I want my Santa to know I really appreciate it! And it was really sweet!
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You made a typo in the title? You were probably drunk. Have an upvote.
15,390 shares
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Data Breach Led to Multi-Million Dollar ATM Heists
A nationwide ATM heist late last year netted thieves $9 million in cash in one day, according to published reports. The coordinated attack stemmed from a computer intrusion at payment processor RBS WorldPay.
Atlanta-based RBS WorldPay announced on Dec. 23 that hackers had broken into its database and made off with personal and financial data on 1.5 million customers of its payroll cards business. Some companies use payroll cards in lieu of paychecks by depositing employee salaries or hourly wages directly into payroll card accounts, which can then be used as debit cards at ATMs. RBS said that thieves also might also have accessed Social Security numbers of 1.1 million customers.
New York's Fox 5 cites FBI sources as saying that thieves used the stolen payroll cards recently to withdraw $9 million from ATMs from 49 cities, including Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Montreal, Moscow, and Hong Kong.
Steve Lazarus, a spokesman for the FBI's Atlanta field office, said the withdrawals were carried out by a small army of so-called "cashers," or people who work with cyber thieves and fabricated cards to pull money out of compromised accounts.
From the Fox piece:
"Shortly after midnight Eastern Time on November 8, the FBI believes that dozens of the so-called cashers were used in a coordinated attack of ATM machines around the world."
"This was a well-coordinated attack by some pretty computer and network savvy people, even at the lowest levels of cashers taking cloned cards to ATMs," Lazarus said.
Lazarus declined to confirm the $9 million figure, but said the amount stolen was indeed "a very substantial amount" over a short period of time in early November.
"This was a nationwide coordinated effort, and there were certain aspects of it that were international as well," Lazarus said. "People are out there attacking computers every day. But what sets this one apart is the scope, timing and coordination of the attack."
One interesting aspect of this attack is that while the attackers evidently had access to more than a million RBS customer accounts, they were able to haul the loot by repeatedly refueling only 100 payroll cards, Fox News reports.
Sources close to the investigation told Security Fix that the criminals used fake payroll deposits to artificially inflate the amount of money on the cards, money that was then drained at ATMs and subsequently replenished with additional bogus payroll deposits.
News of the complex ATM heist was little surprise to Ori Eisen, founder of 41st Parameter, a company that consults with banks and retailers to help staunch fraud losses. Eisen said he recently heard from three different clients in the banking sector who told him that some $50 million was lost to ATM fraud in New York City alone over the course of one month last year.
"ATM fraud is spiking," Eisen said. "For New York financial institutions alone to have $50 million in ATM fraud in one month...that's incredible. The thieves are getting a lot more money from the ATMs now than they used to."
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The UK's goods trade gap with the rest of the world widened by £1.9bn to a record high of £125bn in 2015, official figures show.
The Office for National Statistics also warned the latest figures would have a negative impact on its second estimate of fourth-quarter economic growth.
But 2015 also saw a record surplus in the UK's dominant services sector of £90bn.
That meant the UK's total trade gap widened by just £300m last year.
The overall deficit - the difference between the amount the UK imports and what it exports - stood at £34.7bn in 2015, the ONS said.
It will publish its second estimate of fourth-quarter economic growth on 25 February.
Image copyright AP
Analysis: Kamal Ahmed, BBC Economics Editor
Britain is very good at exporting services - financial, tourism, creative and legal - where the UK's trade surplus hit a record £90.3bn.
And is notoriously bad at increasing the exports of goods as the UK struggles to rebalance its economy away from consumer consumption towards manufacturing.
The strength of the pound for most of last year is only exacerbating Britain's difficulty selling things abroad.
This has been George Osborne's headache ever since becoming Chancellor in 2010.
Most worrying, trade with Germany and China - the two significant powerhouses of Europe and Asia - weakened in the final quarter of 2015.
There is also an increasing division between the UK's performance in the European Union, where the country's goods trade deficit is widening, and Britain's trade with the rest of the world, where the situation is rosier.
Between 2014 and 2015 exports of goods to countries outside the EU increased by £3.5bn.
Businesses finally seem to be looking beyond the EU's borders for opportunities for growth.
You can read more from Kamal here.
Today's figures also contained December's trade data, which showed the deficit narrowed by £1.3bn to £2,7bn overall in the month.
The goods deficit fell to £9.9bn from £11.5bn in November, but that was thanks to a fall in imports of £1.7bn in December rather than an increase in exports.
A large part of the fall was however accounted for by depressed oil prices, which meant the cost of oil imports fell in value terms to their lowest level since February 2009.
In the three months to the end of December, the UK's trade deficit stood at £10.4bn, compared with £8.6bn in the three months to the end of September.
The UK also suffered a record traded goods deficit of £23.2bn with the rest of the European Union in the fourth quarter of 2015, as exports to other EU countries fell 0.5% and imports from the EU rose 2.7%
The trade deficit is one of the factors cited by analysts as a drag on UK economic growth, which has been exacerbated by the strengthening pound over the past few years.
'Dangerous cocktail'
A stronger pound makes UK exports more expensive for overseas customers.
The UK's overall trade deficit took its toll on growth in the third quarter of 2015, contributing to disappointing economic growth of 0.4%.
Chancellor George Osborne has warned that the economy is facing a "dangerous cocktail" of risks in 2016, ranging from slowing global economic growth to volatile stock markets and the continuing slump in oil prices.
Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said the latest trade figures pointed to net trade subtracting 0.2 percentage points from quarter-on-quarter GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2015.
"With global trade flows slowing and UK goods still uncompetitive despite sterling's depreciation since December, we expect a poor trade performance to continue to impede the economic recovery this year, " he said.
Paul Hollingsworth, UK economist at Capital Economics, said he believed concerns about a sharp global slowdown were "somewhat overdone".
But he added: "Nonetheless, any progress in reducing the trade deficit is likely to be extremely slow in the near term, leaving the [UK] recovery reliant on domestic demand."
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Delays in federal permitting for oil and gas exploration on public land is likely reducing national energy production and depriving the federal government of revenue, according to a federal report released Friday.
The report is the latest addition to a mounting body of evidence undercutting the administration’s claims that it has fostered increased oil and gas production, critics say. Production on lands the federal government controls has plummeted during Barack Obama’s presidency.
The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) inspector general examined 1,881 applications for drilling permits on public land. Fewer than 4 percent of those applications were "recent," or filed in the last 180 days. The rest had experienced prolonged delays.
"By not processing these nominations as expeditiously as possible," the Forest Service, a division of the USDA, "may be causing the federal government to forego revenue or prevent or delay the efforts of the private sector to provide energy to the public."
The report is the second analysis by a federal body this month to support claims by administration critics that its energy policies have restricted domestic oil and gas production.
"On every front, when it comes to oil and gas production, [Obama’s] agencies have been doing less and less and making it harder and harder" to extract fossil fuels from federal land, said Dan Kish, senior vice president for policy at the Institute for Energy Research.
The administration continues to tout increases in total U.S. oil and gas production as evidence that its energy policies are furnishing increased domestic energy resources.
But production decreases on federal land have some members of Congress crying foul.
Obama is "trying to use some kind of Jedi mind trick to say, ‘there is no problem here, move along,’" said Rep. Cory Gardner (R., Colo.).
Would-be oil and gas producers "run into nothing but roadblocks and delays" in the federal permit application process, Gardner said.
Gardner is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which held a hearing last year on those delays.
Chairman Fred Upton (R., Mich.) said at the hearing that the administration had offered "one excuse after another for preventing energy production entirely or subjecting it to years of unnecessary delays."
The president continues to tout total production numbers while avoiding any mention of the decline in production on federal land.
"We produce more oil than we have in 15 years. We import less oil than we have in 20 years," Obama said at a March 15 speech on energy policy. The White House website cites similar statistics.
Obama used his speech this month to push for a plan to use federal oil and gas revenues to pay for renewable energy projects. However, the report made available Friday suggests that his policies are restricting those revenues by delaying approval of oil and gas projects on federal land.
The report came on the heels of a Congressional Research Service report showing that oil and gas production on federal land is currently below fiscal year 2007 levels.
"All of the increase [in crude oil production] from FY2007 to FY2012 took place on non-federal land," the report stated. Natural gas production on federal land fell by about 23 percent during the same time.
CRS found that from 2006 to 2011 the average processing time for an oil or gas drilling permit application on federal land increased from 218 days to 307 days.
As USDA’s IG noted, those delays can reduce energy production and federal lease revenue.
They can also damage communities that depend on small oil and gas producers to power their local economies, according to Dan Naatz, vice president of federal resources for the Independent Petroleum Association of America.
Delays in federal permit applications can have "a devastating impact on communities" in western states such as Nevada where 83 percent of the land is federally owned, Naatz said.
Gardner said his constituents have complained about their inability to secure oil and gas leases on federal land in Colorado. More than a third of the state’s land is federally owned.
One Colorado oil and gas producer recently told the Energy and Commerce Committee that delays in federal permitting for oil and gas production were forcing the company to reconsider activities on federal land.
"While public lands projects almost always take longer than comparable private and state projects, the delays I’ve seen in the last few years make me question for the first time whether I want to undertake new oil and gas business with the federal government," Reed Williams, president of WillSource Enterprise, a small oil and gas drilling company, told the committee last year.
"That’s a strange thing to say since WillSource now believes the project could produce $3 billion worth of natural gas; generating significant job and economic growth," Williams added.
"The bottom line is: If we could access more of our public and private lands, we would be creating more jobs," Gardner said.
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James Kenney/Associated Press
The Pittsburgh Steelers now have to turn to backup quarterback Mason Rudolph after Ben Roethlisberger suffered an elbow injury in Sunday's 28-26 defeat to the Seattle Seahawks.
According to Fox Sports' Jay Glazer, the Steelers plan to have Roethlisberger undergo an MRI to determine the extent of the injury.
One Steelers player told ESPN's Dianna Russini that Roethlisberger was dealing with elbow inflammation earlier in the week leading up to the game.
Pittsburgh selected Rudolph in the third round of the 2018 draft. The former Oklahoma State star didn't appear in a regular-season game as a rookie, which won't be reassuring news to fantasy owners who are relying on JuJu Smith-Schuster and James Washington.
Steelers offensive guard David DeCastro is optimistic about Rudolph, who finished 12-of-19 for 112 yards, two touchdowns and an interception Sunday.
Smith-Schuster is coming off a Pro Bowl appearance in 2018. He caught 111 passes for 1,426 yards and seven touchdowns. His big year provided the team some level of confidence he could step up to replace Antonio Brown.
Through two games in 2019, Smith-Schuster has 11 receptions for 162 yards.
The switch to Rudolph will likely limit Smith-Schuster's big-play ability somewhat since Pittsburgh may not trust Rudolph just yet to make throws deep downfield.
Still, the former USC star had 166 targets in 2018, which were fourth-most in the NFL. He should get enough looks from Rudolph to remain in your lineup.
Washington will be a little tougher to gauge.
He had 16 receptions for 217 yards and a touchdown as a rookie. Most fans likely remember his drop in a defeat to the Denver Broncos last November.
Brown's departure meant a slightly bigger role for Washington, who has registered four receptions for 74 yards so far.
Washington's fantasy ceiling suffers from the fact that he's clearly behind Smith-Schuster in the wide receiver hierarchy and also competing with Diontae Johnson, Vance McDonald and James Conner for targets.
Take Roethlisberger out of the mix, and Washington should head for the bench—if he isn't there already.
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Transcript for Bernie Sanders Vows to Stay in the Race Right Up to the Convention
Now, to the major developments on the democratic side tonight, as well. Hillary Clinton with a decisive win in Nevada, the south Carolina primary just five days away now. Celebrating on that stage with former president bill Clinton. And tonight here, you will hear a shift in her message, her tone. Meantime, Bernie sanders this evening, not backing down. He was asked directly today, does he still have a path to the nomination? And you will hear how he answers. Here's what he's up against. The latest poll in south Carolina showing Clinton with a nearly 30-point lead. ABC's Jonathan Karl on the campaign tonight. Reporter: A newly-energized Hillary Clinton is back on top, Thank you, Nevada! Thank you so much! Reporter: She's confident enough to make this extraordinary admission. I think there's an underlying question that maybe is really in the back of people's minds, and that is, you know, is she in it for us or is she in it for herself? Reporter: And now, a shift in tone. Clinton talking less about herself, less about "I" and more about "We." We hear you. We see you. We're incredibly grateful to you. Because we're in this together. We are all in this together. We all have to do our part. Reporter: Clinton won 76% of the african-american vote in Nevada, support she's counting on in South Carolina, where more than half of democratic voters are african-american. She's launched yet another new ad, featuring one of the most well-recognized voices in America -- actor Morgan Freeman. She says their names. Trayvon martin. Trayvon martin, shot to death. Dontre Hamilton. Unarmed. Andra Sandra bland. Sandra bland did nothing wrong. Reporter: And Bernie sanders is turning to another prominent african-american actor -- Danny glover. Today in Boston, he attacked Clinton as a political opportune is. And the people of the united States need to know the difference between hastily adopted campaign rhetoric, and the real record and the long-held ideas of the candidates. Reporter: When asked trektly if he still has a path to winning the democratic nomination, his answer was emphatic. The short three-letter answer is y-e-s. And Jon Karl with us live tonight, as well. After a near tie in Iowa, and a bruising loss in New Hampshire, what a shift, Jon. It's actually the Clinton team now pointing to the math tonight? Reporter: That's right. We look at delegates. They are virtually tied among the delegates won in those three states, but you add in the so-call superdelegates and Hillary Clinton has a big lead. A lead she expects to add to over this weekend in south Carolina. But David, I've got to say, they are not overly confident. They believe that Bernie sanders will do well on super Tuesday and is likely to win several states and more delegates. All right, the fight continues. Jon Karl tonight, thank you. We're going to turn next to
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
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Perth bushfire paints skies 'vivid orange' Published duration 15 January 2018
image copyright Kathy Mathieson image caption Smoke from the bushfire over Perth on Sunday
Skies in Perth, Australia, turned dramatic colours after a bushfire blanketed the city with smoke.
More than 150 firefighters fought the blaze as it burned through 3,000 acres (1,200ha) of bushland near the city on Sunday, authorities said.
The fire prompted clouds of smoke and ash, with many locals posting photos on social media.
Officials said the fire was being treated as suspicious, but nobody was hurt.
image copyright WA DEPARTMENT OF FIRE AND EMERGENCY SERVICES image caption Firefighters battle the blaze in the Perth Hills
Perth woman Geraldine McGregor, 34, said she witnessed "vivid orange skies" in the city's centre.
"When I saw the smoke quickly fill the sky with that colour, I was worried, because I knew it could only mean a massive bushfire somewhere," she told the BBC.
image copyright GERALDINE MCGREGOR image caption The sight prompted many locals to post images online
image copyright GERALDINE MCGREGOR
Others posted photos of the sky darkening across suburbs, and said ash was falling.
Drivers were warned to drive carefully in the conditions. The smoke could even be seen from planes.
Residents were warned that the fire posed a risk to lives and homes, but the threat was later downgraded when wind conditions changed.
Authorities were also fighting a bushfire in New South Wales on Monday.
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Nebraska added future depth at the defensive end spot Sunday, flipping Dwyer (Fla.) defensive end Alex Davis on his official visit.
Davis, a 6-foot-5, 220-pound defensive end, took an official visit to Lincoln over the weekend with his parents and despite snowy conditions, saw enough to commit to the Huskers.
The three-star defensive end is an interesting recruit. He didn’t begin playing football until last spring, but quickly showed an ability to get quickly to the pass rusher. With a big frame, Davis has potential that caught the eye of Nebraska, Pitt and other programs late in the process.
[blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"][p]Im flipping my commitment to Nebraska #Cornhuskers
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Every bad boy or bad boy wannabe needs to know one name: Hunter S. Thompson. Or, you can simply call...
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Check out our new site Makeup Addiction
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Crush tells me a joke Laughed so hard I farted
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London buses step up controls after 20 drivers die
London's transport authorities on Friday announced new measures to protect bus drivers from the coronavirus, as colleagues held a minute's silence for 20 who have already died.
Mayor Sadiq Khan, whose father was a bus driver, led tributes to the victims as authorities said passengers would no longer be able to use the front door near the driver.
"It breaks my heart that 20 London bus workers have lost their lives to #Covid19. It could easily have been my dad and his friends," Khan wrote on Twitter.
"Our transport workers are heroes and we must do everything we can to protect them."
He joined a minute's silence called by the trade union Unite, which has been pressing for better protection for London's 20,000 bus drivers and other transport staff.
London is on the frontline of the coronavirus outbreak in Britain, where almost 14,000 people have died, making it one of the worst-hit countries in the world.
Since a nationwide lockdown was introduced last month, bus passengers numbers in London have fallen by about 85 percent.
But a reduced service is still running on the buses and trains for key workers. Four Underground and train staff have also died.
Transport for London (TfL), the city's travel authority, has already introduced a new cleaning regime for buses, stations and depots.
The seats at the front of buses closest to the driver have been roped off and drivers sit behind a clear protective screen.
In the new measure to be introduced from Monday, the front doors will now be kept shut with passengers asked to get on and off using the middle doors.
Pete Kavanagh, Unite's London representative, said it was a "very welcome move".
"We have lost members of our bus family in recent days and we refuse to lose any more," he said.
"Unite has been asking for central boarding as an essential safety measure during these times because bus workers are, understandably, fearful for their health."
Not all protective measures have been so well-received by workers.
The RMT union reported that one bus operator in south-west England responded to its demands for more protection by fitting "what can best be described as a shower curtain" to the driver's cab.
Drivers complained that "the curtain is so flimsy members of the public have been pulling it to one side in order to speak to the driver" - which risks greater contact with passengers.
Khan is also lobbying the British government to advise people to wear face masks on public transport, to try to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
Ministers have expressed scepticism about the idea in the past, but say the issue is under review. (AFP)
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That Pakistan cricket has faced a unique set of challenges over the past decade or so is not in dispute, and Mickey Arthur believes its effects on the international team were obvious when he walked into the role one year ago. Speaking nearly 12 months on from his appointment as head coach of the Pakistan national side, Arthur said that Pakistan had been playing cricket "that belonged in the 20th century".
"This isn't just dressing room speak," Arthur said. "I've told the players that we were playing cricket that belonged in the 20th century. We hadn't embraced the new modern game yet, and that was for a number of reasons, like not playing at home, or [not] having the exposure to the IPL that the rest of the world has had. So there were a lot of mitigating factors, but the fact is, if we've got to compete with them, we have to start embracing the modern trend."
One aspect of the modern game that remains absent in Pakistan cricket is the presence of power hitters. Their scarcity has been noticeable in the Pakistan side, both at the top and tail of the innings, with Pakistan's ODI run rate in the first and last Powerplay the lowest of all Full Members, save Zimbabwe. Arthur acknowledged it was not something that could be coached into players overnight, and such players needed to be developed and groomed over time.
"It [lack of power hitters] is a worry. When we get on good wickets, we can't match the other countries. In Australia, I felt we always started 20-30 runs behind them because they could maximise the last ten overs. Teams are getting 100 runs in the last ten overs now. We're getting 70, at best. We didn't get a run-a-ball in the last five overs the other day in a T20 [against West Indies]. That's not good enough; that's not going to win us games. We don't have the ability to take on the power players, which is so disappointing, because we did with Sharjeel [Khan], so to lose him is a massive blow.
"But along those lines, those are things we have to get better at, and it's not going to happen overnight. You're not going to wake up one morning and become a power hitter. We're training it; we've got drills and techniques that we're putting into play. Hopefully, all that comes to fruition, because we've got two years till the World Cup, and in the World Cup, we've got to be as good as we can possibly be."
Sharjeel Khan appears at the offices of the Federal Investigation Authority Associated Press
Arthur also talked about the cultural challenges of managing an Asian team for the first time, saying he was fully prepared to embrace the culture around Pakistan's cricket. He clarified, however, that accepting the culture was not tantamount to tolerating mediocrity, and that he didn't believe his role as coach could be boiled down to a win-loss ratio, stressing that his main priority was setting up a professional structure in Pakistan's cricket, with fitness at the core of their preparation.
"Comfort zones are not tolerated within our environment anymore. We've tried to push the players, we tried to challenge the players, take them to limits they haven't been before in terms of fitness and preparation.
"I like to think that when people look at what happened for the last one year, they look at structure. You are always going to be judged as coach on win-loss ratio but for me it's a lot more than that. It's about the environment, it's about the standards and it's about challenging players. It's about not tolerating mediocrity and that's the stuff I would love to leave behind so the next coach that came in would come into a structure that functions. Players know what standards are and live up to those standards. Otherwise I'm wasting my time. Hopefully that's going to be my legacy - a thoroughly professional structure."
With Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan having announced that the Test series in the West Indies will be their last, Pakistan look set for a period of transition without two of their stalwarts. While that might be intimidating for some, Arthur said he was excited by the opportunity of managing a new team, pointing to his time with the South African national side, where he oversaw a young team emerge as a unit that is presently ranked No. 2 and No. 1 in Tests and ODIs.
"That's what you live for as a coach. I've been lucky in my team with South Africa, where we inherited a team with a couple of senior players, and we put in players like [AB] de Villiers, [Morne] Morkel, [JP] Duminy, [Dale] Steyn. To see them grow and get better is the most fulfilling thing that can happen for you as a coach. I'm hoping the same happens with this Pakistan team, and I'm incredibly excited about the future."
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Va in porto la terza privatizzazione del governo Renzi. Dopo Poste e Fincantieri, anche Enav chiude la fase di sottoscrizioni e si avvia verso Piazza Affari dove sbarcherà martedì 26 luglio. Complici le tensioni di mercato legate a Brexit, il bilancio dell’operazione per le casse pubbliche è però decisamente magro: il Tesoro intascherà meno di 759 milioni dalla vendita del 42,5% della società che gestisce il traffico aereo civile. All’inizio del percorso di privatizzazione, il governo sperava che la vendita potesse fruttare fra i 765 e i 935 milioni.
L’incasso definitivo della privatizzazione Enav potrebbe comunque salire fino a 833,58 milioni nel caso in cui venisse integralmente esercitata la green shoe, l’opzione di acquisto in mano alle banche collocatrici (Mediobanca, Barclays, Credit Suisse, Banca Imi di Intesa, Unicredit e Jp Morgan) portando in Borsa il 46,6% dell’azienda. Tuttavia dalla somma finale andranno comunque sottratte le spese per il collocamento e le commissioni bancarie.
Complessivamente la società guidata da Roberta Neri è stata quindi valorizzata 1,78 miliardi, somma sensibilmente inferiore alle stime circolate nel pre-Brexit (1,8-2,2 miliardi). In compenso, secondo i dati diffusi dal Tesoro, la richiesta è stata elevata (otto volte superiore all’offerta). Anche se il prezzo finale di vendita si è attestato a 3,3 euro per azione, una somma che si piazza a metà della forchetta individuata dalle banche collocatrici (2,9-3,5 euro). In altre parole la domanda è stata alta, ma gli investitori istituzionali (il 90% del totale per un totale di 207 milioni di azioni) sono rimasti cauti sul prezzo orientandosi verso i valori intermedi suggeriti dal consorzio di collocamento. E questo anche a dispetto del fatto che la società abbia varato una generosa politica di cedole, mettendo persino mano alle risorse per pagare futuri dividendi ai suoi soci.
Non a caso Alessandra Pasini, responsabile banking di Barclays Italia, ha spiegato al Sole 24 Ore che “la natura stabile, regolata e resiliente, unita ad una politica dei dividendi progressiva, ha rappresentato un’opportunità unica per gli investitori” alla ricerca di rendimenti in un mercato borsistico nervoso. Peccato che ai piccoli risparmiatori sia andato appena il 10% dei titoli (23 milioni) di Enav, che dalla comunità finanziaria è invece considerata proprio un investimento per “cassettisti” orientati ad acquistare titoli solidi di lungo periodo con buoni rendimenti. E pensare che invece nel caso di Fincantieri, dove non c’era alcuna certezza nella politica di cedole, sfruttando una clausola ad hoc del prospetto i titoli sono stati venduti per il 90% ai piccoli investitori, causando loro a medio termine perdite importanti (-48% circa dal collocamento in Borsa).
“La privatizzazione di Enav si è chiusa con successo nonostante la fase di turbolenza che stanno attraversando i mercati per il dopo Brexit”, ha commentato il ministro dell’Economia Pier Carlo Padoan, che potrà contare sulla somma intascata dal collocamento per abbattere l’enorme debito pubblico italiano mantenendo le promesse fatte a Bruxelles. Tuttavia sullo sfondo resta l’esposto presentato dal sindacato sulle modalità di privatizzazione della società e la denuncia alla Corte dei Conti per danno erariale già anticipata dal Movimento 5 Stelle.
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Rich text editor, edit-body-und-0-value, press ALT 0 for help.
A memo from Maricopa County sex crimes prosecutor Rachel Mitchell, who questioned Dr. Christine Blasey Ford during her testimony on allegations against U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, revealed late Sunday that Mitchell would not advise a criminal prosecution for Kavanaugh—obscuring the reality of the consequences Kavanaugh currently faces if the FBI finds evidence that he has committed sexual assault or perjured himself in any way.
The memo claims a "reasonable prosecutor" would not pursue Ford's case, and includes five pages of Mitchell's observations about perceived holes in her story of the alleged sexual assault which took place in the early 1980s, when Kavanaugh and Ford were in high school.
But while Mitchell offered her thoughts on the believability of Ford's testimony, she included nothing about Kavanaugh's belligerent statement and refusal to answer direct questions from Senate Democrats during his appearance last Thursday—strongly suggesting that it was Ford, not Kavanaugh, who was on trial during the hearing.
Rachel Mitchell’s report confirms that as far as the GOP was concerned, Christine Ford was on trial. The memo contains not a single word on Kavanaugh’s testimony and its vast array of inconsistencies and outright lies. This is reprehensible. https://t.co/iMNYJR6nKx — Jeff Yang (@originalspin) October 1, 2018
The document's conclusion also flies in the face of what numerous political observers have pointed out in recent days—that the question of criminally prosecuting Kavanaugh is irrelevant, because a Senate hearing is not intended as a criminal trial. The purpose of Democrats in the Senate was not to build a case to bring charges against Kavanaugh, but only to help determine if he warrants a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court.
1. This is a hearing on Kavanaugh's qualifications & fitness, not a criminal prosecution
2. Rachel Mitchell was rendered irrelevant once the men stopped yielding their time
3. A fair & uninterrupted cross of #Kavanaugh would've explored his lies under oathhttps://t.co/iC0k3kkB9p — Kristen Clarke (@KristenClarkeJD) October 1, 2018
This is so irresponsible and plainly flawed. But this dishonest memo aside, the person Rachel Mitchell should be writing a memo about is Brett Kavanaugh. It’s the veracity of his claims that count. He’s the person being considered for a lifetime appointment. https://t.co/F8BxmuBS9P — Shaunna Thomas (@SLThomas) October 1, 2018
The memo was released as an FBI probe into Ford's claims and those of Deborah Ramirez, who alleges Kavanaugh assaulted her in college, got underway. The Senate Judiciary Committee was forced to call for an investigation on Friday after it became clear that the Republicans did not yet have enough votes to bring Kavanaugh's nomination to the Senate floor for a vote. However, according to reports, the White House has severely limited the scope of the investigation.
Last week, Mitchell questioned Ford on her allegations, but her participation in the hearing was cut short when Republican senators began questioning Kavanaugh—and defending him against the claims.
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Shannon Baker-Branstetter
Our cars and trucks could and should be getting more miles to the gallon, but instead of investing in cost-effective, fuel-saving technology, some automakers are finding ways to cheat the system.
The latest incident comes from the Ford Motor Company, which is now being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice after whistleblowers inside the Michigan-based company spoke up about concerns with compliance methods. The target of their criminal inquiry: Ford’s emissions certification process, which is used to calculate claimed fuel economy.
We’ve been down this road before with Ford. Just five years ago, the company was forced to apologize for strikingly similar problems with their testing, after Consumer Reports alerted the EPA to inconsistencies. In the end, Ford was forced to send checks to about 200,000 owners of six vehicle models to make up the difference between the fuel economy consumers were promised and what the cars actually delivered. Other automakers have also reimbursed customers under similar circumstances, including Kia and Hyundai back in 2012.
Errors in fuel economy tests drive up fuel bills and mislead consumers, but cheating goes beyond misleading fuel economy claims.
Deceptive emissions testing practices can also be harmful to our health. A recent court-approved settlement now requires Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to update the software of several Jeep and Ram truck models because the EPA says the vehicles are emitting an illegal amount of nitrogen oxides, major contributors to smog. The most infamous case of emissions cheating is Volkswagen, whose cars were found to be emitting smog-causing pollution at rates up to 40 times higher than legal limits, leading them to pay each person who got fleeced anywhere from $5,000 to nearly $10,000 in some cases.
These kinds of cheating have become so widespread the problem risks becoming an industry-wide failure. As with other federally mandated safety and performance tests, automakers are currently responsible for assessing their own vehicles for emissions compliance and fuel economy ratings.
Yet, only about 10-15 percent of those vehicle ratings are independently verified by the EPA’s National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory to confirm compliance. That means most of the vehicles on our roads haven’t been tested by the EPA. Instead, we’ve been relying on automaker honesty and accuracy, which seem to be in short supply.
The automotive industry has shown it can’t be trusted to police itself, so the government needs to step up auditing and enforcement, including assessing significant fines to deter bad corporate behavior.
Cheating on emissions and fuel economy standards is especially egregious because compliance isn’t difficult. Plenty of automakers already use fuel-saving strategies — such as improved aerodynamics, more efficient engines and transmissions, and hybrid drivetrains — that could be saving consumers more fuel and money. Unfortunately, according to the latest EPA Automotive Trends Report, some automakers are only installing them in a fraction of the vehicles they sell.
The Department of Justice is still investigating Ford for criminal wrongdoing, but the EPA doesn’t need to wait to increase scrutiny and hold corporations accountable. Meanwhile, Ford and other companies should recommit to follow through on their 2011 promise to meet federal fuel economy and emission standards instead of putting their money and energy into finding ways to mislead regulators and consumers.
Shannon Baker-Branstetter is manager of cars and energy policy at Consumer Reports.
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SOCHI, Russia – As if what he did on the ice wasn't special enough, T.J. Oshie gave a postgame interview that swelled a lot of hearts back home.
Asked by Pittsburgh Tribune-Review columnist Dejan Kovacevic how he felt about being called a national hero after his four-goal performance against the Russians in the United States' dramatic overtime victory, Oshie immediately dismissed the idea.
"The American heroes are wearing camo," he replied. "That's not me."
It was a thoughtful and appropriate response. There are heroes in the military who serve every day and get little or no credit. Some of them were in Afghanistan, watching the Team USA game on Saturday, and a photo of them cheering Oshie's game-winning goal quickly went viral. In fact, there are members of the military on Team USA, including luge doubles partners Preston Griffall and Matt Mortensen, who competed a few days ago.
[Photos: Off the ice, TJ Oshie is a regular guy]
"It's really incredible," Mortensen told Yahoo Sports. "Being a soldier and being an athlete. It's an honorable position to be in."
Kovacevic's tweet on his interchange with Oshie hit a nerve, getting more than 2,000 retweets. The first reply came from Ron Johnson, who wrote "Oshie – this retired Senior Master Sergeant (USAF) salutes you and Team USA!"
We'll see if Oshie's comment gets the same amount of attention as the other famous postgame interview of 2014: Richard Sherman's rant about Michael Crabtree after his big play clinched a Super Bowl berth for the Seattle Seahawks. Oshie's remark did not happen on national television, but it's just as newsworthy, if not more so. It came immediately in the aftermath of an enormous win that seemingly everyone watched.
The instant curiosity about Oshie rivals the sudden fascination with Sherman. And there has been debate over the use of the term "hero" and where it applies. MSNBC host Chris Hayes was criticized in 2012 for saying he was "uncomfortable" applying the term to soldiers because "it is so rhetorically proximate to justifications for more war." Hayes later apologized.
[Video: Epic USA-Russia showdown an instant classic]
The Miriam-Webster definition of "hero" is listed as "a person who is admired for great or brave acts or fine qualities" or "a person who is greatly admired." Oshie fits those characteristics not only for his bravery under pressure but also for his awareness that bravery in a sports setting is not like bravery in battle.
There are sports heroes and then there are real heroes. There's always room for both, but it's nice when athletes like Oshie remind us of the difference between them.
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About US$ 5
Estimated delivery Oct 2014
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“This is your last year. You can do this!”
Those were the words my aunt whispered to me softly, holding me in her embrace as I cried. I was getting ready to board my flight from LaGuardia International Airport, thereby leaving the comfort of New York, a city which made me feel closer to the Caribbean during the summer months.
My reason for crying? The crippling realization that I had to return to Indiana for another year.
This sentiment is not new. For the past two years, each return flight I have boarded has been an exercise in severe anxiety management, as I dreaded returning to a state that seemed overtly hostile toward people who look like me.
There have been a few positives from my experience living in Indiana: I've made lifelong friends, found my passion for social justice and enriched my soul with academic experiences I probably would not have gotten anywhere else. At the same time, returning to Indiana is always dreadful because of a single thought: “What ignorant comment will I have to deal with this time?”
I came to understand quickly that living in this state meant being asked questions such as: “Do airplanes land on trees in Haiti?” Remarks like this are a glaring reminder that, in many people's eyes, I don't belong in this community. These comments have also been made personal. On one occasion, as I spoke to my mother on the phone, our conversation was tainted by a stranger yelling at me to speak in English, because this is “America.” Being thousands of miles away from the Caribbean, the last thing I want to tell my parents is that I am depressed because I'm being mistreated by my peers.
I did not leave my country so I could be subjected to harassment, physical and verbal threats, property vandalism and assault. Such inquiries and comments, while they may not appear harmful to some on the outside, can be detrimental to someone's career and personal life.
People have been judged on the basis of their name, skin color, hair texture, accent, national origin, ethnicity and culture – all characteristics we cannot choose for ourselves.
Unfortunately, I am not the only person suffering the consequences of overt racism and xenophobia while living in Indiana. I had the opportunity to speak to alums of color from various Hoosier institutions over the summer, and almost all of their stories echoed mine: Our mental health was severely affected by our experiences navigating racism and other forms of discrimination while in college.
To other immigrants and people of color: You are worth it.
To those community members who interact with us: One small act of kindness will brighten our day.
I am now a senior in college and, sadly, I am contemplating never returning to Indiana after graduation.
Diversity is not a threat; it's what makes our communities stronger. As more people not feeling welcomed leave the state, I urge Hoosiers to be hospitable to every person they encounter. I will always cherish some of the experiences I've had in Indiana; however, as I embark on my last year of college, I've become doubtful that those experiences were worth the trauma I and many others have inflicted on us during our time in Hoosier communities.
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Anonymous asked: Edward Feser wrote a blog piece entitled 'Eliminativism without Truth.What do you think of this critique of eliminative materialism? I think Feser has pretty much destroyed it
Based on this series of posts, Feser seems to be motivated by little more than a semantic commitment to what counts as “real”.
He’s not the first person I’ve read who doesn’t get it. The problem is marketing. “Eliminativism” has pretty awful connotations, doesn’t it? It sounds like something Stalin tried.
A better word might be Other-izing. It’s not that mental states like beliefs and thoughts have been eliminated, annihilated, never to be seen again. Rather, they’re just not metaphysical objects anymore. They’re something other than metaphysical.
Supervenience is an even better word. It’s uncontroversial that the macroeconomy supervenes on the aggregate decisions of all the individuals in the market. That doesn’t mean every predictive model of the economy has to be micro-founded. But it does mean that we should be suspicious of theories that treat the aggregate as a kind of sui generis substance, metaphysically separate from its component parts. Further, recognition of this fact helps prevents category mistaken claims or the fallacy of composition.
Similarly, does Feser disagree that mental states are macro-phenomenon which supervene to neural computation and configurations of matter over a timeline of efficient causes? That’s the substantive issue at stake.
In Part 1, Feser distinguishes between “real” intentionality and “as if” intentionality without ever actually explaining the difference. Materialists have very detailed schematics of their “as if intentionality.” All Feser has to do is point out what’s lacking. Instead he just hand waves by demanding that elusive substance known as “intrinsic”.
Maybe an example comparing the two views would be helpful. Take a mental state like having a memory.
A believer in mental materialism would predict that:
After experiencing a memory, the memory must continue to persist in an inactive state of some material description if it is to be called upon again down the road.
Is a dormant memory still a mental state; is it intrinsic or derived or neither? If inactive memories count, do inactive beliefs count? What does a belief look like without the believing, a memory without remembering, in Feser’s view?
Depending on the properties of the substrate and the method of storage, memories should become less reliable overtime, damaged or forgotten (eliminated? deleted?) as the substrate deteriorates.
As a memory fades or becomes compressed, is the mental state correspondingly less real; is the memory intrinsically worse or is its worse-ness derived from cellular damage and age?
Memory’s physical contingency implies it has location and takes up space, which suggests the possibility of more than one type of memory based on material efficiency trade-offs.
How does an intrinsic view of memory explain the disunity between working memory and sensory memory? Is procedural memory of a skill or activity (aka muscle memory) part of a mental state or is it actually intrinsic to the muscle? How does an intrinsic view of memory explain the supervenience of long term memory onto other systems of memory, like declarative and episodic memory? Is memory necessarily self-contained, or is an intrinsic theory able to explain the ways memory systems interact with other systems, like language, vision and olfaction?
It’s not possible to look into the brain and see a memory. In fact, to the naked eye, the brain looks like a homogeneous kludge of grey and white matter. If you’ve ever looked at a computer’s hard drive, it looks like a homogeneous substance as well. While it’s easy to take the brain/computer metaphor too far, in this case it’s instructive. If our brain is at all like a computer, the homogeneity of the substance belies a deeper heterogeneity of the integrated circuitry.
In the case of computer memory, it’s possible to build a circuit that stores or “maintains” a bit of information using two NOR gates and feedback (an S-R latch). I don’t have a computer science background so I won’t risk botching the details. But as far as the metaphysics is concerned, it’s enough to know that the final state of system is determined by the electrical properties of the gates.
Needless to say, human memory is way more elaborate than a single storage element. Like computers, human memory has a more permanent, longer term storage (like a hard drive) as well as shorter term, working systems (like RAM or virtual memory). Our daily capacity to remember stuff is also pretty finite, benefiting from a night sleep to give our brains a chance to de-frag, as it were, via synaptic pruning.
Now, as long as we have our metaphysical caps on, it’s arguably incoherent to point at an S-R latch and say “look, there is memory!” Quantitatively, a logic gate is nothing more than the physical parts that compose the circuit, be it computer parts or networks of neurons. “Memory” as such is an abstraction. It is a function we ascribe to the system given its particular use in a larger system.
In fact all computation is abstract. Programmers are even taught to think in abstraction, i.e. semantically, before diving into the details of how to write their program. No one thinks out a computer science problem at the scale of physics. Instead, one takes off their metaphysical cap and puts on their higher-abstraction cap whenever it is more useful.
This suggests computation is something other than its metaphysical reality. Computation is a higher level of description of processes that ultimately supervene to purely physical phenomenon. Understanding this is important, as physical reality imposes truly intrinsic limits on computation. Even human information processing must obey the limits imposed by thermodynamics.
Feser’s incoherence thesis is based on the premise that we must do all our discourse as metaphysicians – that materialists are, in everyday life, committed to translating words like “belief,” “intention” and “memory” to their neural correlates. This is like insisting meteorologists are incoherent because they don’t describe weather patterns in terms of elementary particles. We know metaphysically that a cloud is simply a macro-view of the dynamic physics of swirling atoms, but building weather models that way is intractable. Instead, sophisticated meteorologists use abstract methods from statistical physics. Perhaps abstract concepts and ideas are a form of mental statistics.
If scientists are ever going to understand how the mind works they will have to be willing to set aside the abstract phenomenon like belief and intention that come to us naturally from the alluring sensations of phenomenology. I for one don’t care if you continue to call a memory “real” as long as you understand that it is not the same sort of “real” as the physical processes that underlie it.
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Image copyright EPA Image caption Mr Carter called US military policies regarding transgender people "outdated"
The US military is considering a plan that would allow transgender people to serve openly in the armed forces.
"The Defence Department's current regulations regarding transgender service members are outdated and are causing uncertainty," US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said on Monday.
Transgender people now serve in the military, but their experiences vary.
Over the next six months, a group will study whether lifting the ban will adversely affect the military.
But Mr Carter said the group will begin with the presumption that transgender people should be able to serve openly.
"We have transgender soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines - real, patriotic Americans - who I know are being hurt by an outdated, confusing, inconsistent approach," Mr Carter said.
In 2011, the US military ended its policy of "don't ask, don't tell" allowing gay people to serve openly. Military officials cited that successful transition when discussing the transgender changes.
However, the repeal of ban raises questions about whether the military would conduct or pay for the medical costs of surgery and other treatment associated with any gender transition.
Military officials said the six-month evaluation period would allow the services to figure out health care and housing and provide training to troops to smooth the transition.
Guidelines require that transgender people be dismissed from the military, but many serve in secret or under supportive commanders.
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An Australian robot known as the “stabbing machine” is helping forensic experts to study the different factors and variables of violent knife crime.
“When a person gets stabbed, rips in the victim’s clothing may contain clues to help catch the attacker,” explained Popular Science last week. “Forensic scientists are trying to understand what tears and distortions in the fabric around a stab wound can say about the knife type, angle of attack, and stabbing technique that caused the wound.”
The machine boasts an “interchangeable knife holder,” “simulation of stab events through pneumatic system,” “60 stabbing positions via an Arduino microcontroller and knife holder,” and a “robust and highly reproducible positioning system,” allowing the robot to recreate various knife crime scenarios that feature different knives and variables with more accuracy and precision than a human.
“Various types of knives make various types of cuts, as you might expect, and the shapes of holes left in clothes can indicate whether the weapon was serrated, dull, curved and so on,” wrote Tech Crunch. “Ordinarily a human stabber is employed in recreating these holes in test fabric — for comparison, you understand — but people are notoriously un-robotic in their execution of this type of task, and, as in other things, small deviations in force and angle creep in where unvarying exactitude is needed.”
Despite the potential benefits, Popular Science reports that the machine still needs to improve greatly, as it currently only “jabs” at the force of a human bite.
“Future versions of the machine will probably need to work on accuracy, consistency, and power—the device currently jabs at a pressure of 1 megapascal, which is about the force of a human bite,” they declared. “But eventually, a device like this could help to turn the analysis of textile damage into a science.”
Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington or like his page at Facebook.
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Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The Antony Gormley sculpture will now have a permanent home at Saddell Bay
A cast-iron sculpture by renowned artist Antony Gormley is to remain in place permanently after it was bought and granted planning permission.
The abstract human form looks out over the Kilbrannan Sound to Arran from the rocks below Saddell Castle in Kintyre.
Gormley, who is most famous for the Angel of the North, made the sculpture in 2015 to celebrate 50 years of the Landmark Trust.
It was one of five placed at trust properties around the UK.
Image copyright Landmark Trust
The life-sized figures, together known as Land, were originally to have remained in place until May 2016.
The other four were removed as planned last year. They have been returned to the artist who will use them for future projects.
The Kintyre sculpture, called Grip, is the only one to get a permanent home.
Image copyright Landmark Trust
It has been purchased for the trust by an anonymous private donor for an undisclosed sum.
It has been granted planning permission by Argyll and Bute Council.
Gormley said: "There is an excitement about making a sculpture that can live out here amongst the waves and the wind, the rain and snow, in night and day.
"The sculpture is like a standing stone, a marker in space and time, linking with a specific place and its history but also looking out towards the horizon, having a conversation with a future that hasn't yet happened."
Image copyright Landmark Trust
Caroline Stanford, who managed the Land installation, said: "Grip's human scale and magical setting make it a deeply moving work by one of this generation's finest artists.
"We are so grateful to our wonderful donor for enabling it to stay in Scotland for good."
The Landmark Trust has owned Saddell Bay since 1975. It has restored each of the six buildings on the bay and they are available for self-catering holidays.
The five locations for the Land sculptures were:
Image copyright Jill Tate
Clavell Tower, Kimmeridge Bay, Dorset
Lengthsman's Cottage, Lowsonford, Warwickshire
Lundy Island, Bristol Channel
Martello Tower, Aldeburgh, Suffolk
Saddell Bay, Mull of Kintyre
Image copyright Jill Tate
Image copyright Jill Tate
Image copyright Clare Richardson
Image copyright Clare Richardson
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At Twilight By Xemerani Watch
62 Favourites 14 Comments 4K Views
hmmmmGDNKJ i really,,really hate how this turned out but...I guess it is what it is //sighhhhh
This is the second commission for Rinny, this time a full pic, of her character in (I think) their main outfit! >V< this took forever but was really fun and I learned a lot!! Gotta get more used to doing bgs.. i dont know why my night ones always turn out so saturated though eek
IMAGE DETAILS Image size 2149x3035px 2.51 MB Show More
Published : Jan 16, 2018
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人間の代わりにロボットが働くようになれば、人手不足を解消できるのか。そんな実験を、居酒屋チェーンを運営する養老乃瀧が東京・池袋で始めた。既存店舗の一部にロボットが接客やドリンク提供を行う「ロボ酒場」を設け、店舗の省人化や効率化にどれだけ効果があるか検証するという。ロボットがどんな接客をしているのか、実際に店舗で確かめてみた。
ロボ酒場は、JR池袋駅南口付近の「一軒め酒場」内にある。ロボットは作業カウンターやビールサーバーを取り付けた専用スペースに立っており、天井に設置された4つのカメラで来店者を認識。「ロボ酒場へようこそ」などと声をかける。
ロボットの挨拶や表情は、来店者の年齢や性別、表情などに合わせて変化する。どんな人にどんな接客をする接客をすると喜ばれるかを、搭載したAI（人工知能）に学習させることで、徐々に接客の質を高められるという。
1|2 次のページへ
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To be clear, members of this new Independent Group had a variety of motivations for leaving – four because of alleged anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, as well as objections to the party’s left-wing bias, and some also in fear of being de-selected. However, the Conservative defectors, and all but one from Labour, want another “people’s vote” on Brexit. It is instructive that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn then moved to favour a second referendum, while Theresa May seeks to delay another parliamentary vote, hoping the Europeans will “blink”. Loading Given that the EU would still clearly prefer that the UK not leave, it is unlikely to offer any significant concessions, so it is hard to see how May can ever win a parliamentary vote on her withdrawal bill. Indeed, she continues to lose procedural votes that work to reduce her negotiating authority. No vote would mean that the UK would still leave on March 29, a “hard Brexit”, which most don’t want. The hope of the UK establishment is that a concensus emerges for a second referendum, or for withdrawing the leave application altogether. Much will depend on whether there are further defections. It is clear that an issue such as Brexit is not only divisive across the UK community, but also within each of the major parties, important enough to threaten the traditional party duopoly. Many say, or hope, it can’t happen, but it may. Party unity has been a significant issue in Australia's political history, but disunity has probably been more about individuals than issues, especially since World War II. The most notable exception was the ALP/DLP split of the mid-1950s over communism and communist influence. But Gorton v McMahon, Howard v Peacock, Hawke v Keating, Rudd v Gillard v Rudd, and Abbott v Turnbull were mostly just about personalities, occasionally dressed under a policy cloak.
However, over the post-war period there has been an increasingly significant voter drift against both major parties. In the late 1940s, together, they attracted about 95 per cent of the vote. Now it's in the mid-70s, at best. Most recently, the drift has manifested in support for high-profile independents, a trend that will gather momentum at the May election. Loading This is also occurring as both leaders have net negative poll ratings, and the electorate is genuinely faced with the choice between two lessers, both parties and individuals. While there are multiple motivations, a principle reason for the voter drift has been dissatisfaction with the two major parties, which have become increasingly self-absorbed internally while focusing more on point-scoring against, and blame-shifting to, each other, rather than governing, and particularly meeting the bigger policy challenges. Conspicuous disloyalty, interminable scandals, opportunistic, short-term policy thought bubbles, cynicism, and so on, have led voters to disengage, stop listening, or protest where and when they can. The economic narrative embraced by both sides doesn’t match the lived, and increasingly difficult, experience of voters, while the big issues they realistically expect their representatives to handle are simply denied, ignored, or fiddled with.
In all this, individual members are increasingly under considerable pressure to toe the line, to rabbit on with the party line, as summarised in the dot-points emailed to them each morning, even if they fundamentally disagree. It is a daily farce in the media. It becomes harder and harder to defend the indefensible, especially for those in marginal seats where their feedback is contrary, where their support is waning. Loading Some members have already broken out of the two-party structure – Cory Bernardi, Clive Palmer. Banks, most noticeably, joining significant independents, Cathy McGowan, Rebekha Sharkey, Andrew Wilkie, Kerryn Phelps and Bob Katter. Independents could certainly hold the “power of the balance” in the Lower House after the next election. However, could climate policy be our Brexit? Could it threaten our LNP/ALP duopoly? It is a divisive issue within both the LNP and the ALP, against the background of some 70 to 80 per cent of voters consistently wanting decisive government-led action on the essential transition to a low-carbon society, and to renewables. Advocates for a long-term climate action plan across the two parties are much closer than they are to the deniers, coal advocates and intransigents in their own parties.
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×
October surprise / äkˈtōbər sə(r)ˈprīz/ noun
any political event orchestrated (or apparently orchestrated) in the month before an election, in the hopes of affecting the outcome.
October shit show / äkˈtōbər SHit·shō / noun
a video leaked to the Washington Post that reveals a presidential candidate talking about attempting to have sex with married women and how he is entitled to grab women's genitals because he's "a star."
a Category 2 hurricane wreaking havoc on the the lower U.S. into the second tier of news coverage.
, a guy who has
Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus condemned Donald Trump's sexually aggressive comments about women in a curt statement: “No woman should ever be described in these terms or talked about in this manner. Ever.”
Representative Barbara Comstock, R-Virginia: “This is disgusting, vile, and disqualifying. No woman should ever be subjected to this type of obscene behavior and it is unbecoming of anybody seeking high office. In light of these comments, Donald Trump should step aside and allow our party to replace him with Mike Pence or another appropriate nominee from the Republican Party.
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RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — A North Carolina State University football player has been suspended after police say he assaulted a female, according to officials.
Damontay Jaqual Rhem, 22, was arrested Friday afternoon on campus at Wolf Village by N.C. State University police, according to arrest records.
Rhem, of Wendell, is a running back for the Wolfpack, according to the N.C. State football team roster.
Rhem, who played in the final eight games of the 2018 season, graduated from East Wake High School and attended UNC Pembroke before transferring to N.C. State.
Rhem is charged with assault on a female, which authorities say took place Thursday, according to arrest records.
N.C. State University released a statement saying that Rhem was suspended.
“We’re aware of the charges and await additional details. Damontay is suspended from athletic participation pending resolution of this matter in accordance with the NC State Student-Athlete Code of Conduct,” Senior Associate Athletics Director Fred Demarest said the statement released to CBS 17.
No other details were available.
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Earlier this week [Monday], the Los Angeles Rams hired former Chicago Bears quarterback coach Mike Groh. He’ll operate as the team’s receivers coach/passing game coordinator.
On late Thursday evening, according to a source, the Los Angeles Rams nabbed themselves another coordinator familiar with the Bears, acquiring former running backs coach - Skip Peete - to the same role.
Peete is no stranger to this position, having been a running backs coach for almost the entirety of the last two decades; with 2015 being the only year in which he didn’t hold the position:
Chicago Bears [2013-2014]
Dallas Cowboys [2007-2012]
Oakland Raiders [1998-2006]
UCLA [1996-1997]
Michigan State [1993-1994]
The good news for Peete is that he’s walking into a great situation with the Rams, given the talent at the position. He’ll inherit Rookie-of-the-Year hopeful, Pro Bowl running back Todd Gurley. And the team’s backups - Tre Mason and Benny Cunningham - provide solid depth.
If the name "Peete" struck you as familiar, that’s probably because it is. Skip’s brother Rodney played quarterback in the NFL for 16 seasons. Their father, Willie, was a long-time coach in the NFL, dating back to 1960 where he was an assistant coach at the University of Arizona. It’s fair to assume Skip learned a thing or two from his pops, as well, as Willie was a RB’s coach in the NFL from 1983-1995 with the Chiefs, Packers, Buccaneers, and Bears.
For a team as talented as the Rams, complaints are often made that it’s the coaching preventing the team from getting over .500, earning a playoff berth, etc. It’s early in the offseason, but it appears the Rams are taking the necessary steps to ensure the rubber meets the road when the season kicks off in 2016.
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This past week, Seagate finally announced a 6TB hard drive, which is three years after their 4TB hard drive. Of course, Hitachi announced their hermetically-sealed helium 6TB hard drives in November, 2013, but only to OEM and cloud customers, not for retail sale.
Hard drive capacities are slowing down as shown in the chart below. To account for the shrinking form factors in the earlier part of the history, and to account for exponential growth, I've scaled the vertical axis to be the logarithm of kilobytes (1000 bytes) per liter.
This three year drought on hard drive capacity increases is represented by the plateau between the last two blue dots in the graph, representing 2011 and 2014. The red line extension to 2020 is based on Seagate's prediction that by then they will have 20TB drives using HAMR technology, which uses a combination of laser and magnetism.
However, if the trendline from 2004-2011 had continued, by linear extrapolation on this log scale, hard drives would have been 600TB by 2020.
This is not good news for users of Big Data. Data sizes (and variety and number of sources) are continuing to grow, but hard drive sizes are leveling off. Horizontal scaling is no longer going to be an option; the days of the monolithic RDBMS are numbered. Worse, data center sizes and energy consumption will increase proportional to growth in data size rather than be tempered by advances in hard drive capacities as we had become accustomed to.
We haven't reached an absolute peak in hard drive capacity, so the term "peak hard drive" is an exaggeration in absolute terms, but relative to corporate data set sizes, I'm guessing we did reach peak hard drive a couple of years ago.
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更新
大阪・ミナミが韓国の若者で“沸騰”している。特に３月から新学期が始まる韓国の春休みにあたる２月は、道頓堀から戎橋にかけて、大学生らのグループが殺到した。一帯は“爆買い”の中国人が多いと思われがちだが、実は、韓国では最近、旅行先として大阪の人気が急上昇。韓国最大手の旅行会社がホームページ上で「自由旅行で行ってみたい都市」というテーマでアンケートしたところ、大阪がフランス・パリに次いで２位に入った。ハワイのホノルルや米ニューヨークよりも上位だ。同社を利用した日本旅行の行き先でも、大阪方面は昨年１年間で４割超を占めトップ。なぜ韓国の人に大阪が愛されるのか。（張英壽）
「人が親切」「道がきれい」と絶賛
「きのう、来たんですが、韓国人ばっかりなので、びっくりしました。道がきれいだし、人も親切。人々は秩序を守っており、食べ物もおいしい」
２月のある日、人々でごった返すミナミの道頓堀。韓国南東部の慶尚南道からやってきた大学生の女性、李賀彬（イ・ハビン）さん（２０）の印象だ。日本は初めてという。「（社会などが）どんなに発達しているか、気になっていた」と話す。
李さんは一泊２千円程度のホテルに宿泊していると打ち明けた。激安の旅行だ。
道頓堀で出会った韓国人の多くが大阪の印象として同様に、「人々が親切」や「道がきれい」なことをあげた。ほとんどの若者がグループで歩いている。
３月に高校生から大学生になる慶尚南道の男子（１８）も「道を聞いたら連れて行ってくれる。日本はいい国ですよ」と感想。日韓の女性について問うと、ちょっと間を置いて「韓国はきれいな人が多い。日本はかわいいですね。僕の趣味は日本の女の子ですが…」とはにかんだ。
かつて九州北部が人気だったが…理由は「韓国人そっくり」だから（？）
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Go to about any public square, and you see pigeons pecking at the ground, always in search of crumbs dropped by a passerby. While the pigeons’ scavenging may seem random, new research by psychologists at the University of Iowa suggest the birds are capable of making highly intelligent choices, sometimes with problem-solving skills to match.
The study by Edward Wasserman and colleagues centered on the “string task,” a longstanding, standard test of intelligence that involves attaching a treat to one of two strings and seeing if the participant (human or animal) can reel in that treat by pulling the correct string.
Photo courtesy of Edward Wasserman. Photo courtesy of Edward Wasserman.
In this case, the UI researchers took the pigeons into the digital age: The birds looked at a computer touch screen with square buttons connected to either dishes that appeared to be full or empty. If the bird pecked the correct button on the screen, the virtual full bowl would move closer, ultimately to the point where the pigeon would be rewarded with real food.
“The pigeons proved that they could indeed learn this task with a variety of different string configurations—even those that involved crossed strings, the most difficult of all configurations to learn with real strings,” says Wasserman, Stuit Professor of Experimental Psychology and the corresponding author of the study published in the journal Animal Cognition.
In experiments, the authors found the pigeons chose correctly between 74 percent and 90 percent of the time across three varieties of string tests. The breadth of the string tests, coupled with the pigeons’ accuracy, suggest that virtual string tests can be used in place of conventional string experiments—and with other animal species as well, the researchers say.
In videos that the researchers took, the pigeons in many instances scan and bob their heads along the string “often looking toward and pecking at the dish as its moves down the screen,” the authors write, suggesting the birds noted the connection between the virtual strings and the dishes.
“We believe that our virtual string task represents a promising innovation in comparative and developmental psychology,” says Wasserman, whose department is in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences . “It may permit expanded exploration of other species and variables which would otherwise be unlikely because of inadequacies of conventional string task methodology or sensorimotor limitations of the organisms.”
“These results not only testify to the power and versatility of our computerized string task, but they also demonstrate that pigeons can concurrently contend with a broad range of demanding patterned-string problems, thereby eliminating many alternative interpretations of their behavior,” the authors write.
The paper is titled, “Pigeons learn virtual patterned-string problems in a computerized touch screen environment” and was first published online in March. Contributing authors include Leyre Castro Stephen Brzykcy, from the UI and Yasuo Nagasaka from the Riken Brain Science Institute in Japan.
The UI psychology department funded the study.
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Based on Samsung's hacker-friendly track record, you'd generally expect one of it smartphones to come with an unlocked bootloader, making it easy to update or tweak with unofficial ROMs. That's not the case with Verizon's imminent version of the Galaxy S III, however. As the folk at XDA know only too well, this particular iteration of Sammy's flagship comes with a sealed bootloader, which makes it resistant (though not impervious) to hackery.
Of course, Sammy has nothing to gain from snubbing the modding community in this way, so it stands to reason that VZW pushed the Korean manufacturer to supply them with a locked bootloader -- despite the fact that all other variants have been left open. We've reached out to Big Red for comment, but in the meantime a clever soul over at Rootzwiki claims they've already found a workaround for root access. (At this point, though, we'd better provide our usual disclaimer: be very careful before you poke around in there, because going up against a locked bootloader can be risky. The apparent safety of modern life is just a shallow skin atop an ocean of blood, guts and bricked devices.)
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As you know, we are celebrating our 1st we-left-Dubai anniversary. Birthdays usually involve cakes (at least where I am from), but we’d rather present you with the full meal!
Let’s remember what the year was like… on our plates!
IT’S FOOD TIME!
We started off in ETHIOPIA. I wasn’t a fan of injera, but got to develop a taste for it once I got to have the real deal! I particularly liked Ethiopian vegetarian platters, as the meaty ones tend to be quite heavy!
Afterwards we went to INDIA and you know how you tend to take less photos when you are familiar with things? That’s exactly what happened! Still, here’s a little tribute to the one thing we are truly addicted to: chai!
Believe it or not, we didn’t take a single food photo while in London, UK – shame on us! I do remember having a delicious pizza overlooking the River Thames and Ashray has quite fond memories of fish and chips.
Welcome to PORTUGAL – I am a very proud Portuguese person when it comes to food! Here are some of the delicious things we had during our stay in my motherland:
When we reached SPAIN, the land of tapas, we obviously got our kicks!
MEXICO was, hands down, one of the best countries we visited food wise – if not THE best! The moment we crossed the Atlantic ocean, we were in love with the rich, spicy flavors of Mexican cuisine. In Mexico, your taste buds wake up fully starting with the very first meal of the day!
After what you’ve seen above, it would be hard for any country to match the level of taste that Mexico delivers in every dish. CUBA wasn’t particularly memorable food-wise. The shortages that this country undertakes affect even their cuisine: there is a lack of ingredients and seasonings. But they do have something very good going for them, and that is fresh ingredients!
COSTA RICA is well known for it’s typical dish “casado”. Casados present on the same plate a combination of rice, black beans, chicken/beef/fish or mixed vegetables, salad and fried softened plantain. Sometimes, it might include a fried egg, but most commonly not. For me, this is the best combination a traveler could ever wish for: a place full of flavor, energy and variety!
While in Costa Rica, we came across a restaurant serving INDIAN FOOD. Oh my!… we couldn’t pass on the opportunity of eating some roti and tandoori delicacies! Surprisingly, this was very, very good! Funny enough, the restaurant would only serve Indian food for dinner but the chef was happy to make an exception and heat up the tandoor just for us… what a privilege!
To fly from Costa Rica to Brazil, we took a flight via MEXICO CITY, where we ended up spending 13 beautiful gastronomic hours. It felt like going back home, and food was a big part of it!
After one day in BRAZIL, we knew we were in beef-land! That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, once our friend Dushi, beef lover if there is one in this world, came to visit. Good rodizzio places were SO expensive, that we ended up trying this buffet of grilled meats served at your table at a very so-so place. It was our mistake as we could have had a much better experience. During Carnival in Salvador da Bahia, we had the following:
ECUADOR was a refreshing change in our palates after Brazil. We had arrived to the land of fruits! If it’s true that in Brazil we experienced some of the tastiest fresh fruit juices I had ever tasted, in Ecuador we got to try even more new fruits, for me, “exotic frutis”.
When you have so many new things, sometimes even rather rustic preparations, things can get boring. As adventurous as one might be, sometimes you’re not in the mood for experimentation and you just crave something familiar. That’s when you go for what I’d like to call “city food”:
I love fresh tuna steaks and the GALAPAGOS ISLANDS stole my heart on this one – apart from their beautiful landscapes and wildlife, of course! Staying at the Red Mangrove Hotel we got to enjoy their restaurant multiple times. Their cuisine is a fusion of Ecuadorian and Asian – absolutely brilliant!
Finally in CHILE, we got ourselves an apartment in Santiago for 5 weeks. Having a place with a kitchen meant that I could do some cooking – not only were we missing home-made food, I was actually dying to do some cooking. Here are some of the dishes prepared in our Lastarria home:
After a couple of weeks in Santiago de Chile, our friend Ayush arrived from India and brought with him a festival of INDIAN FLAVORS: tea leaves, masalas, salty snacks like bhujia and masala chips and even some parathas his Mom was kind enough to make and wrap for us.
Santiago de Chile, like most big cities, is good, food-wise as it makes available a variety of restaurants, cuisines, influences… not only we had CHILEAN FOOD, but also Indian, Korean, Sushi… It is this kind of variety and availability that makes me think I have to live in a city. I am too driven by cravings to limit myself to a place with “local” kind of food only.
And so in CHILE, we also fell in love with red wine…
As we went South in Chile, towards PATAGONIA, it was time for fresh seafood:
Still, we never forgot about desert!…
In EASTER ISLAND (aka Rapa Nui), was time to enjoy fresh island tuna… again! I couldn’t be happier!
A country that knows how to eat well is a country that wins my heart very easily. PERU was extremely successful at that!
Let’s see what our intro to Peruvian cuisine was like, in Arequipa:
Leaving the coastal region and going towards the ANDES mountains, the cuisine varies a lot, consisting in heavier more caloric preparations:
Again in LIMA we had an apartment for almost a week, which allowed us to do some home cooking:
When we weren’t eating at home in Lima, we were again digging into some “CITY FOOD:”
Food in the AMAZON had nothing to do with in the rest of Peru. Almost anything that crawls in the jungle can be eaten. We didn’t have such extreme preparations such as armadillo stew, grilled lizards and the likes, but we did have some simpler, nevertheless yummy dishes, like the ones below:
And so one year of food comes to an end!
I love food and I love eating and I do believe that, same as music, eating brings people together! It’s just one of those things, like breathing or sleeping, that we all do, no matter where in the world.
Food tells so much of the history and culture of a place that, without the gastronomic experience, traveling wouldn’t be complete!
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Pro-life marchers rally at the Supreme Court during the 46th annual March for Life in Washington on Jan. 18, 2019. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)
Democrats Are Showing Us All Who They Really Are — Let’s Believe Them
Part One: Very late term abortions and infanticide
Commentary
We are living in a unique era in U.S. history.
A political party that long ago embraced radical extremism on many issues was able to hide that from much of the public, with the help of a mainstream media that was willing to turn itself into that political party’s propaganda arm.
Throughout the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and even into the 2000s, the Democratic Party was able to keep its mask of being a pro-American, mainstream political entity firmly in place. Starting with the election of Barack Obama as president in 2008, however, that mask began to slip.
Top Democratic politicians and thought leaders, having just won a presidential election against the lackluster campaign of Sen. John McCain of Arizona, engaged in what now looks like foolish triumphalism. The words “Permanent Democratic Majority” were thrown around by talking heads on television, with left-leaning pundits confidently asserting they just couldn’t see how Republicans could possibly win another election, now that Obama was about to lead America to the Promised Land.
Eight years of watching how Obama intended to use the powers of the federal government to coerce America to enter the Democratic version of the Promised Land caused many Americans to revolt. So, far from shuffling off to its demise, the Republican Party recovered from its 2008 defeat well enough to make gains in Congress in the 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016 elections.
Despite the electoral setbacks, the Democratic Party was still smugly confident of retaining control of the executive branch and its all-important control of federal government agencies and also appointments to the judiciary, as I wrote in an earlier column:
“Control of the executive branch means control of the federal agencies and indirect control of the judicial branch through appointments to the bench. As long as you have control of the executive branch, you have control of the federal government. You can use that to hold a hostile Congress in checkmate.
“See, Democrats can stand not having complete control of Congress. They can put up with that. They just need their activist judges and their Democrat president to keep those Republican troublemakers in the House and/or the Senate in check.”
And then, as I love saying, a miracle happened:
Donald Trump won the 2016 election, and all the things he’s accomplished in the Oval Office since—deliberately reversing all the ‘progress’ the Democrats had made—have literally goaded them into dropping their mask and showing all Americans their true face.
Late Term Abortions and Infanticide
The still-unfolding fiasco in Virginia, in which state Delegate Kathy Tran introduced a bill—she didn’t even seem to understand all that well—that literally would legalize infanticide, grabbed the attention of the entire country.
Video footage of Tran having to have her own legislation explained to her by a lawyer from NARAL (National Abortion Rights Action League) appears to reveal that Tran was only submitting the measure on behalf of NARAL and other pro-abortion groups. She didn’t even understand it herself, and it’s becoming clear that neither did other members of the House of Delegates who had backed it.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam went on a radio show and droned on, in completely unemotional fashion, about how a baby born alive would be kept ‘comfortable’ while a discussion ensued as to whether to end that infant’s life or not. As you can imagine, when a video of that interview went viral on social media, plenty of people were horrified.
For decades, Democrats have been able to hide their radical positions on late-term abortion and infanticide, while simultaneously painting the other side in this crucially important national debate—the pro-life side—as being the “real extremists.” They’ve been able to pull off this neat double-trick with the complicity of the media, which allows them to lie by using weasel words and euphemisms to describe killing viable infants in the second and third trimesters.
For decades, slanted press coverage allowed the Democratic Party to hide its real positions on the abortion issue. But in just the past few years, the ground has shifted and things have changed dramatically in this country’s national debate on abortion.
The Gosnell Case
The absolute horror uncovered in the Kermit Gosnell case shined a long-delayed spotlight on late-term abortions in the United States. Gosnell not only murdered viable infants very late in a pregnancy, but horrified investigators also discovered he actually kept trophies stored away in freezers on the premises. In case you’ve never read the grand jury’s report on the horrors found inside Gosnell’s clinic, I covered that extensively on my blog.
The mainstream media tried to hide the scandal of the Gosnell case by simply refusing to cover it and dismissing it as a “local news story” that only people in the state of Pennsylvania were interested in.
Premature Viability Now at 24 to 26 Weeks
Many state legislatures are recognizing that medical advancements in the past decade are allowing for premature babies to be saved at a much earlier stage. In a dramatic change, as young as 24 weeks is now considered the cutoff point of viability for a preemie. Despite intense opposition from the pro-abortion lobby, states such as Texas were successful in tightening the legal abortion limit to 20 weeks (5 months) from 26 weeks (6 ½ months).
Note that by week 26, four of every five premature infants are being saved. This explains why states are right to take this into account when looking at their legal abortion limit. Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion nationwide by striking down all state laws prohibiting the practice, used viability as the standard. In the 1970s, it was rare for babies born three months premature to survive. That’s no longer the case, and it’s of paramount importance for state laws to reflect that truth.
Undercover Videos of Planned Parenthood
A series of undercover videos shot by citizen journalists from The Center for Medical Progress demonstrated beyond a reasonable doubt that Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, was engaged in a conspiracy to violate the laws on human organ sales. Planned Parenthood used the courts to block the release of further videos while using its media allies to attack the videos as ‘edited’ and ‘doctored.’ In a recent court case, however, it was ruled the videos are authentic.
The Gosnell case and the videos forced Democrats out of the tall grass of the vapid, vague, ill-defined “pro-choice” language they’d been successfully using and into the open, where they had to explicitly argue for what they wanted. And what they wanted was for abortion to stay legal in states at 6 ½ months into the pregnancy.
And now? It’s becoming increasingly clear the Democratic Party is going “all-in” on late-term abortions, even late into the third trimester, as New York State’s recent abortion law and the Virginia scandal starkly demonstrate.
The polls have consistently shown over the decades of the heated abortion debate in the United States that support for legal abortion drops precipitously after the first trimester. Only an average of 8 to 14 percent of Americans support legal abortion in the third trimester.
Gallup may soon have to add a fourth line to this poll: “Those who think the born infant should be kept comfortable while a discussion about his/her fate ensues.”
You can thank the Democratic Party for that.
Brian Cates is a writer based in South Texas and author of “Nobody Asked For My Opinion … But Here It Is Anyway!” He can be reached on Twitter at @drawandstrike.
Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
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Authored by James Howard Kunstler via Kunstler.com,
The Monster Mash
The sad reality is that last week’s Pittsburgh synagogue massacre is only the latest float in the long-running parade of ghastly homicidal spectacles rolling across this land and will be just as forgotten in one week as was last year’s Las Vegas Mandalay Bay slaughter of 58 concert-goers plus over 800 wounded and injured, a US record for non-military acts of violence. The Pittsburgh shootings elbowed the mass pipe bomber, Cesar Sayoc, out of the news cycle - but then Sayoc didn’t manage to actually hurt any of the high-profile figures he targeted with his mailings. What I wonder - and what the news media has so far failed to report - is just how incompetent a bomb-maker Sayoc was. Fake news meets fake bombs.
One of the strange side effects of an epic American political hysteria is this strange ADD-like inability of the public to focus on anything for more than a few moments, even the most arresting atrocities. The hysteria itself is too compelling, like the actions of a human limbic system driving the collective public psyche from fight to flight on the wild horses of pure emotion. Reason has been discarded by the wayside just as a super-drunk person will shed his clothing even on a freezing night.
Total culture war now beats a path toward all-out civil war, with the looming mid-term election as a fulcrum of history.
The country is not “divided,” it’s sliced-and diced like a victim in one of the Halloween bloodbath movies now so beloved by movie audiences that they must be regularly updated. It’s hardly a stretch to say that the US public sees its collective self as a throng of zombies lurching across the ruined landscape in search of a dwindling supply of brains, and they even seem to take a certain comfort in that endeavor, as though the zombies were performing a meritorious public service ridding the nation of as many brains as possible.
The Democratic Party could not be more in tune with this monster mash of collapse politics. The party has been living in a haunted house of its own construction for much of this century, and methodically adding to its roster of resident blood beasts month by month in an orgy of monster creation. They remind me of the chanting and stomping “natives” in any of the long line of King Kong movies, summoning the giant ape to the gate of their Great Wall so as to scare off the party of feckless white adventurers from faraway Hollywood. Only in this edition of the story, King Kong is the Golden Golem of Greatness at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and it annoys him greatly to be summoned by these tiny savages beating their drums. Of course, America-the Horror-Movie doesn’t add up as a coherent narrative. And so the nation sinks into bloody incoherence.
The Democratic Party war on white people and their dastardly privilege has been the theme all year long, with its flanking movement against white men especially and super-especially the hetero-normative white male villains who rape and oppress everybody else. Anyway, that’s the strategy du jour. I’m not persuaded that it’s going to work so well in the coming election. The party could not have issued a clearer message than “white men not welcome here.” Very well, then, they’ll vote somewhere else for somebody else.
And if it happens that the Dems don’t prevail, and don’t manage to get their hands on the machinery of congress — then what?
For one thing, a lot of people get indicted, especially former top officers from various glades of the Intel swamp. It shouldn’t be a surprise, given the numbers of them already called before grand juries and fingered by inspectors general. But it may be shocking how high up the indictments go, and how serious the charges may be: sedition… treason…?
These midterm election may bring the moment when the Democratic Party finally blows up, at least enough to sweep away the current coterie of desperate idiots running it. It’s time to shove the crybabies offstage and allow a few clear-eyed adults to take the room, including men, yes even white men. And let all the shrieking, clamoring, marginal freaks return to the margins, where they belong.
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Every day until Opening Day, Baseball Prospectus authors will preview two teams—one from the AL, one from the NL—identifying strategies those teams employ to gain an advantage. Today: how production comes from unexpected places for the Orioles and Marlins.
Week 1 previews: Giants | Royals | Dodgers | Rays | Padres | Astros | Rockies | Athletics | Yankees | Mets
Week 2 previews: Nationals | Tigers | Pirates | Mariners | Indians | Brewers
PECOTA Team Projections
Record: 79-83
Runs Scored: 675
Runs Allowed: 696
AVG/OBP/SLG (TAv): .253/.306/.406 (.266)
Total WARP: 25.9 (7.1 pitching, 18.8 non-pitching, including 0.0 from pitchers)
By now, the bit players in Dan Duquette’s great masterpiece are well known. By now, their value is being debated and critiqued as part of the franchise’s master plan for the future. By now, men that few had heard of and even less cared about are key pieces on the organization’s chess board.
Names like Caleb Joseph and Steve Pearce never inspired fear in opposing managers, at least not until last season. Guys like Alejandro De Aza were cast off by other organizations, only to find a home on a playoff-bound club. Jimmy Paredes was cast off by one of the worst teams in baseball to spend time in the minors with both 2014 ALCS teams, even producing nearly half a win over 18 games in Baltimore. The list goes on. Here is a table that I included in the Orioles’ essay in Baseball Prospectus 2015 that shows the top five teams in terms of bench production last season:
Team Bench WARP Dodgers 7.5 Mets 5.3 Padres 4.6 Orioles 3.5 Pirates 3.1
Not included in that list are two of the biggest contributors to the O’s success last season: Steve Pearce and Caleb Joseph. Both were omitted because they received too much playing time to meet the bench-player requirements used to create the table. Neither was expected to be a key contributor (or ever really), but the two combined to produce an additional 6.9 WARP (this includes 1.3 WARP from BP’s new CSAA numbers for Joseph). Below is an exhaustive list of every bench and role player that donned an O’s jersey last season.
None of the above players were expected to be big contributors for the Orioles in 2014. Some of the guys were acquired via trade when their teams soured on them or couldn’t find place on their rosters for them. Pearce and Joseph are the highlights on the list but players like David Lough, Delmon Young, and Ryan Flaherty all played big roles in a successful season.
The remarkable thing about that list is that only three of the fifteen players on the list produced negative WARP last year despite the collective reputations of the group. Dan Duquette has a long history of being able to find contributors on the waiver wire; it’s one of the things that helped him find success in Montreal and Boston. In Baltimore, Duquette has been fortunate to couple this knack for finding unwanted contributors with a manager that has shown a deft hand in deploying those assets.
It’s important not to ignore Buck Showalter’s role in the team’s success with these unwanted players. Showalter has embraced Duquette’s emphasis on depth and utilized these players in ways that extracts positive value without betting the house on every player being able to sustain their small sample size successes. Delmon Young’s signing is a perfect example. The Orioles were chastised for signing the flawed slugger, but his 2014 season can’t be categorized as anything but a success. Young has two primary problems: he can’t hit righties and he’s a butcher in the field. Well, Showalter avoided those issues with aplomb. 62 percent of Young’s plate appearances came against lefties, and he saw less than 160 innings in the field. The result was the second best offensive and defensive seasons of Young’s career.
Similar stories could be told about Paredes, De Aza, or Lough, all of whom saw their playing time correlate closely with their strengths on the field. Duquette builds a 40-man roster full of cast-offs and flawed players and Buck Showalter deploys each in such a way that success is much more likely than it would be if such care wasn’t taken to maximize the players’ talents.
2015 is likely to be yet another season where Duquette and Showalter will be put to the test. Paredes is making the case to be included on the 25-man roster with a strong spring. Catching depth in the form of Steve Clevenger, Ryan Lavarnway, and J.P. Arencibia will be tested. Mid-season cameos from Julio Borbon and Rey Navarro could very well be in the cards. And there’s no doubt that this team will rely more heavily on some of those names from the table above, specifically Pearce, De Aza, Joseph, and Young. Duquette and Showalter will need to manage their talent wisely, and the Orioles’ playoff hopes will rely on how well they do that. If recent history holds any predictive value, the 2015 Orioles might be a lot better than many think they can be.
Baltimore’s Moneyball isn’t about targeting on-base guys or spending on injured draft picks. No, Baltimore’s Moneyball is all about acquiring the players that nobody seems to want and finding ways to extract as much value out of the talents of these flawed players as possible. For the Orioles, it’s all about playing to the strengths of your front office and manager. And you know what? It has worked.
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There were 60,000 Jews living in Krakow before the war, a quarter of the population; today, there are about 200. The Jewish district now feels at once like a tribute to and a caricature of what it used to be: Outside the Old Synagogue (Poland’s oldest), bright green trolleys advertising tours of Schindler’s factory bounce along the cobblestone. Near Remuh Synagogue and the Old Cemetery are kitschy, Jewish-looking restaurants with Hebrew signs and waiters offering picture menus to passers-by.
Whatever the sentiment, seeing “Heil Hitler” signs in the neighborhood was jarring. But the legality of it, I soon learned, is an ongoing debate.
Article 256 of the Polish criminal code states:
“Whoever publicly promotes a fascist or other totalitarian system of state or incites hatred based on national, ethnic, race or religious differences or for reason of lack of any religious denomination shall be subject to a fine, the penalty of restriction of liberty or the penalty of deprivation of liberty for up to two years.”
It continues:
“Whoever, in order to distribute, produces, records or brings, buys, stores, possesses, presents, transports or sends” the aforementioned items, or those with “fascist, communist or other totalitarian symbolism,” can be subject to that punishment.
But there’s a caveat: Violators are exempt “if the act was committed as part of artistic, educational, collecting or scientific activity.” Sales of antiques or collectibles with some historic, academic or artistic value are permitted; sales of recent reproductions are not.
It’s one of many ambiguities that makes the provision ineffective, according to Katarzyna du Vall, a lawyer in Krakow. “You don’t know who is an artist, educator, collector or researcher,” she said.
Another is the vocabulary. “The biggest problem from a legal perspective is what, exactly, ‘totalitarian state’ means,” Ms. du Vall said, explaining how contemporary scholars — political scientists, sociologists, lawyers and other experts — cannot agree on one binding definition.
“We talk about Article 256 a lot in Poland, and people don’t understand why those proceedings end up with nothing,” she said. “It’s really hard to enforce a law that is not clear for anybody — for judges, for those who punish, for those who commit those crimes.”
Rober Opas, a deputy chief of police in Warsaw, acknowledged the law and said violators would be punished. But “from our point of view,” he said in an email, “the problem is sporadic, and we do not receive many reports of this kind.” He also noted that it is the Polish court that determines the punishment for each perpetrator.
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'I can shield myself from the ugly insults of the general public, but with you I imagined I was safe to let my guard down, to relax without being judged'
When you placed your scrawny hand on my arm and expressed concern over my weight, it hit me harder than you will ever know.
Where to begin? Perhaps the first point is the fact that I am well aware that I am fat. The painful rash due to my thighs rubbing together under my summer skirt drives that home perfectly well, thank you. So why do you feel it's OK to point it out to me? Our relationship isn't the place for a hideous American "intervention" – as if I am out of control and need reining in by someone else.
I thought you were my friend. I can shield myself from the ugly insults of the general public, tell myself they don't matter and that fat is a feminist issue, but with you I imagined I was safe to let my guard down, to relax without being judged. I thought friends didn't criticise each other. It wasn't just touching a nerve, it was like 10,000 volts rattling my whole body.
It has made me wonder whether my size embarrasses you? Is that really why you brought it up, under the guise of concern over my health? It's true I feel ashamed when we're out together and I catch sight of us in the mirror. "Willowy lovely plus hefty sidekick" is my imagined caption. But I had hoped that you weren't bothered, and liked me for me, rather than for my appearance.
It has made me cringe for every cake I have baked for you, every meal we've shared. Were you totting up the calories with my every mouthful? I used to enjoy our conversations over lunch. I never realised there was an elephant in the room – and that it was me.
• Tell us what you're really thinking at mind@theguardian.com
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Apple has begun signaling to education shoppers that it plans to relaunch and overhaul its online store in the near future, making it easier to do business.
AppleInsider was alerted on Wednesday to the notice that can be found on the top of Apple online stores geared for kindergarten through 12th grade institutions. There, shoppers are greeted with an alert about "the new Apple Store."
"Apple is launching a new online store, which is your tool to shop and place orders with Apple," the note reads. "Proposal creation, order status, and a dramatically simplified user interface will make it easier to do business with Apple â all in a secure and reliable environment."
For now, it appears that any forthcoming changes will just be related to the company's specialty stores designed for education institutions. However, the change could be a sign that Apple plans to do enact a similar overhaul of its general consumer storefront at some point in the near future.
The note atop the store for K-12 buyers also shares information on "getting ready" for the upcoming transition, stating that it will be "easy."
"Your current Apple ID and password will continue to work," it states. "In the coming weeks, you will receive more information about the store's features, benefits, and launch date."
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There was a time when you couldn’t turn on an NFL game without hearing the announcers opine on fullbacks: goliaths of the gridiron who mowed down defenders. Backs like Bronko Nagurski and Larry Csonka played the position with such grit and ruggedness that they are remembered years after their final, bruising 3-yard runs.
Fullbacks are easy to root for. Their ability to both absorb and mete out punishment sometimes seems superhuman. When Csonka, the Miami Dolphins fullback, was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1987, his longtime head coach Don Shula gave perhaps the greatest and most apt description of a fullback ever uttered: “He was blood and guts. Dirt all over him. He had 12 broken noses.”
But despite enduring in the sport’s collective memory, the style of football that produced these bruisers was very much of a particular time and place. It’s no exaggeration to say that the modern NFL has all but abandoned the position. According to Over The Cap, a website that tracks player contracts, just 14 of the NFL’s 32 teams currently have a fullback signed to a multi-year deal, and the average yearly salary for the position is just $1.16 million. Philadelphia head coach Doug Pederson has admitted that the Eagles don’t invest resources in the position, and the data seems to suggest that much of the league agrees with their approach.
On the field, too, the second back has become an endangered species:
During the 2006 regular season, there were 13,157 total offensive snaps from formations with two running backs. By 2018, that number had plummeted to 3,714.
And fullbacks don’t have to look far for a villain to blame: pass-happy offenses. In a league increasingly focused on moving the ball through the air, it turned out that the fullback was the most obvious position to lose importance. Since every NFL offense has to include five linemen, who are ineligible receivers, and a quarterback, there are only so many ways you can mix and match the remaining five eligible players to meet your offensive goals. As NFL teams moved to formations with multiple receivers to support their passing attacks, it was inevitable that some position had to feel the pinch.
Yet, not everyone agrees that fullbacks are obsolete. In fact, some of the NFL’s best teams this season are featuring them. Through Week 6 of the 2019 season, there are six NFL teams who’ve run 100 or more offensive snaps with two backs on the field — and their combined record is an impressive 23-10-1. Even more interesting, the two teams that trot out fullbacks the most — the New England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers — are the only two undefeated teams left in the league.
New England and San Francisco play fullbacks the most Teams by frequency of offensive snaps with two running backs Rank Team Record Snaps Yds/ Play Yds/ Att. Yds/ Rush Success%* 1 New England 6-0 178 4.5 6.6 3.0 37.1% 2 San Francisco 5-0 139 7.4 11.8 5.7 54.0% 3 Minnesota 4-2 134 6.4 8.5 5.5 41.8% 4 Detroit 2-2-1 107 5.0 7.2 3.9 37.4% 5 Denver 2-4 106 5.6 7.7 4.2 44.3% 6 Baltimore 4-2 103 4.5 5.9 4.2 41.7% 7 New Orleans 5-1 87 5.7 7.8 4.4 41.4% 8 L.A. Chargers 2-4 79 4.9 8.0 3.0 40.5% 9 Oakland 3-2 74 5.4 9.4 4.2 50.0% 9 Green Bay 5-1 74 5.1 6.9 3.6 45.9% 11 Chicago 3-2 71 3.7 4.7 3.8 36.6% 12 Buffalo 4-1 70 4.2 6.1 3.2 44.3% 13 Carolina 4-2 62 5.5 7.8 4.5 35.5% 14 Atlanta 1-5 60 6.6 10.7 4.1 50.0% 15 N.Y. Giants 2-4 39 5.7 8.2 2.7 46.2% 16 N.Y. Jets 1-4 38 5.0 8.1 2.5 23.7% 17 Dallas 3-3 36 4.1 4.7 3.7 33.3% 18 Kansas City 4-2 29 4.0 8.1 2.2 44.8% 19 Miami 0-5 26 3.9 6.2 1.7 30.8% 20 Houston 4-2 24 2.9 5.0 2.1 37.5% 21 Seattle 5-1 17 1.8 20.0 1.3 35.3% 22 Arizona 2-3-1 16 10.6 15.4 6.0 62.5% 22 Tampa Bay 2-4 16 2.5 5.6 1.1 31.3% 24 Tennessee 2-4 12 1.8 1.6 3.3 41.7% 25 Cincinnati 0-6 9 1.6 5.2 2.0 44.4% 26 Indianapolis 3-2 8 3.0 7.0 0.6 37.5% 26 Washington 1-5 8 1.4 4.3 -0.4 37.5% 26 Philadelphia 3-3 8 2.8 11.5 1.4 37.5% 29 Pittsburgh 2-4 7 2.9 3.4 1.5 57.1% 30 Jacksonville 2-4 5 1.0 0.0 3.7 20.0% 31 Cleveland 2-4 2 10.5 0.0 21.0 50.0% 32 L.A. Rams 3-3 0 0.0 0.0 — — 2019 totals through Week 6. *Success rate is the share of plays with positive expected points added. Source: ESPN Stats & Information Group
Before we get carried away, the Patriots probably can’t credit two-back sets with too much of their success. Their expected points added per play for the package is actually negative, and they’ve gained just 4.5 yards per play with a fullback on the field.
Still, four of the six teams to feature two-back formations extensively are generating positive EPA on those plays, and none more than Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers. The Niners have run plays with a fullback on 139 of 348 offensive snaps through five games in 2019, and they’re gaining about a quarter of a point per play.
Yet what’s surprising about the 49ers and the rest of the teams utilizing a fullback is that their offensive gains aren’t coming from the obvious play type: the run. Having an added blocker in the backfield hasn’t really made running the ball more effective. Instead, the most successful gains from the package have come from the pass plays when a fullback is present.
Even as the two-running-back personnel package has become more rare, passing from it has become increasingly effective. In all but three seasons from 2006-18 we can say with a high degree of confidence that passing with two backs was better than rushing with two backs, on average. All told, passing with a fullback on the field has been a winner.
The question is: Why?
The dominant narrative around two-running-back sets is that they benefit rushing, not passing. But there are at least a couple of reasonable explanations for passing’s surprising effectiveness, starting with former 49ers head coach Bill Walsh, who extolled the virtues of the fullback in the passing game nearly 40 years ago. He believed the fullback was the “critical part” of the 49ers passing attack because of the matchup difficulties the position presents. (A speedy, athletic fullback can be particularly hard for a middle linebacker to defend in space, but the defense has no choice but to send one out to counter the threat of the run he presents as an added blocker in the backfield.)
And while most teams still run more than they pass with a fullback in the game, there is some evidence that NFL coaches have taken Walsh’s ideas to heart. The gap between the frequency of rush and pass plays called in two-back groupings has narrowed slightly since 2006, and creative play-callers like Shanahan are lining up their top receiving weapons at the fullback with success. The play below from Week 6 shows 49ers tight end George Kittle lined up as the fullback in the offset I-formation. It ends with the Niners gaining 45 yards and setting up a first and goal.
Aside from the matchup difficulties a talented fullback presents, deception is another likely explanation for passing success out of two-back personnel. When teams bring out a fullback, the defense is strongly incentivized to stack the box and defend the run, leaving parts of the field vulnerable to attack with the pass. On the pass to Kittle, the play design called for him to sell to the middle linebacker that he was going to lead block. Kittle does a good job fooling No. 51 Troy Reeder, and then he breaks across the field — away from the linebacker — and is wide open for a big gain.
Still, if deception is so effective, why don’t more teams do it? One explanation is the negative perception it appears to have around the league. Recently, former Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis was asked for his thoughts on the decline of the fullback. Lewis lamented that defenses resort to trickery to win, and appeared to long for simpler times when the physicality of the game was paramount.
“The game is about men battling men … that’s what the game was. The game was not tricks. Now we tricky. Now everybody’s smart,” Lewis said.
Teams might prefer to win by lining up and punching the other guy in the mouth, but the data supports Walsh’s view of the world. Given the precedent set by Walsh in San Francisco, there’s a certain symmetry to Shanahan and the Niners leading a mini fullback-resurgence, but it’s not just vapid nostalgia. When you combine a consistent matchup advantage with deception, you probably have a recipe for success in the NFL. As a potent passing weapon, perhaps the fullback is back to stay.
Check out our latest NFL predictions.
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David Johansen of the New York Dolls and Richard Hell of Television backstage at CBGB. From White Trash Uncut by Christopher Makos, © 2014, published by Glitterati Incorporated
New York punks in the mid 70’s were clearly inspired by their environment. Manhattan was a lost city, bombed out and over run with rats and dirty syringes. Gotham had an unprecedented fiscal crisis in 1975, and two years later chaos ensued after the power went out for 25 hours. While poverty stricken New Yorkers looked over their shoulders to avoid pick pockets, British teens were avoiding the police.
The anti-police riots of 1976 spawned the “sus” law which allowed the cops to search anyone, leading to the violent harassment of punks and immigrants. The economy wasn’t doing well in London– a million jobs were lost in manufacturing plants alone between 1970-1977– at the time the Queen started her silver jubilee tour in ’77 and the country celebrated with street parties, ignoring the sad state of the surroundings. This seriously pissed off the youth, leading to “God Save The Queen,” and t-shirts designed with images of a safety pin through her royal nostril.
The New York Dolls trampy fashions echoed the looks of the ladies of the night that walked the streets of the Bowery. Thrift stores were frequented and more creative types made their own outrageous garb. Shirts were ripped, and safety pins were attached to clothing on both sides of the pond. Malcolm McLaren’s King’s Road shop provided punks with plaid skirts, leather pants and bondage bracelets. Many of the clothes were designed by his wife Vivenne Westwood.
-Amy Haben
LONDON PUNKS
Malcolm McLaren and Vivenne Westwood.
Sid Vicious
Vivienne Westwood
Sid Vicious
Ari Up – The Slits
The Adverts
The Clash
The Buzzcocks
NEW YORK PUNKS
Alan Vega of Suicide
The Cramps
Rodney Bingenheimer (L.A.) and Stiv Bators (NYC)
New York Dolls
The Ramones and Danny Fields – Photo by: Bob Gruen
Legs McNeil at CBGB’s – Photo: Godlis
Patti Smith Group
Hilly Kristal outside CBGB’s – Legs McNeil standing in front of the barricade.
Richard Hell and the Voidoids
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Richard B. Tui
The flame wars of the left are erupting again in depressingly familiar ways. Ironically, even as the institutional Democratic Party is demonstrating a commitment to more economic populist stances through its “Better Deal” messaging aimed at working families, the social media warriors of the left and center-left are determined to burn one another to the ground for control of the party, no matter the cost. At a time when solidarity is needed most to face an array of outside threats ranging from the horrors of the Trump Administration to the apathy and distrust of ever-larger swaths of the electorate, the pundits and social media wannabes of the left seem more intent than ever on pointless division. The path forward is obvious, but neither side seems willing to accept it.
The latest conflagration was ignited in part by Washington Monthly alum Ryan Cooper’s piece establishing the reasons for economic populist distrust of establishment favorite 2020 hopefuls Kamala Harris, Cory Booker and Deval Patrick. Cooper made some valid points about the histories of all three candidates that make many Occupy-aligned Democrats shudder: Booker’s defense of Wall Street and charter schools, Harris’ failure to charge now-Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin for his crimes with One West Bank, and Deval Patrick’s employment as managing director with Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital, for starters. These are not minor complaints.
The obvious problem, of course, is that in targeting black candidates Booker, Harris and Patrick specifically, Cooper only gives further fuel to those who claim that Sanders-aligned economic progressives have racist motivations–or at least that they are tone-deaf and poor allies on matters of identity and social justice. That the writers of these critiques tend to be predominantly white and male certainly doesn’t help, either. Regardless of the motivations, it’s self-defeating for the democratic socialist left to take this particular tack: as our own Martin Longman pointed out, economic populists will not win the argument within the party if they openly antagonize not only the wealthy donor base but also older and minority voters.
On the other hand, there is a substantial faction of establishment players who, rather than seeking to repair and mitigate the causes the conflict in the Sanders-Clinton primary, are eagerly hoping to perpetuate it. They see the young, insurgent, aggressively anti-Wall Street wing as illegitimate interlopers, easily propagandized dupes, and overprivileged “alt left” bigots. The large number of women and people of color who are part of the Sanders coalition are erased and dismissed in often ugly ways. The influential partisans in center-left think tanks and media organizations who take this position seem to believe that democratic socialists will simply disappear into the woodwork if they are aggressively dragged and marginalized, allowing them to resume conducting business as usual within the party. This would be a mistake: like the Dean and Obama waves before them, Sanders Democrats have been sweeping into leadership positions in state and local Democratic organizations all across the country, and have no intention of going away quietly.
The worst elements of both sides are engaging cynically in the ongoing civil war. Some Sanders supporters eagerly want to see him run again in 2020, and are actively seeking to kneecap every potential challenger to him–especially those who might be able to more easily secure Hillary Clinton’s coalition of older and minority voters. If not racist and sexist in motivation, this strategy is racist and sexist in its effects and will attract the worst elements of society. On the other hand, establishment moderates since the early days of the Democratic Leadership Council have sought a marriage of the much-vaunted “Emerging Democratic Majority” with an educated, upper-middle-class fiscally centrist donor class. This has been to the detriment of the economy as a whole, and to the electoral fortunes of the Democratic Party in general. They have no intention of taking a sharper stand against the predatory financial sector, and actively seek to use ideologically aligned women and minority candidates as a wedge against more radical activists who might threaten to alienate the wealthy donor class they have sought to woo away from the Republican Party since the Reagan era.
It is no exaggeration to say that if the Democratic Party fractures in 2020 along the same lines it did in 2016, it may not recover. Votes for Clinton over Sanders notwithstanding, women and minority voters are not ideologically more moderate than whites and men within the party. If the fault lines once again pit more moderate minority candidates against more economically progressive white candidates, the resulting warfare will create the worst of all worlds: watered down economic policy that fails to win back disaffected white working class voters, combined with a bruising primary trading insults that could demotivate both class-conscious millennials and identity-conscious older women and minorities, depending on the eventual victor.
All of this is easily avoidable as long as well-meaning activists on both sides demonstrate solidarity with one another’s priorities.
Democratic socialists must avoid making the unforced errors of the Sanders campaign, failing to articulate an understanding that social justice is also a key component of economic justice, and that merely making advances in the class war will not resolve institutional discrimination on the basis of identity. Making an example of the top three African-American hopefuls in the 2020 field is a terrible mistake regardless of intent. It will backfire, and tarnish the entire movement as motivated by barely-contained bigotry, regardless of how many Nina Turners and Nomiki Konsts become its public face.
For its part, the establishment must stop treating class war activists as second class citizens in a Democratic Party whose greatest President of the 20th century was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, not Bill Clinton. Just as Democrats from across the spectrum rightly pushed back on the abhorrent notion that the party should open its tent to anti-choice candidates, so too is it perfectly legitimate to say that it is unacceptable to open the presidential primary tent to candidates who kowtow to Wall Street. Just as Democrats would not countenance a candidate who served as executive director of the National Rifle Association, so too should Democrats not accept a candidate who served as managing director of Mitt Romney’s predatory corporate raider firm. For many core base Democrats, privatizing public education through “school choice” is just as rank an offense as privatizing prisons or Social Security. And for a great many Democrats, the fact that a criminal thief like Steve Mnuchin walks openly around our nation’s capital as a free man rankles every bit as much or more as the fact that serial sexual predator Donald Trump does. It is easily arguable that Mnuchin damaged and destroyed a thousand times more lives in just a few years of illegal predatory foreclosures, than Donald Trump has in his entire lifetime of ill deeds. These are not illegitimate positions, and it would do a world of good for establishment players to stand alongside younger progressive activists in solidarity with their interests rather than attempt to sideline them to protect the feelings of the party’s donors and their efforts to win over upscale Romney voters with mutual fund portfolios.
Both sides must meet one another halfway. Voices within the Sanders coalition that actively attempt to dismiss social discrimination as less important than class war must be ostracized from within not just because they are wrong, but because they actively hurt the cause of securing economic justice against the .1% in a party whose base has suffered greatly from that discrimination. Democratic socialists must seek to educate and persuade candidates who have crossed red lines in the past, rather than dismiss them as impure and unacceptable out of hand. Kamala Harris in particular is a very progressive candidate in many respects, and while she has made some decisions that rightly rankle activists for economic equality, they should not be disqualifying this early in the game.
Establishment figures, meanwhile, should hew closer to the example set by Schumer and Pelosi than by some in the center-left media and think tank ecosystem. They must acknowledge the need for a much more forceful economic progressivism and accept that economic progressives also have valid litmus tests every bit as reasonable as those of social issue advocacy groups. Individuals who insist on trying to ostracize democratic socialists and treat their anti-corporate concerns as secondary or motivated by bigotry should be gently pushed aside themselves.
The only path forward for both sides lies in mutual solidarity and respect. The alternative is mutually assured destruction.
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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal appeals court on Wednesday overturned a lower court’s ruling halting an investigation into Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and more than two dozen conservative groups for alleged illegal campaign activity.
The ruling by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago is a defeat for Walker and conservatives who argued they have done nothing wrong and that the investigation is a partisan witch hunt designed to chill political speech.Walker is running for re-election this fall against Democrat Mary Burke and is considering a 2016 run for president.
Even with the ruling, the investigation won’t be able to resume immediately.
A state judge overseeing the probe also effectively stopped it in January when he issued a ruling quashing requested subpoenas, saying he did not believe anything illegal had transpired. That ruling is under appeal.
The 7th Circuit said in its 14-page ruling that state courts are the proper venue to resolve legal issues with the case. It also refused to make public eight documents that a coalition of media groups had wanted to be unsealed.
The first-term Republican made a national name for himself when he took on public sector unions in 2011 with his measure that effectively ended collective bargaining for most public workers. That fight led to the 2012 vote to recall Walker, which he won, making him the first governor in U.S. history to overcome a recall.
Walker has been dogged by secret investigations, first of aides and associates before he became governor and now on his recall campaign and other conservative groups.
Wisconsin Club for Growth and its director, Eric O’Keefe, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in February to halt the latest investigation, which began in secret in 2012. They argued it was a violation of their First Amendment rights and an attempt to criminalize political speech.
No one has been charged in the latest probe and prosecutors have said Walker is not a target.
A federal judge in May sided with the group and issued a temporary injunction blocking the investigation. The appeals court overturned that ruling, calling it an abuse of discretion.
The case largely centers on the type of political activity being done by the conservative groups during the recall campaign and whether that work required them to follow state laws that bar coordination with candidates, requires disclosure of political donations and places limits on what can be collected.
Under Wisconsin law, third-party political groups are allowed to work together on campaign activity and engage in issue advocacy, but they are barred from coordinating that work with actual candidates.
Prosecutors have said in court filings that Walker and his top aides illegally raised money and coordinated campaign advertising and other activity with Wisconsin Club for Growth, the state Chamber of Commerce and more than two dozen other conservative groups during the 2011 and 2012 recalls.
Prosecutors argued that should have made the groups subject to state campaign finance laws.
The Wisconsin Club for Growth argues that coordinating with candidates on issue advocacy — communications that don’t expressly ask a voter to elect or defeat a candidate — is legal and not subject to regulation by the government.
___
Follow Scott Bauer on Twitter at https://twitter.com/sbauerAP
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SAN DIEGO -- Animal control officers are looking for the owner of two large dogs that viciously attacked a small Maltese and her owner on Fiesta Island Sunday afternoon, and then fled the scene.
At about 2:30 p.m., Renata took Micha to play at the off-leash dog beach on Fiesta Island. She scooped Micha up and held her over her head.
“I parked my car. I laid everything down on the sand, and next thing I know, I see two big dogs running towards our direction.”
The dogs were pit bull mixes, white with brown spots, Renata said.
“I’m holding her up and one of these big dogs, these dogs had to be 100 pounds, one of the big dogs pushes me down onto the ground,” Renata said. “It was my worst nightmare because I knew, at that point, they were just going to go for her.”
She says they bit her as she tried to save Micha.
“All over my hands, and I start screaming at the dogs to get off of her,” Renata, said. “Finally, some people came over and they pulled the dogs off of her.”
Micha was ripped open, barely alive.
Witnesses told Renata the two men who had the pit bulls put them in a white two-door commercial type-van and fled. Renata said the van had an Arizona license plate.
Witnesses got a partial plate of AC6099 or AG6099. San Diego County Animal Control ran the plate but did not get a hit. They are still searching for the dogs’ owner.
“I’d love for the public to help me right now, because I feel this incident should not have happened, and if something like this does happen, you shouldn’t leave the crime scene,” Renata said.
The Director of San Diego Animal Services said anyone with information should call 619-767-2740.
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(Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
The Wall Street Journal and New York Times are both reporting that the Trump administration will be rescinding Obama-era guidance on the use of race and ethnicity in student admissions (higher education) and assignments (K–12).
This is good news. As I explained on NRO as the Obama statements were issued — here and here and here, for example — they misread the law and were bad policy as well.
It’s not that complicated: As a policy matter, skin color and national origin should not play a role in deciding where a student can go to school. The costs of such discrimination overwhelm any claim of “educational benefits” from having a politically correct racial and ethnic mix of students. As a legal matter, while the courts have, alas, left the door ajar for this sort of discrimination, they have also placed significant restraints on it. The federal government should not be encouraging schools to do as much of this as they can get away with, which is what the Obama administration’s guidance did.
Most of the arguments against politically correct racial discrimination have been around for a long time, but I’ll mention briefly the two that have recently, and rightly, attracted greater attention.
First, it is not just white students who are frequently discriminated against, but Asian-American students as well. Indeed, as America becomes increasingly multiracial and multiethnic — and as individual Americans are themselves more and more likely to be multiracial and multiethnic — it becomes more and more untenable for our institutions to sort people according to what color skin they have and where their ancestors came from.
Second, the evidence is now overwhelming that, because of the “mismatch” phenomenon, it is not only the students who are discriminated against who are hurt by these policies, but also those who are supposedly receiving racial preferences. That is, if a student is admitted to and attends a school where his or her academic qualifications are significantly below the rest of the student body’s, that student is less likely to graduate and more likely to flunk out or switch majors, and will receive lower grades — all to the student’s detriment.
I should also note a wonderful essay published last week by John McWhorter on why this discrimination should end.
So the Trump administration is wise to set a new course and to jettison the Obama administration’s bad guidance in this area. Here’s hoping that the administration issues new guidance and, in particular, supports the lawsuit that Asian Americans have brought against Harvard and the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill for their admissions discrimination.
No doubt the Left will characterize this shift as somehow racist, but in fact it is not only nondiscriminatory but also the only approach that will not divide our multiethnic and multiracial society. It’s worthy of the nation whose birthday we celebrate tomorrow. E pluribus unum.
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A NSW woman was in a rage over money when she assaulted her brother with a tyre lever before driving her car into a river as she fled police, a court has heard.
Louise Bittar had shown up at her brother’s Sydney house demanding money when she started hitting him with the implement in October of last year, Bankstown Local Court heard on Monday.
Richard Bittar said he punched his sister several times in self-defence before she tore off with police in pursuit.
“The rage she was in, I could have struck her a million times and it wouldn’t have made any difference,” he said.
Bittar would later that day have to be rescued from her sinking Toyota Yaris after driving it off a boat ramp into the Georges River.
The 33-year-old was found guilty of her brother’s assault on Monday and has previously pleaded guilty to negligent driving, destroying or damaging property and the police pursuit.
She has not yet entered a plea to charges of driving in a dangerous manner, driving at excessive speed and driving under the influence.
Her brother in a recorded police interview on the day of the assault said he’d been safekeeping some money she got in a payout and giving it to her as she required it.
He alleged she always blew the money on drugs, and had attacked him when he said he couldn’t give her some cash she’d requested until the following day. “She’s got hardly any bills, she’s got f*** all rent, today she wants $1000,” he said during the interview, in which he also alleged his sister was “heavily juiced on ice”.
Bittar, who has told the court she’s seeking drug rehabilitation, will remain in custody until her case is resolved despite making a bid for bail while her mother is in hospital.
Defence lawyer Uzma Abbas said her mother was critically ill in intensive care, and Bittar was also in danger of losing her housing.
But magistrate Kathy Crittenden ultimately found she posed an unacceptable risk to the community that couldn’t be mitigated by strict bail conditions. The magistrate considered the health of Bittar’s mother as well as Bittar’s criminal history and mental health issues in determining the “very difficult” release application.
The matter is next scheduled for court on January 31.
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http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/Pandeism
Scott Adams, God's Debris "The fact that we exist is proof that God is motivated to act in some way. And since only the challenge of self-destruction could interest an omnipotent God, it stands to reason that we... are God's debris."
Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love "God split himself into a myriad parts that he might have friends. This may not be true, but it sounds goodand is no sillier than any other theology."
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Pandeism is a theological theory which proposes that a creator (not necessarily a 'god') created our physical Universe by becoming the Universe. This creator currently exists as an unconscious or otherwise nonintervening (unable to intervene) Energy sustaining all motion in the Universe. Various explanations have been introduced as to why this happened, mostly revolving around the creator needing to learn something through the human experience, or perhaps wishing to experience nonexistence itself. The latter is the device used in Scott Adams' book God's Debris. Variations also speculate as to our purpose, and whether the creator will ever go back to being what it was before, and whether we will have a part in that.
This position is arrived at through the combination of Deism (the archetype for Have You Seen My God?) and Pantheism (the same for Pieces of God). Not to be confused with Pandaism.
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Examples
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Anime and Manga
Comic Books
Lucifer ends with Elaine Belloc, the new omnipotent God , choosing to do this, because having seen how the old way of doing things has gone wrong, and recognising that an omnipotent being should not be personally doing favours for individual people they personally care about at the expense of others, the best way to avoid this is to merge with the universe rather than sit on high and rule it in a top-down way.
Film
The Fountain somewhat inaccurately characterizes Mayincatec mythology as "First Father sacrificed himself for the Tree of Life," and so in essence became the world.
Some Pandeists will contend that Pandeism is what's going on in Star Wars — the source of The Force and such.
— the source of The Force and such. Oh, God! has George Burns as God giving some surprisingly pandeistic answers to questions from religions leaders. "The divine truth is not a building or a book or a story. The heart is the temple, where all truth resides".... "Jesus was my son, Buddha was my son, Mohammad, Moses, you, the man who said there was no room at the inn was my son. And so is the one who charges $11.00 for a steak in this one".... "Everything around them that they can see and smell and feel and hear they should delight in all this. That what is here are some of my very best ideas. And I want everyone to try very hard to make sure that it doesn't all go down the drain." Naturally, it might be pointed out that the God of Oh, God! appears as a separate and intervening entity, but Pandeism would simply explain God's appearance (which is in point of fact mundane and lacking in any especially mind-blowing miracles) as a projection of man — as part of our Creator — unwittingly reminding himself of some important underlying truths.
The film version of AKIRA has Tetsuo, in the end becoming a new Big Bang and being reborn as a new Universe.
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Literature
Scott Adams' "God's Debris" uses this trope and posits that the creator is wishing to experience nonexistence itself.
The Survivors, a 1976 novel by Simon Raven, features a character with this belief. One character observes, "God became the universe. Therefore the universe is God." while the other counters "In becoming the universe God abdicated. He destroyed himself as God. He turned what he had been, his true self, into nullity and thereby forfeited the Godlike qualities which pertained to him. The universe which he has become is also his grave. He has no control in it or over it. God, as God, is dead."
Critic Dan Schneider suggests this theory to be the one at work in Robert A. Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, as the basis of Valentine Michael Smith's created religion.
One of Lazarus Long's aphorisms from Heinlein's Time Enough for Love: "God split himself into a myriad parts that he might have friends. This may not be true, but it sounds good, and is no sillier than any other theology."
This is how universes are created in Alan Dean Foster's Glory Lane. A god-like being commits suicide which creates another universe with another godlike being made of dark matter who commits suicide again, creating another universe and another god-like dark matter being and so-on ad infinitum.
The Jack Kerouac novel Desolation Angels comments about how we are bits of a Universe which decided to become us and then forget it had become us: "And you have been forever, and will be forever, and all the worrisome smashings of your foot on innocent cupboard doors it was only the Void pretending to be a man pretending not to know the Void...."
Alfred Tennyson personally identified as a Pandeist, and this theological underpinning influenced much of his nature poetry.
Poet Ferndano Pessoa has been identified by literary critics as a Pandeist as well.
Jorge Luis Borges hints this way in "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius ", and moreso in "Otras inquisiciones" (1952): "El tiempo es la sustancia de que estoy hecho. El tiempo es un río que me arrebata, pero yo soy el río; es un tigre que me destroza, pero yo soy el tigre; es un fuego que me consume, pero yo soy el fuego. El 'mundo, desgraciadamente, es real; yo, desgraciadamente, soy Borges." ("Time is the substance from which I am made. Time is a river which carries me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger that devours me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire. The 'world, unfortunately, is real, I, unfortunately, am Borges.") Borges wrote sympathetically of Philipp Mainländer: "Like me, he was an impassioned reader of Schopenhauer, under whose influence (and perhaps under the influence of the Gnostics) he imagined that we are fragments of a God who destroyed Himself at the beginning of time, because He did not wish to exist. Universal history is the obscure agony of those fragments."
One of the characters in William Peter Blatty's Legion suggests an interesting twist on this idea: the Universe did not arise from God tearing Himself apart, but of another entity created by God — who tore himself apart of his own free will, out of a desire to experience space and time and to explore physical existence. Every sentient being is a piece of this entity, attempting to learn more about himself and his relation to the Infinite; human good and evil is a manifestation of the good and evil that lay within the entity. The character comes up with a name for this entity: Lucifer, who was both the fallen angel and the Bringer of Light.
Religious writer Neale Donald Walsch espouses a pandeistic understanding of our Universe, and of man being the experience of God.
Many books along the lines of The Master Key System and The Secret fundamentally presume a pandeistic Universe, wherein man is able to unlock seemingly divine capacities by dint of our Universe being the unconscious existence of our Creator.
Cities in Flight: The final section (Triumph Of Time) has several characters decide to have themselves thrown 'outside' of the universe — it's going to temporarily cross "through" another universe; they (most likely) won't survive the process — in space suits packed with explosives. The expectation is setting off the explosives would allow each character to become a personalized "big bang", with the resultant baby universes having their physical constants being 'seeded' by the constants contained within each astronaut.
Mythology
Chinese Mythology: Pangu is a human man born in nothing ness, and he separated the sky and the earth, then died, and his body parts became everything on the world.
Live-Action TV
The Minbari religion from Babylon 5 can be summarized as this. In one episode, Delann describes it thusly: "We believe that the Universe itself is conscious in a way we can never truly understand; it is engaged in a search for meaning, so it breaks itself apart, investing its own consciousness in every form of life. We are the Universe trying to understand itself." In another episode, Delenn tells John that if they die, they will reunite "in the place where no shadows fall" because "all come together in the same place, at the end of time."
Tabletop Games
Video games
In Grim Dawn A Darker and Edgier take on it. The blood of Ch'thon, the Dying God was used to create all mortal life in the Grim Dawn universe. But he feels all the pain that they feel and has been driven mad by it.
Webcomics
In Kill Six Billion Demons, the god YISUN grew weary of having an infinite existence, and thus committed suicide by splitting itself into many lesser aspects. In White Chain's words, "It was a wretched life, without meaning or perception. Imagine infinite stories to tell, Allison, and nobody to tell them to. "
Real Life
Scores of historical philosophers have been associated with pandeistic views by various historians of philosophy, including Xenophanes of Colophon, Heraclitus of Ephesus, Chrysippus, Scotus Eriugena, Bonaventure, Nicholas of Cusa, Franciscus Mercurius van Helmont, Giordano Bruno, Anselm of Canterbury, Victor Cousin, and Friedrich Engels.
Some expressions of Hinduism delve in this direction, though this is most often through Western interpretation of Hindu doctrine.
NASA astrophysicist Bernard Haisch proposes a theological model in his book The God Theory which has an infinite God becoming an infinite number of Universes to actualise its experience of all forms of existence; human consciousness is simply a filtered fragment of the now-sublimated consciousness of this God.
Literal, self-proclaimed pandeists. Probably the most noted is Alfred Tennyson. Another is adventurer Bruce Parry.
Tropes about Pandeism itself:
Perfect Pacifist People : Justified on the belief that violence committed against another person is actually committed against the Creator; which means, ultimately, against the self.
Pieces of God: Everything is.
Puff of Logic: The view taken by Pandeism as to theistic beliefs — as Pandeism is based on logic, and claims to account for all phenomena upon which other faiths are premised without requiring additional divine capacities, it is asserted to logically supersede all faiths which do require such capacities.
Reincarnation: Some versions have it, some don't, but all suppose at least that we are pieces of God, and probably that we will at some point be reassembled into God.
Sentient Cosmic Force: In some strains of pandeistic thought.
Take a Third Option: Splits the line between atheism and theism. Or between Pantheism and Deism, which already both sort of do that.
The Omniscient: Variable within the varying schools of thought of the belief, but generally exists at least to the extent that the Creator, having become the Creation, instantly and completely experiences everything which happens within such Creation. But since the Creator is fully occupied with existing as the Creation, it can do nothing to change what is happening or will happen. The notion that the Creator knows future happenings is explicitly denied on the grounds that this would eliminate any rational basis for setting forth a Creation at all.
Who Wants to Live Forever?: One possible reason why a God would cease to be a God and become a Universe instead.
You Cannot Grasp the True Form: Those who are somehow able to contact the mind of our Creator as it unconsciously underlies our Universe find that experience so incomprehensible that their tiny human minds automatically defend themselves by interpreting such encounters as intentional communications from culturally familiar conceptions of gods, thereby explaining all revelation and scripture.
Your Mind Makes It Real: Miracles, seemingly answered prayers, and revelations occur across multiple faiths because the Universe-creating entity has become us (and the rest of the Universe) and believers in any religion are able to unwittingly tap into their own little slice of Creator-power.
Useful links
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A company spokesman confirmed that it was seeking a $250 million loan.
In preparation for his role as a White House adviser, Jared Kushner divested some of his stakes in the family business and other investments. He also resigned his position as chief executive of Kushner Companies, as well as the management positions he held in the hundreds of entities the company uses to own its projects. But he has retained economic interests in most of the company’s projects, including the Jersey City building, at 65 Bay Street, according to his government ethics disclosure.
A White House official has said Mr. Kushner shed his interests in projects expected to require large transactions with parties that had not yet been identified. It is unclear why he did not divest his stake in the Jersey City building, with the hoped-for refinancing appearing to present similar issues.
His stake in various Kushner family projects, with some other investments, could exceed $600 million, according to the government ethics filing. It lists a trust that owns a company called 65 Bay L.L.C., which has an indirect ownership in the building.
The money the Kushners seek would allow them to repay lenders and partners and keep about $30 million in cash. The tower was built with only about $30 million in equity from the Kushners and their partners, according to a 2015 presentation by the firm that helped the Kushners secure EB-5 visa funding.
The building is now valued at $340 million to $360 million, with more than half the apartments rented, according to a deal summary circulated to prospective lenders in recent weeks.
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Microsoft is presenting a vision of how industrial robots could work more closely with people by harnessing IoT (Internet of Things), cloud networking and 3D sensing technologies, linked through Windows platforms.
In a demonstration at Hanover Messe, an industrial fair in Germany this week, Microsoft and industrial robot maker Kuka Robotics are showing an industrial robot arm that can stream movement data to Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform for human staff overseeing production.
The Kuka machine is a lightweight, multi-jointed arm known as the Intelligent Industrial Work Assistant. Its immediate task in the demo is to thread a small tube into the back of a dishwasher. The delicate nature of the operation requires human collaboration and risks damaging the appliance, Microsoft said in a release.
In the scenario presented by the company, if the robot encounters a problem, it can notify nearby technicians via Microsoft Band wearables or Windows tablets, which can also be used to assess supply chain problems affecting the robot.
The robot assistant can be linked to a Kinect 3D motion sensor to identify technicians who arrive for troubleshooting work. A video about the collaboration shows a technician using a head-mounted display to run through a troubleshooting app while checking the robot.
The demonstration aims to highlight how Kuka’s robot assistants can jointly perform tasks with humans, without needing a human controller, Microsoft said on its blog.
The demonstration is the latest in industry-wide efforts to make industrial robots work with human colleagues more easily. For instance, Rethink Robotics’ Baxter, introduced in 2012, and Sawyer, launched last month, are designed to be collaborative robots that are safe enough for people to work alongside, instead of being isolated in cages.
Last year, Microsoft shut down its robotics research group amid a larger shakeup by CEO Satya Nadella.
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There is concern that Kim Jong-un could be planning a fresh missile test
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And the news comes just days after another satellite images suggested Kim is also likely to be planning a spectacular parade to mark the occasion on September 9. North Korea has long used Sohae in North Pyongan province to conduct missile tests, including the successful launch of the Kwangmyongsong-3 Unit 2 in 2012. When Kim met with US President Donald Trump in June, the dictator offered assurances that his regime would soon destroy a missile engine test stand. The site was not named initially – but later revealed to be Sohae.
No significant dismantlement activity has taken place at either the engine test stand or the launch pad since August 3 38 North analysis
However, a study, undertaken by North Korea analysts Joseph Bermudez, Frank V Pabian and Jack Liu for North Korea watchdog 38 North, which specialises in analysis of the secretive and isolated communist nation, suggested the efforts to scrap Sohae may have been put on ice. Their report observed: “Commercial satellite imagery from August 16 of the Sohae Satellite Launching Station, North Korea’s only operational space launch facility, indicates no significant dismantlement activity has taken place at either the engine test stand or the launch pad since August 3. “At the vertical engine test stand, while significant progress in tearing down the facility was made from July to early August, no new dismantlement activity is apparent since August 3. “The components previously removed remain stacked on the ground.”
The 38 North analysis highlights a lack of activity at the site in recent days
38 North analysis's looked at the Sohae Satellite Launching System
In addition, on the facility’s launch pad, work a rail-mounted transfer building to remove equipment seems to have stalled. The report added: “The same parts of the west and north walls that had been previously removed remain stacked on the ground. “The gantry tower and assembly building are intact. It is still unclear if this activity is associated with dismantling or modification of the structure. “While activity at the site seems to have slowed down, there has only been a slight reduction in the number (from 11 to 7) of trucks and trailers at the Administrative and Security Headquarters.
Kim Jong-un meets US President Donald Trump in Singapore in June
“These vehicles appear to be related to the activities at the engine test stand and launch pad.” Kim could be planning a missile launch to mark the occasion. Last year every North Korea celebration day coincided with such a test. A separate report, also prepared by Mr Bermudez last week, involved the study of satellite imagery of the Mirim Parade Training ground, leading him to conclude the Foundation Day Parade “will probably, at least match but likely surpass the size of the parade held this past February to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People’s Army”. Mr Bermudez added: "Parade preparations were first observed in July and appear to be following the pattern noted during recent parades.
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What’s Worse Than Climate Denial?
While it’s very important that humans try to live sustainably, I am disgusted by how many people are less concerned about the existential crisis that nature itself poses.
Photo by Nikhil Mitra on Unsplash
It’s hard to go a day without hearing of the existential crisis of anthropogenic climate change. The future of humanity, and apparently the very planet, hangs in the balance of what we decide to do here and now. But to be perfectly blunt, this attitude is nothing more than humanity’s ego at work.
None of this is to say that sustainability isn’t important. Humans need to start thinking more sustainably, in general. Our diet, for instance, is not very sustainable. People in the US eat a lot of beef, and drink a lot of milk. And even when we’re not consuming, production continues, as dairy subsidies account for over 70% of the total revenue to the dairy industry. These subsidies have created large surpluses, which can amount to significant waste. But the US isn’t alone. And even in nations like Sweden, which has seen a substantial drop in beef consumption, the government still props up the industry with unending subsidies.
The True Existential Crisis
All this being said, even if we act in a highly sustainable way, humanity is still at great risk of extinction. There are numerous ways in which the human species can meet its end. A global pandemic is quite possible, given high speed transportation between continents and a highly connected population. This risk exists, even for naturally evolving pathogens. A biological weapon could spread through the population and devastate it almost entirely. A super-volcano erupting could also bring us to the brink of extinction, first wiping out whatever population is nearby, then choking out those further away, and finally starving those furthest away from the disaster itself. And then there are planet killing asteroids, which NASA still has a difficult time identifying until they nearly graze the planet.
As it stands, humans almost went extinct at least three times in our evolutionary history. The first time was about 1.5 million years ago, soon after the emergence of our genus. The second two near extinction events were both during our own species’ time. H. sapiens nearly went extinct 150,000 years ago, due to significant cooling of the environment, and again 70,000 years ago for some uncertain reason, perhaps relating to the eruption of the Toba supervolcano.
Saving Ourselves
There is only one way to truly increase our odds: expand into space. This idea is not science fiction. It is something that we must do. Even a 1% chance of extinction per century is too high to risk not building colonies in space. In order to even reach out into our own solar system, we’ll need a lot of infrastructure on the moon. Luckily, the moon is packed full of useful materials that can be used to produce oxygen, water, solar panels, building materials, and more. Except for the initial production facilities, everything can be built on the moon itself rather than being shipped there.
The moon would serve two main functions. The first one is acting as a jumping point into the solar system. The second is providing resources back here on Earth. Both of these activities need to be implemented quickly in order to improve our odds of survival.
Regarding getting further into our solar system, entire ships could be built on the moon, and then launched deeper into the solar system to start colonizing Mars, which is the next big step, as it’s right next to the asteroid belt. From there, we can mine the asteroid belt for massive amounts of raw material. Indeed, the raw materials in the asteroid belt have an estimated worth $700 quintillion. That’s a lot of raw material that could be used back here on Earth.
But even as construction facilities for ships get set up, the moon can also be used to produce a large amount of energy for Earth. The moon has no atmosphere. While that’s a problem for humans, who would have to create artificial living conditions, it’s great for collecting solar power. The amount of sunlight that hits the surface of the moon is far greater than that which manages to reach the surface of the Earth. One proposal is to create a ring of solar panels around the moon. It would take many years, which is why we need to get started right away. However, it could totally fill our growing energy needs. The energy can be produced on the moon, and transmitted to the Earth via microwaves. Such a system would result in the complete elimination of the need to produce electricity here on Earth.
Starting Yesterday
It will take many years to complete these projects. Unfortunately, we might not have that many years. While there is no indication of an imminent threat, we may only have a few decades of warning, or less, before things really go south. By then, it will be too late and all we would be able to do is wait and die. Therefore we need to start working on these projects immediately. While climate change is going to cause us problems, according to the information in the AR5, it is not a doomsday scenario. The real doomsday scenarios will likely come from nature, not us, because as much as we like to think that we’re gods on Earth, nature just doesn’t give a damn.
Final Notes
In a recent discussion on evolution and speciation, I suggested that there is only currently one identified species, the Earth species, which is the sum total of the biomass which has evolved from the first cell to form on Earth. There is no clear cut distinction between species. We are all just a progression of lineages. Therefore, while we should focus on sustainability for our own health, we should also do what we can to ensure our own survival first and foremost. It is our evolutionary imperative to survive and grow. And so long as we do so, the Earth species does so as well. Currently we are the greatest chance that the Earth species has for survival beyond this world.
Update (April 2020): This article certainly aged well, given the recent events of 2020. We actually lucked out. This pandemic could have been far worse, but it is a warning of threats to come. A connected world like ours is always at risk of being thrown into disarray, or worse, by such pandemics.
Further Reading
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Do you have apps on your phone? More than one? Can you imagine if the different apps could actually talk to each other?
Of course you can—because they do, all the time. It's nothing special. But that didn't stop the nation's biggest bank, JP Morgan Chase, from getting a patent that describes exactly that process, titled "System and method for communication among mobile applications."
The language of the primary claim in US Patent No. 9,747,468 describes a mobile app asking a user for permission to get information from another app; then, having acquired that permission, it goes ahead and gets the information.
Perhaps this dates to the early days of cell phones? Nope. The bank filed for the patent in 2013, and the patent was granted earlier this week.
Chase's monopoly on inter-app permissions was highlighted yesterday by the Electronic Frontier Foundation in its "Stupid Patent of the Month" series. Not only was the idea behind this patent not novel in 2013, it had been implemented many, many times.
"How was such a broad and obvious idea allowed to be patented?" asks EFF patent attorney Daniel Nazer. "As we have explained many before , the Patent Office seems to operate in an alternate universe where the only evidence of the state of the art in software is found in patents. Indeed, the examiner considered only patents and patent applications when reviewing JP Morgan's application. It's no wonder the office gets it so wrong."
If the examiners had looked beyond patent databases, they would have seen that developers had been discussing the best methods of inter-app communications for years. In 2013, mobile apps usually asked for permissions all at once, up front, rather than getting more specific permissions from the user at various times.
But, as Nazer notes, changing that structure was more of a management decision than an "invention." Some iPhone apps had started asking specific permission to access user contacts in early 2012. Another high-profile example? Twitter has insisted on third-party apps getting very specific permissions to access its data since 2011.
Now, if JP Morgan Chase wanted to, it could actually accuse those developers of infringing its new patent. The developers could defend themselves and win, but only at enormous cost.
"Instead of promoting innovation in software, the patent system places landmines for developers who wish to use basic and fundamental tools," Nazer writes.
A spokesperson for JP Morgan Chase declined to speak about its patent or EFF's criticisms. We also reached out to the US Patent and Trademark Office to get its view on the matter and will update this post if we hear back.
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Remember that you can also add descriptions to each image. Tits with blue veins, both fake and natural. Some also have milky tits (one of many possible reasons to why ladies have visible vains)
Saving... Saving... Add a description of the contents of your gallery, so it will be more visible for other users.Remember that you can also add descriptions to each image. Description saved
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Bentley Motorsport has revealed 11 of its 12 drivers for the 2019 Spa 24 Hours today, the list featuring six new faces to the team.
Callum Macleod will share a new Continental GT3 with former British GT Champion Seb Morris and K-PAX regular Rodrigo Baptista.
In the second of the one-off additional Continental GT3s, former Nissan factory drivers Alex Buncombe and Lucas Ordonez will team up and drive with Markus Palttala.
The other two cars, the #107 and #108, will run with their full-season drivers with one exception, that Frenchman Vincent Abril has not been named. He is leaving the brand with immediate effect to pursue other commitments in racing. Steven Kane, Jordan Pepper and Jules Gounon will compete in Car #107 while the sister #108 car will be driven by Andy Soucek and Maxime Soulet.
The team is currently evaluating multiple drivers to fill Abril’s now vacant seat.
Commenting on the expanded driver roster, Bentley’s Director of Motorsport, Brian Gush, said: “I am delighted that we’ve been able to fill the majority of our driver slots for Spa so soon, with a wealth of experienced endurance racers. Callum, Seb and Rodrigo have all driven superbly for their respective Bentley customer teams, and as usual, we always look within our wider family first when selecting new drivers for the most important races.
“Alex, Lucas and Markus bring a new dimension to the team, and all have proven ability in the key GT3 races. We will be looking to provide seat time with the new car to all of them in the coming weeks and months as we prepare for Spa, while we also make our selection for the last place in the 12-strong driver line-up.
“At the same time, all at Bentley Motorsport wish Vincent Abril luck and success for the next part of his career. Vince has been a model Bentley Boy and a great example of our process of moving talented drivers through our customer racing programme. He has developed into a thoroughly well-rounded driver with significant pace, and we look forward to battling with him on the racetrack.”
Photo courtesy of Blancpain GT
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In December it was reported that the Star Trek film project based on a pitch from Quentin Tarantino would be R-Rated, however in a new red carpet interview from today’s Empire Awards, Star Trek actor (and co-writer of Star Trek Beyond) Simon Pegg adds doubt to that previous report. Talking to Hey U Guys, Pegg said
I don’t think he’s written an R-rated Star Trek script. I think what happened is he went to [Star Trek producer] J.J. [Abrams] with an idea that he has had for a while – I remember he told us about it a long time ago. I think he told me and Edgar [Wright], about it a long time ago. He just put it to J.J. and J.J. is considering putting it into a writing room. We got an email just saying “Guess who came in the office the other day!” So, I don’t know much about it, other than the fact that it is sort of in the mix. So, we will see.
According to the latest reporting from the trades, Abrams and Tarantino have already assembled a writers room for Tarantino’s Star Trek pitch, and tapped Revenant writer Mark L. Smith to write a draft script.
Pegg didn’t offer an opinion on Tarantino’s take on Star Trek, but recently his Trek co-star Karl Urban said it is important to “remain open” to the idea of different take on the franchise, even if that includes the “swearing, more graphic violence or sex” commonly associated with Tarantino’s films. John Cho has also expressed interest, noting he wants to the chance to do “Quentin Tarantino dialog, as Sulu.”
You can watch the full red carpet interview below.
Pegg presents Spielberg’s Lifetime Award
Simon Pegg was at the Empire Awards to present the Legend of Our Lifetime to director Steven Spielberg. Pegg appears in Speilberg’s new film Ready Player One, which opens March 29. Sir Patrick Stewart picked up the same Legend Award at last year’s ceremony.
Embed from Getty Images
Keep checking back to TrekMovie.com for all your Star Trek movie news.
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Moda turnării în cap a unei găleţi cu apă rece în scopuri umanitare ajunge şi în România! Radu Banciu îi provoacă pe toţi candidaţii la preşedinţie la primul duş rece de campanie!
Miercuri seara, de la ora 19:30, în direct pe B1 TV, Radu Banciu le va da leapşa probei cu găleata de apă rece tuturor celor care aspiră la cea mai importantă funcţie în stat. Victor Ponta, Klaus Iohannis, Elena Udrea, Monica Macovei, Cristian Diaconescu, Călin Popescu Tăriceanu şi alţi pretendenţi la fotoliul de la Cotroceni sunt aşteptaţi să răspundă provocării lansate de Banciu şi să dea apoi mai departe prietenilor sau adversarilor politici provocarea cu găleata de apă rece!
Tot miercuri seara, de la ora 23:00, revine din vacanţă pe B1 TV şi îndrăgita emisiune “Lumea lui Banciu”, Radu Banciu pregătindu-le telespectatorilor numeroase surprize.
Cunoscută sub numele de “Ice Bucket Challenge”, provocarea găleţii cu apă rece este folosită în special pentru a sprijini donaţiile pentru ajutorarea celor care suferă de boala Lou Gehrig (ALS). Este boala de care suferă fizicianul Stephen Hawking, cel care, în ciuda previziunilor sumbre ale medicilor, a ajuns la vârsta de 72 de ani şi este unul dintre cei mai respectaţi oameni de ştiinţă din întreaga lume.
Până acum numeroşi sportivi de top, oameni de media şi televiziune, actori de la Hollywood, nume mari din industria online sau politicieni au răspuns provocării, publicând pe internet o mulţime de filmuleţe în care îşi toarnă o găleată cu apă rece în cap.
Leapşa a ajuns deja şi la cei mai importanţi lideri politici ai lumii. Barack Obama, Michelle Obama sau Vladimir Putin sunt printre cei care au primit provocarea de a sprijini campania ALS.
Mark Zuckerberg la proba găleţii cu apă rece
Bill Gates la proba găleţii cu apă rece
Novak Djokovic la proba găleţii cu apă rece
Simona Halep la proba găleţii cu apă rece
Justin Timberlake la proba găleţii cu apă rece
Vin Diesel la proba găleţii cu apă rece
Oprah la proba găleţii cu apă rece
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Remember town hall meetings? This somewhat archaic pastime evokes images of architecturally wondrous buildings with tall white columns — reminiscent of east coast imagery.
Town hall meetings are charming. They are meant to bring constituents together to ask questions of their elected leaders or political candidates, share their ideas, and just simply engage.
The very first town hall meeting was held in Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1633. Town halls emerged as a form of government democracy. Town members could vote on issues and rely on this type of majority-rules system. “Debate galore” seemed to be the sentiment.
The meetings evolved into more formal debates over time, with presidential candidates using a similar format to face their contenders head-on during these gatherings. With the advancement of technology, the crux of town halls was implemented into other mediums, such as radio, television, and social media.
Cory Lum/Civil Beat
Although town halls today typically do not involve voting on matters, they are still meant to harness discussion and goodwill between elected officials or candidates and the people.
Town halls are now held sparingly and with only a few Hawaii elected officials recognizing its importance.
U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz is currently hosting ongoing town halls across the state. In 2016, Gov. David Ige held a plethora of town halls at public schools statewide pertaining to Hawaii’s “Blueprint for Public Education.”
These meetings can be more productive and focused when limited in scope to a single topic or a few topics.
A recent article by The Associated Press discussed how Arizona town hall meetings with their congressional representatives at the helm are occurring less often than in the past. This can be attributed in large part to the drawbacks of town halls. Town halls can open up a can of worms, essentially, in an environment where constituents are oftentimes impassioned and even angry.
Minimizing face-to-face communications is almost welcomed in modern-day society, where constituents’ social media use at these events tend to reveal missteps for the public to view in rapid-fire time. However, town halls can also boost appeal for a campaign or current leader if the event dazzles community members.
Smorgasbord Of Subjects
Town halls are very raw and intimate. The spirit of the town hall is what we should aim to preserve, especially in Hawaii. We need more avenues to express our thoughts freely and have healthy debate incorporating a smorgasbord of subjects important to us as a community.
Promoting creativity and originality, unencumbered, is the goal. Constituents should feel free to blurt out outside-the-box solutions to pressing problems and not feel confined by limitations defined by a formal format and orthodox methodology.
In my capacity as a college lecturer, the majority of the questions I receive from students pertain to technicalities or parameters of any given assignment. Even though the expectations of each assignment are explained in the course syllabus, students tend to obsess over the nuances, i.e., how long does the midterm paper actually have to be? Does the page count include the title page?
My answer always is: I am more concerned about substance over format.
“Ironically, using a conventional forum such as town halls, can prompt unconventional thinking.”
Yes, format matters, but ideas and analysis are gold. This is what shapes our futures and gives us hope. We need to get everyone to think differently and substantively.
If they feel comfortable doing this, along with throwing out bold suggestions for improving our communities, city, and state, then we have already solved the initial problem: conventional thinking. Ironically, using a conventional forum such as town halls, can prompt unconventional thinking.
We have neighborhood board meetings and similar arenas, but we need to acknowledge the value in town halls or even talk-story coffee sessions with elected officials and political candidates. Round-table type discussions have occurred in the past where candidates were available via television for the public to call in and ask questions, but face-to-face interaction is sporadic and sorely missing.
Even protests or one-sided advocacy platforms fall short of the romanticism of the town hall. Speaking openly with public officials or candidates allows for accountability and thoughtful rhetoric.
With the 2020 election approaching, I yearn for town halls and interactive, personal forums to get to know our candidates better and ask tough questions. In addition, our current elected officials should become more visible for back and forth discussions — a break from their usual public appearances for meet and greets or typical engagements.
Imagine genuinely capitalizing off of this traditional concept and allowing innovative ideas and clever perspectives to flow.
We should view the state of Hawaii as one vast think tank of community members, elected officials, and political candidates. I encourage our leaders and potential leaders to think along these terms as they continue to bridge the gap between government and its people.
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Health experts have sounded the alarm over the "immense power" the alcohol, gambling and tobacco industries exercise in Australian politics.
A new study published in the Drug and Alcohol Review found these industries collectively donated at least $12 million to Australia's major parties from 2006 to 2015.
The alcohol and gambling industries in particular made substantial donations "to influence decisions in the short term and build relationships over the long term", the study said.
It found donations from these sectors increased "substantially" during debates about alcohol tax and gambling law reform.
Alcohol industry donations increased in 2008 and 2009, when the alcopops bill was being debated and gambling industry donations to Labor peaked in 2008 and 2009 during a major inquiry into gambling.
It also found alcohol industry donations "spiked" ahead of elections.
Labor banned tobacco donations in 2004 and the Liberals followed suit in 2013. But the Nationals and some minor parties have not followed suit.
AAP
'If they donate $100,000, they've bought you'
The researchers conducted interviews with "politicians, ex-political staffers and other key informants" as part of the study.
"If someone donates $1000, they support you. If they donate $100,000, they've bought you," one politician who remained anonymous said.
The Drug and Alcohol Review
And one ex-politician said "there's no doubt that if someone makes a significant donation to your campaign or to your political party, then you tend to look fondly towards them".
READ MORE Record fine for pokie club that gave out free alcohol and cash advances
Another politician told researchers that Liberals and Labor reached out to James Packer when gambling reforming was being mooted.
"Packer made it absolutely clear to them that $1 maximum bets was completely and utterly unacceptable. It could not be allowed, and … then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard and then-leader of the opposition Tony Abbott both refused the $1 maximum bet proposition."
The Drug and Alcohol Review
Ban all donations?
SBS News talked to Professor Kypros Kypri of the University of Newcastle, one of the authors of the report.
Professor Kypri said this is "a problem of Liberal, National and the Labor parties ... [But] the Liberal party receives the bulk of the donations, more than half."
He said the most shocking element of the study was how "poorly regulated political donations are" in Australia.
Currently, donations under $13,800 do not have to be declared, which Professor Kypri said is "ripe for abuse".
"If you got 20 donors who all have a common commercial interest ... They can each put in just under the limit and suddenly you have a quarter million dollars with no record," he said.
"The public won't be able to know. The political party that receives it doesn't have to tell anyone."
He said the study also showed that these industries seem to have perfected the art of "small money lobbying", which involves "identifying rising stars and funding them ... Then they become beholden over the long term".
"They have immense power," he said of these industries.
Concerned about the "undue influence on public policy", the study recommended, "banning corporate donations ... to safeguard the integrity of public policy-making".
A 'fungating cancer' on democracy
Australia ranked 13th out of the 180 countries in the Corruption Perceptions Index in 2017, but its ranking is falling, with the study partly blaming "an undue influence on politicians of corporate actors".
In June, a Greens-dominated inquiry into donations recommended bans on donations from developers, banks, mining companies and the tobacco, liquor, gambling, defence and pharmaceutical industries.
It also called for the continuous real-time disclosure of donations to the AEC, something already occurring at a state level in some jurisdictions.
"The big money that is pouring into our parliament from vested interests is a fungating cancer on our democracy," the party's leader Richard Di Natale said earlier this year.
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In the late autumn of 2010, shot through with hope, fueled by anger, hundreds of thousands of students took to the streets all over the United Kingdom, uniting in protest against the new coalition government’s plans to triple university fees and scrap the Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA), a small grant for poorer school students. For many, it was their first taste of political activism. In the end — or at least in what seemed like “the end” at the time — it felt like little more than a lesson in political failure.
Despite the mass mobilization of students, an infamous occupation of Conservative Party headquarters, and violent clashes with police, Parliament voted in early December to raise the ceiling on annual tuition fees in England to £9,000. And while the government insisted that this amount would only be levied in “exceptional circumstances,” nearly every university introduced fees at that rate.
Demonstrations and occupations against the new policy continued into the new year, but they attracted smaller crowds and even less attention. In the next general election, in 2015, the Liberal Democrats were punished for partnering with the Tories — a toxic alliance that entailed reneging on an electoral pledge to vote against any tuition fee increase — and saw their seats in Parliament plummet from fifty-seven to a historic low of eight. But the Conservatives were rewarded for their work: they won re-election with a working majority, and David Cameron became one of the only prime ministers in history to re-enter Number 10 with a larger share of the vote.
And that, until recently, looked to be the unfortunate, twisted legacy of the 2010 student revolt.
Today, those frustrated hopes and freezing afternoons appear in a different light — as the first signs of the generational divide that has come to define the country. After Labour’s humiliating defeat in the 2015 election, many of those involved in the student protests went on to support Jeremy Corbyn as the leader of the party. In the 2016 Brexit referendum, three-quarters of eighteen- to twenty-four-year-olds voted Remain, while two-thirds of over-sixty-fives favored Brexit. Then, when a snap election was called in June 2017, Corbyn made abolishing tuition fees a flagship policy of the party’s manifesto, and Labour defied expectations to bring about a hung Parliament. Youth turnout climbed to a twenty-five-year-high; the generation gap was the widest since polling records began.
In Student Revolt: Voices of the Austerity Generation, Matt Myers draws an important line connecting the events in late 2010 to the revival of radical politics in Britain today. “Young voters in 2017,” Myers writes, “like the protesters in 2010, refused to believe that there was no alternative to austerity.” And in many cases, they were the same set of people. Students who played pivotal roles in the protests could later be found either in Momentum, Labour’s new pro-Corbyn campaigning wing, or in mainstream and alternative left media. James Schneider, for example, left the Lib Dems in 2010 and joined Labour in 2015. He is now Corbyn’s head of strategic communications. Aaron Bastani went on to cofound Novara Media, an important new voice on Britain’s left.
Myers’s book is an oral history of the movement. He interviews first-time protesters, seasoned student activists, and two of the politicians behind the tuition fee legislation, David Willets and Vince Cable. Willets was universities minister at the time; Cable, now leader of the Lib Dems, was business secretary. Because Mills conducted the interviews before January 2017, prior to Corbyn’s surprise ascent, there are times when the tone is more melancholic than it might otherwise be. “A legacy of defeat hangs over the movement,” Myers writes. But there nevertheless remains a sense among all of Myers’s interlocutors — Willets and Cable included — that the legacy of the 2010 protests was always more than just defeat.
The irony of the demonstrations is that they offered young people an education they would never have otherwise received. As Paul Mason writes in the introduction, these protests “radicalised students in a wholly new way.” A generation labelled as lazy, apathetic, and disengaged — lacking the radicalism of earlier eras — suddenly started organizing mass protests, walking out of classes, mobilizing in the streets, and occupying universities.
One of the most powerful aspects of the movement was that most participants were not personally affected by the legislation. This display of solidarity was a striking riposte to the government’s agenda of individualizing education, which sought to turn education into a private good and students into consumers.
Myers chronicles the trajectory of this privatization push, which began with Tony Blair’s New Labour government — a period in which fees rose to £3,000 and private-sector activity in higher education grew from 32 percent in 2000 to 64 percent in 2007 (the EU average is 20 percent). The tripling of fees in 2010,” Myers writes, “did not emerge from nowhere.” Now, UK students are saddled with more debt on average — £50,800 — than in any other country in the world, partly thanks to extortionate interest rates that can be raised retrospectively at will. As one of the government’s own advisers on student finance remarked, if a company possessed similar terms they might attract sanctions, perhaps even prosecution. (In the United States, although the cost of tuition varies far more, the average debt burden on students is much lower at $36,000, or £27,900.)
Yet if 2010 was the year a new generation became politicized, it also pointed to a new kind of politics at play. Many of these students were irreverent — sometimes simply ignorant — to traditional norms. Huw Lemmey, one of those interviewed, recalls seeing footage of students throwing trade-union placards onto a bonfire, much to the despair of some of the university lecturers around him. “They don’t know what they’re doing!” one of them cried. “I can’t believe they’ve done that.” But as Lemmey reflects, “the students had no idea what these placards were; they just wanted to make a statement [with the bonfire].” Another participant describes seeing one socialist group singing the Internationale while, alongside them, another group of younger people cried: “Let’s go fucking mental, la la la.” Looking back, it was like a precursor to the “Ohhh Jeremy Corbyn” chant, which would bring election excitement into everywhere from football grounds to raves and festivals.
Most significantly, however, the demographic of these protests was different. Like the French student protests in 2005, the 2010 movement brought together a cross-section of poorer city youth — ethnically diverse and more disillusioned — with wealthier, middle-class students. These disparate groups had distinct motivations, but they had a shared feeling of being held in contempt.
In one of the book’s best contributions, Shareen Prasad, a student at the time, explains why her school friends in Hackney attended a march despite having no intentions of going to university. “It was never about education,” she says, “as the education system just never worked for them. They hated the police, not because they were beating up protesters, but because they had beaten up their friends . . . For them it was like: ‘Let’s go and get one up on these people. This is our time to do it.’”
Again, this new alliance would endure after the collapse of the 2010 protests, helping fuel Corbyn’s ascendance to the top of the Labour Party. Support for Labour among black and minority voters rose by six points in the 2017 election, while turnout increased to a high of 64 percent. These communities have been disproportionately punished by austerity. Like students, they were asked to bear the burden of an economic crisis not of their making. As early as 2010 the Institute for Public Policy Research found that “mixed ethnic groups had seen the biggest increases in youth unemployment since the recession began, rising from 21 percent to 35 percent in the period.”
All this filtered into the student protests. Grime and dubstep often soundtracked the marches through the streets. In 2017, the Grime4Corbyn movement — supported by the likes of Stormzy and JME — would be one of the elections most unprecedented aspects. “Corbyn gets what the ethnic minorities are going through,” Stormzy said in 2016.
Students had a similar feeling about Corbyn. When the protests were taking place — and students were being charged down by horses and “kettled” by police — most politicians treated them with contempt. Cameron called them a “feral” mob. Theresa May, then the home secretary, expressed her “gratitude to those police officers and commanders who put themselves in harm’s way.” Ed Balls, Labour’s shadow home secretary, said that “All Labour members also share the home secretary’s anger and outrage.”
Corbyn was the notable exception. On the day of the final debate, on December 9, Myers recounts how “the only voice raised to make a direct case for the students was that of the MP for Islington North, Jeremy Corbyn.” Corbyn pressed the home secretary to have “a serious discussion with the Metropolitan Police Commissioner about the use of kettling tactics and corralling people against their will when they wish only demonstrate peacefully against what they see as — and I agree with them — the monstrous imposition of a fees increase.”
Labour’s leader at the time, Ed Miliband, had thought about coming to the occupation at University College London but in the end opted against it. “I think I was doing something else at the time actually,” he said. Corbyn ally John McDonnell, by contrast, did attend. More than that, he launched himself right into the fray. As one of the participants interviewed recalls, students had formed a line on the ground to deter the horse charges when suddenly, “John McDonnell came over to where we were, sat there right in the middle of a row of people, and linked his elbows with those around him . . . That’s our current shadow chancellor.”
Such moments resonate beyond the empty words of support that students — like so many other sections of society — have come to expect from politicians. The coalition government carried out its punishing reforms while insisting that it would “champion” students and put them “at the heart of the system.” A rising number of people see an authenticity and commitment in Corbyn that previous politicians have lacked: a consistency borne of conviction.
In some ways the surprise is not so much Corbyn’s relative success but the fact that it took so long. At the party’s conference last September, Corbyn declared, “2017 may be the year when politics finally caught up with the crash of 2008.” As Myers’s book shows, perhaps we could also say that 2017 was the year when politics finally caught up with the 2010 protests.
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Facebook’s blatant copying of Snapchat is nothing new, but with Microsoft’s Skype being the latest messaging app to mimic Snapchat, it’s time to say enough is enough.
Snapchat in pure numbers
Snapchat, as I’m sure you already know, is an ongoing sensation, especially among younger generations. What began as a start-up of three Stanford alums in 2011 quickly grew to become one of the most valuable companies in the world. It boasts 166 million daily active users who send a total average of 3 billion “snaps” each day. Snapchat’s parent company Snap Inc., which recently went public, is valued at a whopping $30 billion and is expected to rake in $935.46 million from its app alone this year.
Before Snapchat, our communication was limited to texts and emoji. And when we did occasionally decide to send photos, it was counterintuitive and time-consuming.
Before Snapchat, our communication was limited to texts and emoji. And when we did occasionally decide to send photos, they had to be snapped separately and attached, which often was not worth the effort and the time. In that regard, Snapchat revolutionized how we share our lives and communicate with others: never before were we able to send five-second snapshots to friends and share important moments that disappear after a day in an effortless and fully customizable way.
That’s why Facebook wanted to buy Snapchat almost half a decade ago now for $3 billion. Of course, Snapchat knew that its value would be worth more than $3 billion. Yet, what the Snapchat team probably did not foresee was just to what extent Facebook would go in order to copy their image messaging app.
Facebook’s incessant plagiarism and why it’s frustrating
When Instagram launched Stories last August (this was way after Facebook had purchased the picture-centric social media app), it quickly became the talk of the town not because it was innovative or useful, but because it resembled Snapchat’s key feature just a little too much – even the name itself. Just like Snapchat Stories, Instagram Stories allows users to post pictures or short videos, doodle on them or add stickers, and upload them, which would disappear after 24 hours.
Facebook did not stop there, unfortunately: not only did the “Stories” feature expand into all of its main apps including Facebook, Messenger, and WhatsApp, but most of these apps now let users send direct photos and videos to one another, which self-terminate once opened exactly like Snapchat. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, responded to criticism about Facebook’s blatant copying of Snapchat by saying, “The first chapter that made sense was to release products that people were familiar with… I feel like we do different kinds of work in different areas (compared to Snapchat).”
For a company who takes pride in practically coining the term “social media,” simply brushing off what may be a byproduct of a lack of innovation as a necessary step seems almost hypocritical.
Although Zuckerberg has reassured the public that the continued plagiarism is only a small part of the company’s bigger AR plans, it’s still incredibly frustrating for me for several reasons. First is Facebook’s attitude: for a company who takes pride in practically coining the term “social media,” simply brushing off what may be a byproduct of a lack of innovation as a necessary step seems almost hypocritical. Not only that, the stolen Snapchat features on Facebook’s apps don’t work as well as the original. For instance, I’ve noticed that on my phone, Facebook now gives you two bubbles: one for your usual chats and one for Facebook’s My Day. I haven’t figured out how to get rid of the second bubble, and whenever I open my chat bubble, I’m stuck with notifications for life stories of people that I don’t even care about.
Snapchat was always a more private place for me with significantly fewer contacts than Facebook. Facebook’s take on Snapchat Stories is intrusive, unoriginal, and frustratingly useless.
Stick to the status quo, Skype
Well, the true tragedy is that Facebook is not the only company: Tinder is reportedly looking into a Snapchat-like style UI for sharing multimedia, and Viber has already added Snapchat-like features to its app with the latest update. And now, Skype is the latest messaging app to join in on the shameless aping of Snapchat. The Microsoft-owned video-chatting app now has a tab called “Capture,” where you can take photos and short videos to send to your contacts. And yes, you guessed right – you can insert text, doodle on them, put stickers on them, and even add them to your “highlights” (aka Stories). The entire UI, just like Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp, is eerily identical to Snapchat’s, and you have to wonder, “Where do we draw the line between providing a familiar experience for end-users and creating a desperate clone?”
Skype is for video chats; it’s not where best friends send double-chinned photos or where millennials share their music festival shenanigans. From a company’s perspective, the addition of Snapchat-like features could mean attracting more users. However, from a user’s perspective, the indistinguishable mishmash of Snapchat-wannabe apps means their original, distinctive purposes are slowly becoming lost.
The indistinguishable mishmash of Snapchat-wannabe apps means their original, distinctive purposes are slowly becoming lost.
What’s next? Is Microsoft going to introduce GroupMe Stories? Will we soon be able to send ten-second videos on Telegram? With the latest update to Skype, perhaps it’s time to say enough is enough.
Is all the senseless copying hurting Snapchat?
Probably the more interesting question here is whether these stolen Snapchat features on other apps have hurt Snapchat itself, and it looks like the answer could be yes. As I previously discussed, the number of downloads for Snapchat dropped dramatically in August 2016, right around when Instagram Stories first launched. The number stayed relatively low until the beginning of November 2016 when it introduced World Lenses.
Although Facebook’s other apps haven’t yet enjoyed the boom that Instagram has, the likelihood is that Snapchat users will continue to migrate to Instagram as those two apps probably have the largest shared audience.
What Snapchat must confront, however, is the challenge of attracting a broader audience.
That doesn’t mean we will see Snapchat’s demise any time soon. Its more intimate and private nature as well as the vast celebrity users will continue to attract more users. What Snapchat must confront, however, is the challenge of attracting a broader audience. Facebook and its apps already have an eclectic range of users, from millennials to 90-something year-olds; Snapchat, on the other hand, seems exclusively focused on a certain age group and a certain socioeconomic sector. In an age where major companies are out to bury Snapchat by baking its features right into their own messaging apps, Snapchat will certainly have a harder time surviving by merely existing.
Have you used the new Skype app? What are your thoughts on companies trying to copy Snapchat? Do you still use Snapchat? Let us know in the comments below!
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For the third consecutive season, a smashing success of a regular season for the Seattle Sounders ended in a disappointing playoff exit.
Seattle finished with the league’s second best record in 2011, won their third straight US Open Cup trophy and successfully navigated through the group stages of the CONCACAF Champions League. But come the MLS Cup Playoffs, it was all for naught as a 3-2 aggregate loss to Real Salt Lake in the Western Conference Semifinals is the lasting memory.
But the emergence of Mauro Rosales and Lamar Neagle, alongside the continued excellence of Fredy Montero and Osvaldo Alonso, leaves Seattle looking strong again in 2012. The retirement of Kasey Keller exposed a gaping hole in between the posts, but that should be filled by the signing of Austrian goalkeeper Michael Gspurning.
WATCH: Behind the scenes of Seattle's USOC triumph
Best Moment of the Year
The Sounders already had a 1-0 lead over the Chicago Fire in October’s US Open Cup final, courtesy of Fredy Montero’s 77th-minute tally. But Alonso’s mazy run-and-finish through the exhausted Fire defense deep into extra time provided the elegant coup de grace in Seattle’s third consecutive USOC triumph.
Worst Moment of the Year
Watching Steve Zakuani go down to a broken leg in April thanks to Brian Mullan’s harsh challenge was gruesome and tough to take for all fans of MLS. The winger is targeting a return to competitive action in March, 11 months after the incident. The MLS universe united in near-unanimous disdain toward Mullan’s retaliatory tackle, which came moments after the Rapids player felt he was the victim of a no-call.
Best Goal
In a year full of goals – 56 in the regular season – Neagle’s improbable game-winner against Sporting Kansas City on Aug. 6 takes the cake. Seattle clawed back from a 1-0 deficit in sweltering 90-degree conditions, with Neagle scoring the second of Seattle’s two stoppage-time goals for a 2-1 victory.
WATCH: Keller's amazing quadruple-stop on SJ
Best Save
Even at age 41, Keller didn’t show many signs of rust as he earned the league’s Save of the Week award six times in 2011. But his quadruple-save against San Jose in his final regular-season game at CenturyLink Field in front of more than 64,000 tops the list. Keller stymied Khari Stephenson, Chris Wondolowski and Simon Dawkins in quick succession.
Team MVP
What will this team do without Keller? Sounders fans will find out in March. The omnipresent goalkeeper and Washington native hung up his cleats after playing 119 of the franchise’s 130 competitive matches. Certainly, several others deserve to be in the conversation for Most Valuable Player on a very well-balanced team. But Keller’s steady influence as team captain and professional demeanor on the training ground and on the field set the tone for the franchise.
Best Newcomer
Rosales was a revelation in his first season in MLS. The former Argentine international signed with Seattle for a bargain-basement cap number, helping the Sounders to second place in the regular-season standings with five goals and 13 assists. The 2011 MLS Newcomer of the Year reportedly got a big bump in pay with the new contract he signed this week – there’s no player on the roster more deserving.
Offseason Needs
1. Reinforce the right back position: The club struggled all year to find a suitable backup to James Riley at right back. The minutes laid on the 29-year-old may have showed in the first playoff match against Real Salt Lake, when the veteran struggled. With Riley lost in the Expansion Draft, do-it-all defender Zach Scott is really his only replacement. Finding a right back who is comfortable with the ball and can join the attack is one of Seattle’s offseason to-dos.
2. Replace the surface: It’s doubtful any players – home or visiting – will be sad to see the CenturyLink Field turf go. The artificial surface the Sounders share with the Seattle Seahawks is in dire need of replacement, which will occur in February. The hard rain during the Sounders’ home game against Portland in May hampered Seattle’s passing attack, helping the Timbers escape with a 1-1 draw.
3. Allow younger players to become leaders: Many veteran voices left this team in the offseason. Keller retired, while 30-somethings Pat Noonan and Nate Jaqua were lost in the MLS Re-Entry Draft. Riley, who was always the first to come to the aid of a teammate during an on-field dispute, is also gone. If this team is to continue its strong form, players like Brad Evans and Montero must be step into leadership positions. The selection of the club captain in early 2012 will be important in setting the tone for the upcoming season.
WATCH: Seattle's 2011 Goals
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Central Florida is taking allegations of potential N.C.A.A. violations raised in a New York Times article “very seriously,” according to a statement released by the university. A highly rated recruit, Kevin Ware, said that Central Florida used an intermediary, Kenneth Caldwell, to help recruit him, even arranging three-way telephone calls with Coach Donnie Jones when coaches were prohibited from contact with recruits. Caldwell has an extensive criminal record and ties to a prominent sport agent, though Caldwell denies working for an agent.
“Our review of this matter began immediately upon receiving notice,” said Joe Hornstein, a university spokesman. “It is premature for us to provide comment regarding these allegations at this time, without having the opportunity to thoroughly and completely review the facts.”
¶ George Mason hired the former Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt to replace Jim Larranaga. Hewitt was fired by the Yellow Jackets in March. He went 190-162 over 11 years and was 72-104 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Larranaga recently left to become the coach at the University of Miami. (AP)
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Image copyright Reuters Image caption In videos and on stage, Billie Eilish always covers up in loose clothes
Billie Eilish has complained about a magazine cover that portrayed her as a shirtless, bald cyborg, saying she "did not consent" to the image "in any way".
The singer was featured in Nylon Germany as one of three "digital prodigies" who are "redefining the future of being a teen superstar".
The cover art, designed by Marcel C Wilkens, depicted her as a "supernatural fembot of the future".
Writing on Instagram, Eilish said she was angry not to have been consulted.
"I was never approached by Nylon about this piece whatsoever," she said. "I did not know it was happening nor did anyone on my team."
Eilish, who has said she wears loose-fitting clothes on stage and in her videos to avoid being sexualised, was particularly aggrieved that the digitally-created image showed her apparently topless.
"You're gonna make a picture of me shirtless?" she wrote. "That's not real?? At 17? And make it the cover????
"Even if the picture was supposed to look like some robot version of me... I did not consent in any way."
Eilish is one of 2019's biggest break-out stars, topping the charts in 19 countries, including the UK and US, with her goth-pop debut album When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go.
'Honouring Billie's impact'
The teenager has previously told NME: "There's people out there saying: 'Dress like a girl for once! Wear tight clothes you'd be much prettier and your career would be so much better' No it wouldn't. It literally would not.
"That's why I wear baggy clothes," she said in a separate interview for Calvin Klein. "Nobody can have an opinion because they haven't seen what's underneath."
In a statement, Nylon said it had only meant to celebrate the singer's achievements.
"It was never our intention to create a look that is confusing or insulting to Billie Eilish," it said. "It was only ever our intention to honour Billie's impact and her work by creating this avatar which is part of a cover series highlighting the power of digital prodigy artists.
"This avatar is a piece of 3D artwork created in dedication to her achievements and the positive effect she has had on millions around the globe - including us."
Control over image
Eilish is not the first star to complain about becoming a cover star without permission.
In 2017, Stormzy took the NME to task for putting him on the cover of an issue dedicated to discussing mental health.
Although he had talked openly about his depression in the past, the magazine had not conducted a fresh interview. "I've no issue with sharing my story but, with my permission!" wrote Stormzy on Twitter.
Despite such complaints, the actions of Nylon Germany and NME are not uncommon in the publishing industry. A celebrity doesn't have to give consent to be featured on a magazine cover, and editors frequently commission portraits to illustrate the themes of a profile.
The debate over how the press portrays celebrities has been intensifying for several years, as stars increasingly prefer to curate their own images directly on social media.
Follow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.
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Bareme Rádio - Disponível a primeira vaga de 2018 Bareme Rádio - Disponível a primeira vaga de 2018 Já está disponível a vaga de fevereiro, e primeira de 2018, do estudo Bareme Rádio da Marktest. De acordo com os dados divulgados Marktest relativos à primeira vaga de 2018 (fevereiro), do estudo Bareme Rádio, 76.7% dos residentes no Continente com 15 e mais anos ouviu rádio pelo menos uma vez por semana e 53.7% fê-lo na véspera. Por Grupos de estações, o Grupo Media Capital Rádios assegurou 37.2% de share de audiência, 45.3% de reach semanal e 23.7% de audiência acumulada de véspera. As estações do Grupo Renascença Multimédia registaram 35.8% de share de audiência, 46.1% de reach semanal e 23.5% de audiência acumulada de véspera. As estações do Grupo RTP obtiveram 9.1% de share de audiência, um reach semanal de 13.2% e 6.7% de audiência acumulada de véspera. A TSF registou 2.6% de share de audiência, com 6.7% de reach semanal e 2.3% de audiência acumulada de véspera. Confira os resultados desta vaga: A análise tem como base os resultados da vaga de fevereiro de 2018 do estudo Bareme Rádio da Marktest, que analisa o comportamento dos residentes no Continente, com 15 e mais anos, relativamente ao meio rádio. Contacte-nos para mais informações sobre este assunto.
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Work of Art type TV Show
Finally, the second season of Work of Art: The Next Great Artist has arrived on Bravo, and with it, the Sucklord. Work of Art must have thought it died and went to heaven when this guy strolled in, disfiguring stormtrooper dolls and calling it art. The Sucklord — real name: Morgan Phillips — is a 42-year-old artist/huckster in the tradition of Jeff Koons who looks a bit like Jimmy Fallon doing an impersonation of a gelled twit. With this guy around, everyone becomes an inadvertent comedian. When another contestant, Michelle, said in the opening moments, “I don’t want to be the one who sucks” — well, Lordy, supply your own just-look-to-your-right punchline.
The first challenge of the season was to take a piece of kitschy, garage-sale amateur art and “transform it into something that has your own style in it.” This was a poor choice to start off the series, since it actually raised more art questions than it asked. Work of Art invited us to sneer at an array of sentimental sculptures and near-outsider-art paintings as, as various contestants said, “junk” or “garbage.” Only (wouldn’t you know it) the Sucklord appreciated this stuff on its own terms — as expressions of genuine passion on the part of untalented but sincere artists. Or as the Sucklord said of his choice, a garish painting of The Lord of the Rings‘ Gandalf, “This picture is already perfect.” And it was, on its own stunted terms.
We were able to get a fix on some of the 14 artists on the basis of a combination of the challenge, the show’s introductory filmed bios, and the artists’ catty comments about one another. For instance:
• Jazz-Minh was raised on a “hippie commune” and is therefore pegged as a ditzy free spirit; beware of countercultural stereotypes.
• Bayete chose a painting of Scarlett O’Hara and chose to make an African-American mirror image of the Southern belle; he glued dollar bills around the canvas and tried to pass it off as an example of “cultural hybridity.”
• Lola is “this sprightly sexpot,” said one opponent. In other words, this season’s Jaclyn Santos. They wish.
• Kathryn, who in her own time makes three-dimensional gush that looks like bloody cow intestines — excuse me, “visceral tableaux out of dough and jelly.”
• Tewz, the “street artist” seen spray-painting graffiti and groaning “I don’t really, like, do sculpture,” which is this show’s version of Top Chef’s “I don’t do desserts” — i.e., the what-the-hell-are-you-thinking-of-course-you’re-going-to-be-asked-to-make-some-sculpture-wise-up-jerk-and-come-prepared contestant.
• Michelle, who came on all gee-golly but demonstrated some serious paper-cutting-and-pasting chops in her intricate, sophisticated audition-tape work.
• Dusty, an Arkansas elementary-school art teacher who made a very cute self-portrait out of raised Crayola crayons to qualify for this show. I was gravely disappointed that Dusty chose as his kitsch piece a paint-by-numbers portrait of a clown that was clearly the comedian Ed Wynn, but not one person on Work of Art knew enough to point this out.
• Leon, who, I’m sorry, but given the way he was presented, will, until he distinguishes himself more, inevitably be referred to initially as the deaf artist with the interpreter.
• Ugo, the French guy who’s very good-looking but who forgot to put an H in the front of his name.
• The Sucklord explained both his choice of objet de schlock (“The Lord of the Rings is sort of a religious text for me”) and his name: “the suckiness, which is my self-deprecating, misanthropic side, and the lord, which is my megalomaniacal, self-aggrandizing side.” His biggest surprise: Some of his work has been bought and auctioned off by Work of Art “mentor” Simon de Pury. The guy’s legit. Or as legit as you need to be to live in New York City and get Simon to simper over your work.
Whoever I left out hasn’t made an impression yet.
During the final “crit” session, we were reintroduced to the judging panel of hostess-with-the-mostest China Chow, New York magazine art critic Jerry Saltz, and Bill Powers; the guest judge was the photographer Mary Ellen Mark.
The judges were quick to decide whose piece they liked best. Michelle’s The Eternal Woodsman had a witty delicacy that contrasted nicely with the stolid piece of kitsch she personalized and “transformed.” It was a worthy winner.
In the bottom three were Ugo, Bayete, and the Sucklord. Everyone from the contestants to the judges had been dismissing Ugo’s painted drawing as too similar to work by Keith Haring. Nobody was buying Bayete’s racially charged but slapdash mess as “complex” (“Just because the topic is complex doesn’t mean your piece is complex,” sneered Powers). And the Sucklord did not help himself (but completely won me over) by responding to Saltz’s simple question about what was original about his work by answering, “Wow, you really got me there. I think I might die here.”
But as cute as he is, Ugo was dismissed from Work of Art. Personally, I thought Bayete’s piece was a tad more banal. And the way the hour was edited, the Sucklord received a greater degree of vehement criticism for his lack of originality. But Mary Ellen Mark said with equal force that the modified Gandalf “spoke” to her. (What did it say? “Look at me.”)
And thus the Sucklord was permitted to coin his own catchphrase in bidding adieu to Ugo — “It sucks for all of us” — and add with casual menace, “I’m a super-villain and better him than me.”
Is it, though? What did you think of Work of Art‘s season premiere? And where do you stand on the Sucklord: Lord of the Zings, or Trying Too Hard?
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Article content continued
“But the benefits of removing them as a safety measure certainly offset that inconvenience.”
According to the city, 55 slides in playgrounds it operates have been removed. The Calgary Catholic School District has had 25 affected, with another 20 in playgrounds operated by the Calgary Board of Education.
Blair said slides in Edmonton and Lethbridge have also been removed. A recall notice from Health Canada said 161 of the affected slides were sold in Canada.
Due to Alberta’s high ratio, Blair said the city has asked the distributor of the equipment to supply at least half of the 25 slides produced monthly by Playworld to this province, but are still waiting on an answer.
“It’s going to take some time to get things covered,” he said.
“They’re anticipating this process won’t end until the end of the year.”
According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the affected slides were produced and distributed to parks, schools and municipalities between November 2000 to October 2016. The slides, which are being replaced free of charge, ranged in price from US$1,500 to $4,000.
The recall order said in some cases the weld between the slide wall and bedway can crack and separate, potentially allowing a child’s fingers or hands to become stuck, creating an amputation hazard.
Health Canada reported as of January there had been no reports of any injuries on the slides in Canada.
Blair said while some families may be disappointed by the absence of the slides at some parks, the city maintains some 1,100 playgrounds, so there are other options for kids seeking out sliding adventures.
In 2015, a south-facing slide at St. Patrick’s Island park was fenced off after a report through the city’s 311 call centre that a child was burned while sliding.
slogan@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @ShawnLogan403
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MUNICH — The stumbling effort by Germany’s auto giants to embrace electric cars has entrepreneurs taking matters into their own hands.
German car manufacturers are gradually joining the race to swap combustion engines for batteries, jolted into action by Tesla’s success and the European Union’s recent decision to tighten carbon dioxide emission rules for cars.
Yet they are still lagging behind: Germany looks set to miss its goal of having 1 million electric cars on the road by 2020, as well as undershooting its overall emissions targets for next year.
The German government, which is reportedly considering extending its €4,000 subsidy for buyers of electric cars, is urging manufacturers to step up their efforts. At the German car industry association’s annual New Year’s reception last month, Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer called on the hosts to develop more affordable electric car models.
Germany needs an “electric Beetle effect,” Scheuer added, referring to the Volkswagen car that became a symbol of the German postwar economic boom.
“No one believed us academics ... So we built a prototype, but people still didn’t believe it. I couldn’t accept that, and that’s how I came to found a startup” — Günther Schuh, founder of startup e.Go
As traditional carmakers scramble to catch up, a handful of startups are racing ahead to kick off the Verkehrswende, Germany’s much-anticipated shift to sustainable transport.
In Aachen, near the border with France, university professor Günther Schuh founded the startup e.Go in 2015. This March, the company will begin production on an affordable electric car, the compact four-seater e.Go Life.
Schuh credits the German car industry’s sluggishness with turning him into an entrepreneur.
In 2010, he and his students at Aachen University developed a concept for a small electric delivery truck to explore whether producing an affordable electric vehicle was possible. Established carmakers did not take the idea seriously, he said.
“No one believed us academics,” Schuh said. “So we built a prototype, but people still didn’t believe it. I couldn’t accept that, and that’s how I came to found a startup.”
The truck, dubbed StreetScooter, was a hit: it was eventually bought by Germany’s postal service Deutsche Post, which plans to ramp up production.
In Munich, meanwhile, a team of young entrepreneurs has developed a solar-powered electric car. Their startup, Sono Motors, began as a garage experiment in 2012 but has since become a company employing some 100 people.
A prototype of their car, the Sion, is parked outside the company offices. Its surface is covered with solar panels; other features include an air purifying system made from moss. They also plan to integrate car-sharing software into every Sion.
The Sion’s electric battery provides up to 250 kilometers in range, according to Sono Motors. The integrated solar cells can give an added boost of up to 30 kilometers depending on weather conditions.
While 30 kilometers might not sound like much, it covers the average commuting distance in Germany, said co-founder Laurin Hahn. On a sunny day, the car could recharge itself while the driver is at work.
The founders say that more than 9,000 people have paid a downpayment on a Sion, which is scheduled to go into production later this year.
“We need startups to make transport sustainable,” said co-founder Jona Christians. “We can push ahead much faster in areas like e-mobility because we don’t come with the baggage that large manufacturers have.”
Cost concerns
Yet being a small player in the car industry also has its challenges. Last year, Sono Motors announced that the Sion’s price would have to rise from €20,000 to €25,500 as the battery cost had increased.
Schuh, the professor turned entrepreneur, noted that startups often pay more for auto parts than established firms, as they buy in smaller quantities.
“Making an electric car isn’t an art. Making one that’s affordable is,” he said. “And that’s difficult for startups because they’re at a disadvantage when buying parts.”
Schuh’s e.Go Life will start at €15,900 including the battery, a comparatively cheap price for an electric car, but it features a shorter range of 120 kilometers to 180 kilometers.
Financing remains a major issue for German car startups: Schuh said that he was only able to get e.Go off the ground thanks to the profit from selling StreetScooter to Deutsche Post.
“I don’t think startups can compete against traditional car manufacturers. It’s incredibly difficult and requires billions of investment" — Markus Lienkamp, professor of automotive technology at the Technical University of Munich
“We have a huge obstacle in Germany and that’s access to capital. You’ll get the first €100,000 and the next €3-€5 million of venture capital, but €20 million or more is difficult,” he said. “That stops big ideas in their tracks.”
The risk-averse behavior of German investors worries Christian Hochfeld, director of Berlin-based sustainable transport think tank Agora Verkehrswende. He believes the lack of investment in startups is hampering innovation in the transport sector.
“New companies are mainly emerging in California or China, where large amounts of venture capital — or state capital, in China’s case — are spent on mobility solutions,” he said. “We need that to change if Germany wants to keep up.”
Yet given the vast amounts of investment required, some are skeptical that startups can play a major role in the electric car sector once large manufacturers catch up.
After their slow start, Germany's iconic carmakers are now throwing vast quantities of cash at electric vehicles.
Volkswagen says it will invest €44 billion to develop electric cars and more for batteries; it aims to be making 3 million electric vehicles a year across all its brands by 2025. BMW recently announced it would invest €200 million to expand a Munich electric car factory, while also spending €4 billion on batteries. Daimler is spending €1 billion globally on battery production.
That doesn't leave much space for newcomers.
Markus Lienkamp, professor of automotive technology at the Technical University of Munich, currently oversees a startup at his faculty: an electric car intended for developing countries.
Dubbed the aCar, the small flatbed truck is designed for rural terrain with little infrastructure. A prototype, dusty from test drives in Ghana, stands in the faculty garage; production is due to start next year.
Lienkamp believes the project can succeed, as the startup plugs a gap in the market — therefore avoiding competition with large firms — and keeps costs as low as possible by using off-the-shelf parts.
In the mass market, however, he sees few opportunities for car startups.
Producing a car, from design to crash testing, is an expensive business. As small firms pay more for parts and equipment, most startups would struggle to sell their cars at a competitive price, Lienkamp said.
“I don’t think startups can compete against traditional car manufacturers. It’s incredibly difficult and requires billions of investment,” he said. Tesla, he added, was a rare exception.
Lienkamp speaks from experience. Beside the aCar prototype, the faculty garage also houses an electric car called the Visio.M, a sleek two-seater.
When the university presented the car prototype in 2014, it made headlines. The Visio.M was not only lighter but also far cheaper than other models available at the time, projected to sell for about €16,000.
The engineering team was ready to go into serial development, but Lienkamp calculated that such a move would require €1 billion — more than any manufacturer or investor was prepared to give.
Five years on, the Visio.M is still unlikely to enter the market. Nevertheless, Lienkamp believes the project fulfilled its purpose: provoking Germany’s car giants into action.
“After that, car manufacturers had no more excuses. If even a university manages to build an affordable electric car, they cannot say it’s too difficult,” Lienkamp said.
“That’s the role of universities and start-ups,” he added. “To annoy the car industry long enough until they change their ways.”
This article is from POLITICO Pro: POLITICO’s premium policy service. To discover why thousands of professionals rely on Pro every day, email pro@politico.eu for a complimentary trial.
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Blue Anarchy >> The Construction Of The Sea Louse
The Sea Louse Begins
I was back in the Bay Area again, squatting an Emeryville warehouse with all the free space that I'd ever dreamed of, having gone from three boats to none. After owning a share of a 55' tripple-masted schooner, then a couple of 30' sloops, and now nothing, I was in serious danger of somehow accumulating another boat. I decided that I'd learn from my mistakes, and that what I really wanted was something very small. Maybe 12 or 13 feet.
The thing about squatting is, you end up with a certain amount of freedom that you're afraid to use. After your fifth eviction, you start to think twice about spending a lot of time on a place, or even painting the walls. The world is full of multi-year squats that still look as bad as they did on the first day, because any day could have been the last. So when I finally found that I had all the space I'd always dreamed of, it was difficult to make myself do anything with it. But the tragedy of it seemed too overwhelming, so I started building a boat -- hoping that I'd finish before we were discovered and kicked out in the middle of the night.
The Plan
Since I didn't have a lot of time (or money), and since I'd never built a boat before, I decided to employ the fastest but least respected form of wooden boat building: stitch and glue. I walked to the bookstore and got a book called "Stitch And Glue Boat Building" that had plans for something called "The Jimmy Skiff." Since I didn't have a lot of tools (or the lifestyle that could really accomodate a lot of tools long-term), I decided that I'd build the whole thing using only hand tools. I got a small Japanese pull-stroke hand saw, a block plane, a rubber mallet, a bit-and-brace screw driver/drill, and some clamps. Nothing large, and no electricity. While I made a lot of mistakes during this process, resolving to use only hand tools was the best decision of the project.
The next day I got four sheets of plywood from the hardware store, and began.
Scarf Joints
My skiff was to be 13ft long, but I was building it out of plywood, and plywood only comes in lengths of 8ft. So the first thing I had to do was turn two peices of 4'x8' plywood into one long peice of 4'x16' plywood. One way to do this is to lay both pieces of plywood on the floor, then line the 4' ends up, and screw in a small piece of 1x4 such that it holds the two pieces of plywood together. This is called a "butt joint."
The problem with butt joints is that they look bad and aren't very sturdy. This is especially true when you're bending the wood, since it won't bend at a constant rate near the joint. One alternative is called a "scarf joint." Essentially, you make two matching diagonal cuts in two peices of wood, such that they fit together and are a constant thickness. While you might be able to do this with a hand saw on a small 2x4, it's more difficult with plywood.
The trick is to lay your plywood on top of each-other, then plane across them until you have a constant slope that's the length of your scarf. When I'd gotten pretty close with the block plane, I put a peice of sand-paper on a scrap piece of 1x4 and sanded it the rest of the way down. This took a while, but at the end of the day I'd discovered a new love in my life, and it was a finely sharpened block plane.
Lofting
After I finished planing out the scarf joint, I flipped one of the pieces of plywood over and lined it up with the planed edge of the other one. From the side, the tapers should match pretty much exactly, so that the thickness of the plywood doesn't change in the area where they're joined. Being my first scarf joint, it wasn't exactly perfect. I mixed some two-part epoxy, slathered it down with glue, and then put some cinder blocks on top of it while I waited for it to dry.
The next day, I sanded down the excess glue, and started lofting. This is the interesting process of transfering the dimensions from a set of plans (whether your own or someone else's) to the scale of your lumber. Since boats are symmetrical, all the measurements are provided from a center line, and one side is just the mirror-image of the other. The plywood I just scarfed was to become the bottom of the boat. The first thing I did was mark the length-wise center of the plywood with a chalk line. The plans I had specified the distance from the center-line to the edge of the bottom in 16inch increments. So every 16 inches, I marked another chalk-line width-wise, then measured the specified distance from the center, and drove in a finishing nail at that point. I was left with a set of finishing nails that approximated the curve of the bottom of the boat.
To get the exact curve, I took a long/thin piece of trim, and bent it across all of the nails. Using clamps to hold it in place, I was able to draw a line along the inside edge of the trim. This was the curve of the boat.
After drawing out the curve on both sides, I removed the finishing nails and made quick work of the cut with my pull-stroke japanese hand saw. While the pull-stroke saw cuts pretty quickly, I found it difficult to get a perfectly straight line. So throughout the process, whenever I needed to cut something, I'd cut it about 1/8in wider then necessary, then plane it down to the exact width.
Stitching
Once I had the bottom cut out, I repeated the process for the side panels: I took my other two sheets of plywood, planed them for a scarf joint, glued them together, then lofted out the side panels. Once I'd cut them, it was time to start stitching the pieces together.
It's called stitch-and-glue construction because the wood pieces are temporarily stitched together with string or bits of wire, then epoxied in place. After the epoxy cures, the stitching is removed and everything's ready.
I had dumpstered a large bag of small plastic zip-ties, so I decided to use those for stitching (which worked quite well). I drilled corresponding 1/8in holes in the very stern and the very head of the floor panel and side panels. I zipped one of the panels on, then bent it out in the middle and marked the place where it matched up with the floor at that point. Then I drilled corresponding holes there, zipped them together, and had my basic shape. To get things exactly right, I went back along the edge, drilled holes and zipped through them every 6 inches. I put on the other panel, finished zipping everything together, and was left with something that had actually started to resemble a boat.
The Stench Of Fiberglass
Fiberglass is not the most pleasant material to work with, and it requires a lot of patience. Once everything was stitched together, I made fiberglass fillets over the interior zip-ties. This consist of mixing fiberglass epoxy with a thickener until you have the consistency of paste, then spreading it evenly across the seam. Before it hardened, I put a layer of fiberglass tape on top of that. Once I'd done that for each seam and they'd all dried, I cut the zip-ties off from the outside, sanded them down as well as I could, and plugged the exterior holes with more epoxy paste. The result was a water-tight hull.
I then cut some more plywood into the shape of a skeg, and fiberlgassed that on to the bottom, as straight as I could get it.
Trim, Daggerboard, and Rudder
Around about this time, I was evicted from the Emeryville squat. It was being demolished, so that they could expand the mall. Nearly defeated, I put my partially-completed boat onto the roof of a friend's truck, and drove at 25mph over the Bay Bridge towards San Francisco, where I moved into another house with an empty driveway.
There, I fashioned up a daggerboard trunk, put strong popular rub-rails on, made a small deck, cut out a folding rudder and tiller, and started painting. It was kind of nice to work on the sidewalk, actually. Neighbors would walk by all day and stop to talk about the boat, ask about its progress, or just shout "lookin good, moxie!"
The Mast
For the mast, I decided I'd just use a long piece of 2x2. Everyone who saw it looked at it and said "that's too thin." And they were right.
The Tyvek Sail
The only thing that remained was a sail. I decided to follow Bill Wallace's excellent instructions for making a Tyvek sail, and started looking for Tyvek. It's incredibly expensive to buy, so I just rode my bike around until I found a house that was under construction and had visible Tyvek. I walked in, told the fellow doing the work that I was a boat builder in need of a sail, and he handed me a roll of Tyvek right there. It was a 12' wide roll, so I was able to make my whole sail out of one panel.
I didn't have access to a lofting setup, but one of the roommates in my new house had just moved out, so in the day where the room was completely empty but the new roommate hadn't moved in yet, I layed out and cut the sail. It definitely took me a while to remember the appropriate trigonometry.
Following Bill Wallace's instructions, I then re-inforced and grommetted the corners. I decided on a lace-up style lashing, and put grommets all along the luff for it.
Setting Sail
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Chris Long, retired NFL player and crucially important part of the Eagles’ first-ever Super Bowl, appeared on the Dan Patrick Show on Wednesday just days after announcing his retirement.
It’s clear that Long, who has often been an advocate for progressive policies in the league, as well as in the world around him, isn’t going to spend his retirement time being quiet.
Long and Patrick talked about recreational marijuana use, and the usage of marijuana league-wide. Long said he used his “fair share” of marijuana on a regular basis, and also offered up his point of view as someone who spent years across a number of locker rooms.
The whole segment is worth a watch:
Long’s public stance comes a day after the NFL’s chief medical officer, Allen Sills, told Boston.com that the league’s pain management committee has been asked to bring the league suggestions, saying the NFL will “look at marijuana” for pain relief.
Long, who won the league's prestigious Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award in 2018 for his humanitarian efforts, thinks it’s a no-brainer.
“I think, from a standpoint of what’s safer for the people and the player, and certainly people in the spotlight, it is far less harmful than alcohol,” Long said Wednesday. “It is far less harmful than tobacco. And at various points in the league’s history, they have engaged in partnerships with those respective industries.
“I think — I’m not a dry snitch, I’m not going to put a percentage on how much the league smokes, but I certainly enjoyed my fair share on a regular basis throughout my career. I was never afraid to say that, but I’m able to say it more explicitly now. Listen, if not for that, I’m not as capable of coping with the stressors of day-to-day NFL life. A lot of guys get a lot of pain management out of it.”
Marijuana has seen numerous studies in the past five years examine its efficacy in pain-relief. A 2016 research paper, for example, found that marijuana use for cancer pain led to a 64% reduction in opioid use, and led to participants using fewer medications, along with improving general quality of life.
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Alasdair MacIntyre once quipped that “facts, like telescopes and wigs for gentlemen, were a seventeenth-century invention.” Something similar can be said about sexual orientation: Heterosexuals, like typewriters and urinals (also, obviously, for gentlemen), were an invention of the 1860s. Contrary to our cultural preconceptions and the lies of what has come to be called “orientation essentialism,” “straight” and “gay” are not ageless absolutes. Sexual orientation is a conceptual scheme with a history, and a dark one at that. It is a history that began far more recently than most people know, and it is one that will likely end much sooner than most people think.
Over the course of several centuries, the West had progressively abandoned Christianity’s marital architecture for human sexuality. Then, about one hundred and fifty years ago, it began to replace that longstanding teleological tradition with a brand new creation: the absolutist but absurd taxonomy of sexual orientations. Heterosexuality was made to serve as this fanciful framework’s regulating ideal, preserving the social prohibitions against sodomy and other sexual debaucheries without requiring recourse to the procreative nature of human sexuality.
On this novel account, same-sex sex acts were wrong not because they spurn the rational-animal purpose of sex—namely the family—but rather because the desire for these actions allegedly arises from a distasteful psychological disorder. As queer theorist Hanne Blank recounts, “This new concept [of heterosexuality], gussied up in a mangled mix of impressive-sounding dead languages, gave old orthodoxies a new and vibrant lease on life by suggesting, in authoritative tones, that science had effectively pronounced them natural, inevitable, and innate.”
Sexual orientation has not provided the dependable underpinning for virtue that its inventors hoped it would, especially lately. Nevertheless, many conservative-minded Christians today feel that we should continue to enshrine the gay–straight divide and the heterosexual ideal in our popular catechesis, since that still seems to them the best way to make our moral maxims appear reasonable and attractive.
These Christian compatriots of mine are wrong to cling so tightly to sexual orientation, confusing our unprecedented and unsuccessful apologia for chastity with its eternal foundation. We do not need “heteronormativity” to defend against debauchery. On the contrary, it is just getting in our way.
Michel Foucault, an unexpected ally, details the pedigree of sexual orientation in his History of Sexuality. Whereas “sodomy” had long identified a class of actions, suddenly for the first time, in the second half of the nineteenth century, the term “homosexual” appeared alongside it. This European neologism was used in a way that would have struck previous generations as a plain category mistake, designating not actions, but people—and so also with its counterpart and foil “heterosexual.”
Psychiatrists and legislators of the mid- to late-1800s, Foucault recounts, rejected the classical convention in which the “perpetrator” of sodomitical acts was “nothing more than the juridical subject of them.” With secular society rendering classical religious beliefs publicly illegitimate, pseudoscience stepped in and replaced religion as the moral foundation for venereal norms. To achieve secular sexual social stability, the medical experts crafted what Foucault describes as “a natural order of disorder.”
“The nineteenth-century homosexual became a personage,” “a type of life,” “a morphology,” Foucault writes. This perverted psychiatric identity, elevated to the status of a mutant “life form” in order to safeguard polite society against its disgusting depravities, swallowed up the entire character of the afflicted: “Nothing that went into [the homosexual’s] total composition was unaffected by his sexuality. It was everywhere present in him: at the root of all his actions because it was their insidious and indefinitely active principle.”
The imprudent aristocrats encouraging these medical innovations changed the measure of public morality, substituting religiously colored human nature with the secularly safer option of individual passion. In doing so, they were forced also to trade the robust natural law tradition for the recently constructed standard of “psychiatric normality,” with “heterosexuality” serving as the new normal for human sexuality. Such a vague standard of normality, unsurprisingly, offered far flimsier support for sexual ethics than did the classical natural law tradition.
But emphasizing this new standard did succeed in cementing these categories of hetero- and homosexuality in the popular imagination. “Homosexuality appeared as one of the forms of sexuality,” Foucault writes, “when it was transposed from the practice of sodomy onto a kind of interior androgyny, a hermaphrodism of the soul. The sodomite had been a temporary aberration; the homosexual was now a species.” Sexual orientation, then, is nothing more than a fragile social construct, and one constructed terribly recently.
While our popular culture has not caught up— yet—the queer theorists increasingly calling the shots at the elite level already agree with Foucault on this point. Such thinkers echo Gore Vidal’s LGBT-heretical line: “Actually, there is no such thing as a homosexual person, any more than there is such a thing as a heterosexual person.” True, the firm natural division between the two identities has proven useful to the “gay rights” activists on the ground, and not least of all for the civil-rights-era ethos such power dynamics conjure up. But most queer theorists—and, for that matter, most academics throughout the humanities and the social/behavioral disciplines today—will readily concede that such distinctions are fledgling constructs and not much more. Many in this camp aim to expose the counterfeit credentials of sexual orientation and, taking a page from Nietzsche, to genealogically explain it away once and for all.
Jonathan Ned Katz, a historian of sexuality on the radical left who has previously taught at both Yale and New York University, nicely captures the contemporary queer-theory consensus in The Invention of Heterosexuality , where he explains, “I speak of heterosexuality’s historical invention to contest head-on our usual assumption of an eternal heterosexuality, to suggest the unstable, relative, and historical status of an idea and a sexuality we usually assume were carved long ago in stone.” As he goes on to argue, “Contrary to today’s bio-belief, the heterosexual/homosexual binary is not in nature, but is socially constructed, therefore deconstructable.”
My own prediction is that we will see this binary thoroughly deconstructed within our lifetimes. But in my view, we proponents of Christian chastity should see the impending doom of the gay–straight divide not as a tragedy, but as an opportunity. More than that, I want to suggest that we should do our best to encourage the dissolution of orientation within our own subcultural spheres wherever possible.
Of course, given our immersion in a culture for which these categories seem as connatural as the English language, uprooting them from our vocabulary and worldview will not be anything like a simple task. So why bother? As long as we do not succumb to sinful acts, why does it matter if people—even we Christians—continue to identify as homosexuals or heterosexuals?
First of all, within orientation essentialism, the distinction between heterosexuality and homosexuality is a construct that is dishonest about its identity as a construct. These classifications masquerade as natural categories, applicable to all people in all times and places according to the typical objects of their sexual desires (albeit with perhaps a few more options on offer for the more politically correct categorizers). Claiming to be not simply an accidental nineteenth-century invention but a timeless truth about human sexual nature, this framework puts on airs, deceiving those who adopt its labels into believing that such distinctions are worth far more than they really are.
A second reason to doubt whether this schema is one that we Christians should readily use is that its introduction into our sexual discourse has not noticeably increased the virtues—intellectual or moral—of those who employ its concepts. On the contrary, it has bred both intellectual obscurity and moral disarray.
As to the former, orientation essentialism has made ethical philosophy in this realm all but impossible: It has displaced the old marital-procreative principles of chastity without offering any alternative that is not entirely arbitrary. The older teleological view measured morality against man’s rational-animal nature; in the sexual realm, this meant evaluating sex acts by reference to the common good of marriage, which integrated spousal union and the bearing and rearing of children. The newer heteronormative system, on the other hand, cannot account for the wickedness of same-sex sodomy by reference to anything but a conditioned and unprincipled gag reflex, and one which, left unjustified, has weakened considerably over time.
As to the latter result, moral disarray, the orientation takeover has counterproductively shifted our everyday attention from objective purposes to subjective passions. Young people, for instance, now regularly find themselves agonizing over their sexual identity, navel-gazing in an attempt to discern their place in this allegedly natural Venn diagram of orientations. Such obsessions generate far more heat than light, and focus already sexually excited adolescents on discerning extraneous dimensions of their own sexual makeup. This self-searching becomes even more needlessly distressing for those who discern in themselves a “homosexual orientation,” as they adopt an identity distinguished essentially by a set of sexual desires that cannot morally be fulfilled.
There is a third reason this categorization should be disposed of, this one theological: It is at odds with the freedom for which Christ set us free. My future prior in religious life, Fr. Hugh Barbour of the Norbertine Fathers, has expanded on this idea in an essay in Chronicles Magazine , entitled “Do Homosexuals Exist? Or, Where Do We Go from Here?” As Fr. Prior argues, “Traditional moral theology evaluated acts, and did not generalize so unsatisfyingly about the tendencies that lead to these acts. That was left to the casuistry of occasions of sin, and to spiritual direction. If the sin is theft, then is the standard of evaluation kleptomania? If drunkenness, alcoholism? If sloth, clinical depression?” Even orthodox Christians, he writes,
have given in to the custom of treating sexual inclinations as identities. Pastorally, we are meant to preach the freedom whereby Christ has made us free. In treating the sin of sodomy as a prima facie proof of an identity, are we not, in the guise of compassion and sensitivity, helping bind the sinner to his sinful inclination, and so laying on him a burden that is too great to bear without perhaps moving a finger to lift it?
Self-describing as a “homosexual” tends to multiply occasions of sin for those who adopt the label—provoking, in Prior’s words, an unnecessary “dramatization of the temptation.” Whereas the infusion of the theological virtues sets the Christian free, identifying as homosexual only further enslaves the sinner. It intensifies lust, a sad distortion of love, by amplifying the apparent significance of concupiscent desires. It fosters a despairing self-pity, harming hope, which is meant to motivate moral virtues. And it encourages a strong sense of entitlement, which often undermines the obedience of faith by demanding the overthrow of doctrines that seem to repress “who I really am.”
There are a handful of laudable counterexamples to this discouraging pattern, self-identified “gay Christians” who are both virtuous and faithful to the teachings of the Church. But given the inherent tension between the classical Christian narrative and the modern sexual-orientation account, it should come as no surprise that the praiseworthy outliers who try to combine these two inconsonant traditions are the exception rather than the rule.
Baptizing the homosexual identity is fraught with preventable perils. And yet, when it comes to the gravest evil effected by the sexual-orientation binary, homosexuality is not the culprit. Heterosexuality is—not, of course, as though we can have one without the other. The most pernicious aspect of the orientation-identity system is that it tends to exempt heterosexuals from moral evaluation. If homosexuality binds us to sin, heterosexuality blinds us to sin.
There is no question that some morally self-aware “heterosexuals” exist. Nevertheless, as a general rule, identifying as a heterosexual person today amounts to declaring oneself a member of the “normal group,” against which all deviant sexual desires and attractions and temptations are to be measured. Such hetero-identification thus ushers in a pathetically uncritical and—hopefully it goes without saying—unmerited self-assurance, not to mention an inaccurate measure for evaluating temptation.
Of course, we do have a model norm for the evaluation of sexual deviancy. But that model is not heterosexuality. It is Christ Jesus himself, the God-man who both perfected human nature and perfectly exemplified its perfection, “one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” For the self-declared heterosexual to displace our Lord in this position is the height of folly.
It is true that homosexuality may be distinguished by an inappropriate despair, accepting sinful inclinations as identity-constituting and thereby implicitly rejecting the freedom bought for us by the blood of Christ. But heterosexuality, in its pretensions to act as the norm for assessing our sexual customs, is marked by something even worse: pride, which St. Thomas Aquinas classifies as the queen of all vices.
There are practical reasons to be wary of heterosexuality as well. Because our post-Freudian world associates all physical attraction and interpersonal affection with genital erotic desire, intimate same-sex friendship and a chaste appreciation for the beauty of one’s own sex have become all but impossible to achieve. (Freud, by the way, was one of the most influential architects of the vicious orientation-essentialist myth.)
For “heterosexuals” in particular, getting close to a friend of the same sex ends up seeming perverse, and being moved by his or her beauty feels queer. To avoid being mistaken for gay, these days many self-proclaimed straight people—men especially—settle for superficial associations with their comrades and reserve the sort of costly intimacy that once characterized such chaste same-sex relationships for their romantic partners alone. Their ostensibly normal sexual orientation cheats them out of an essential aspect of human flourishing: deep friendship.
The earliest usages of the term “heterosexuality” give further reason to doubt whether we should celebrate the idea too enthusiastically. It is true that even in the late nineteenth century, sometimes the label was employed merely to denote “normal-sex.” This is, of course, how we still tend to use “heterosexual” today, which I am arguing is tragically confused.
But another prominent meaning of the term around the time of its invention, including its first recorded usage in English in 1892, continues to inform our warped conception of human sexuality, even though this secondary definition has since fallen out of fashion. In its alternative definition, the word designated not “normal-sex,” but rather a different brand of deviant sex, like its homosexual counterpart in its disregard for procreation but made distinct by the typical object of its lustful inclinations.
The unfortunate history of “heterosexual” we have chosen to forget is that this word came into the English language as a label for a perverted sexual disorder that delighted in sterile sex acts. Usually such desires were for those of the opposite sex, but even that line was blurry, because as it turned out, once the generative purpose of sex had been severed, it often mattered very little who the heterosexual’s mutual masturbatory partner was.
Our Christian forebears would be shocked at our complacency with sexual orientation. The only reason that this whole program fails to alarm us as it would them is that we have been systematically indoctrinated into it from childhood, especially the young adults among us. But to take an analogue that we do not have such familiarity with, let’s consider how we would react if a different sort of category worked its way into our cultural vocabulary.
Slate recently ran an article entitled “Is Polyamory a Choice?” which argued that, in addition to inclinations toward men or women, there may also be innate and immutable fidelity- and infidelity-constituted sexual orientations. Dan Savage must be so proud.
Imagine if those people who anticipated being most romantically satisfied by committed sexual exclusivity began identifying as “faithfuls,” while those who were usually most excited by the prospect of unbounded sexual promiscuity started identifying as “unfaithfuls.” Would we not find that troubling, especially when Christian men and women began adopting the latter label for themselves, and even offering the fact that they are “unfaithfuls” as a reason not to marry, since they would not be sufficiently fulfilled by the sexual life to which they would be committing themselves via the marital vows?
“Unfaithfulness” is obviously playing the role of homosexuality in this analogy. But whether we are considering the number of one’s sexual partners or their gender, how can it not shock us when our Christian brethren adopt an identity for themselves that is essentially distinguished from its foil by nothing but a particular brand of temptation to sin? That is the opposite of Christian freedom. Of course, all of us are fallen and tempted and in need of divine assistance. But while we continue to struggle against these sinful temptations, what has been given to us in Christ Jesus is liberation from the shackles of sin that claims us as its own.
We do not belong to our transgressions any longer. So why create identities for ourselves using sin as the standard? I do not care how attractive promiscuity happens to be to you. You are emphatically not “an unfaithful.” Sure, we could socially construct categories that would make speaking that way appear obvious and connatural. But for the Christian to do so, or for him to participate willingly in such a framework once it has been constructed around him, would be severely mistaken.
I am not my sin. I am not my temptation to sin. By the blood of Jesus Christ, I have been liberated from this bondage. I will have all sorts of identities, to be sure, especially in our crazily over-psychoanalytic age. But at the very least, none of these identities should be essentially defined by my attraction to that which separates me from God.
The other side of this Slate-inspired hypothetical brings to light the characteristic evils of heterosexuality. Our justified disapproval of Christians despairingly identifying as “unfaithfuls” notwithstanding, would there not be something even more absurd and vicious in their vaingloriously self-identifying as “faithfuls”? Put it this way: Does the fact that my erotic desires tend to take a single person for their object rather than a vast collective necessarily signify some inherent moral quality on my part? For that matter, does it even signal that my desires are virtuous, or—I think more probably—does it simply indicate that I happen not to be strongly tempted to one of many potential lustful abuses? Like so-called “faithful” folks, “heterosexual” individuals are not paragons of chastity just because they avoid the unchaste pitfall du jour.
However, despite the illogic of it all, “straight people” still tend to receive more societal advantages from their appellation, and thus the dismantling of the orientation schema threatens them far more than it does their “gay” and “lesbian” counterparts. As Jenell Williams Paris of Messiah College writes in her book The End of Sexual Identity, “Grounding sexual ethics in our humanity more than in contemporary sexual identity categories . . . comes at a cost to heterosexuals,” because “it puts them in the game as players instead of umpires.” For that very reason, though, it is self-proclaimed heterosexuals who may prove most effective in leading our chaste charge against sexual orientation, sacrificing their unchristian security blanket of “straightness” for the sake of caritas in veritate.
Yet whether we Christians choose to join the campaign or not, over time, sexual orientation will inevitably fall out of fashion—our choice is simply whether we want to fall out with it. One obvious reason for its unavoidable demise is that feeling is considerably more fickle than those early psychosexual movers and shakers believed. The empirical evidence shows their hard-and-fast categories turn out to be radically insufficient.
A second factor in the inevitable downfall of sexual orientation is that these hetero/homo categories cannot logically ground the sexual norms they were made to support anyway. The original orientation essentialists could not even offer a principled reason to prefer heterosexuality over homosexuality, the linchpin of their position. Left with nothing but inherited sensibilities and arbitrary fiat, their heteronormative measure failed where its procreative predecessor had succeeded for centuries, in offering sound reasons for rules.
Philosophical failure has damned the orientation enterprise throughout its existence. Because the inadequate heteronormative standard left opposite-sex instances of lust entirely untouched, sins previously considered mortal—such as masturbation, pornography, fornication, contraception, and male-female sodomy—were progressively tolerated. Yet with all those injunctions lifted, understandably, it began seeming inconsistent and thus prejudiced to keep insisting on same-sex sodomitical proscriptions. The orientation-essentialist structure, which was meant to be a surefire defense against homosexual debauchery, thereby became the strongest weapon in its arsenal.
Which brings us to the final, perhaps most surprising, reason that sexual orientation will fall: It has nearly exhausted its political utility, which always had an expiration date. The nineteenth-century moral conservatives’ plan for orientation backfired, of course, when what were supposed to be normatively unequal psychiatric conditions evolved into morally indistinguishable psychological identities.
Yet neither does liberalism have much left to glean from it, since, between Romer and Lawrence and Windsor and ENDA, very few “gay rights” issues remain to be settled. Orientation might have a few years’ worth of political capital still, but many progressives already boast that they could discard the absurd natural-categories myth and be just fine, having now initiated an irresistible liberalizing trend that will continue apace with or without it. Sooner or later, the queer theorists’ ivory-tower pronouncements will become cultural orthodoxy as well.
Although I expect many conservative Christian thinkers will find Foucault a strange bedfellow, I want to suggest that our endorsement of the radical left on this subject should be an enthusiastic one, although it must also be carefully circumscribed. In essence, we should happily join our voices to those of the poststructuralist queer theorists in their vigorous critiques of the naive orientation essentialists, who mistakenly think “straight” and “gay” are natural, neutral, and timeless classifications.
Their disillusioned historicism makes these sexual genealogists uniquely positioned to see through the deceptions of sexual orientation, and while we Christians do not need them in some essential sense, nevertheless, in an accidental way, they may prove a great asset to us at present. Ironically, these radical leftists may be the only ones who can heal the blindness we have foolishly inflicted upon ourselves of late by uncritically adopting the language of hetero- and homosexuality.
However, while we can and should recommend the queer theorists’ diagnosis of the absurdity plaguing our popular sexual categories today, nevertheless we cannot sign on to their plan of treatment. Jonathan Ned Katz, Hanne Blank, and contemporary queer theorists generally, aim to genealogically explain away the rigid orientation schema precisely because they believe this will give them the freedom and the power to make, unmake, and remake their sexuality as they see fit.
They want to tear down these failed social constructs not so that something better can be constructed in their place—or, perhaps, rediscovered amid the rubble—but because they hope to achieve an even greater degree of sexual libertinism than we have today, even if it comes at the cost of endorsing a wretched sort of sexual nihilism. To riff on Dostoevsky, these radicals would like to believe that if orientation does not exist, then all things are permissible.
The Christian cannot follow them down this miserific road, of course. But neither, I believe, can the Christian remain content in today’s deceptive, doomed orientation taxonomy. Mark my words: The queer theorists will have their way in dismantling the thing before long. Even our popular culture is beginning to show signs of stress here. The ever-increasing laundry list of orientations demonstrates the insufficiency of those neat and discrete categories. And the now familiar concept of the “hasbian” suggests that these identities are far less static than we were initially led to believe. (Think, for example, of our new ex-homosexual first lady of New York City.)
The question is, once this sexual-orientation structure collapses, what will come to replace it: the queer theorists’ nihilistic anything-goes ethic, or the classical Christian view from which all of this is a departure, the view that takes the marital-procreative as its end and organizing principle, evaluating passions against nature rather than vice versa?
The role of the champion of Christian chastity today, I argue, is to dissociate the Church from the false absolutism of identity based upon erotic tendency, and to rediscover our own anthropological foundation for traditional moral maxims. If we do not wish to be swept away with modernity’s orientation essentialists, then we need to remind the world that our sexual ethics was never really at home in the modern framework anyway, and thus that our forsaking the framework need not lead to postmodern nihilistic libertinism. There is firmer ground to stand on in the classical Christian tradition. Indeed, it seems to me the only place left to stand.
The Bible never called homosexuality an abomination. Nor could it have, for as we have seen, Leviticus predates any conception of sexual orientation by a couple of millennia at least. What the Scriptures condemn is sodomy, regardless of who commits it or why. And yet, as I have argued throughout, in our own day homosexuality deserves the abominable label, and heterosexuality does too.
As regards sexual morality, we have reached a point at which it is no longer sufficient for us to criticize modernity’s poor answers. Like our Lord in the gospel narratives, we must also correct its terribly impoverished questions. Rather than struggling to articulate how to live as a “homosexual Christian”—or, for that matter, the even more problematic question of how to live as a “heterosexual Christian”—we should be teaching our Christian brethren, especially those in their most formative adolescent years, that these categories are not worth employing.
They are recent inventions that are utterly foreign to our faith, inadequate for justifying sexual norms, and antithetical to true philosophical anthropology. The time has come for us to eradicate sexual orientation from our worldview as systemically as we can manage—with all due prudence as to complicated particular cases, of course.
If Pope Francis is right that contextualizing our moral discourse is a necessary prerequisite to being found convincing—or even intelligible—by our interlocutors, then abandoning heteronormativity and resurrecting our own tradition of familial-teleological chastity is the only way to adequately explain Christian sexual ethics.
Michael W. Hannon is preparing to enter religious life with the Norbertines of St. Michael’s Abbey in Orange County, California.
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Augmented reality company Magic Leap has settled a sex discrimination lawsuit brought by former employee Tannen Campbell. A notice of settlement was filed yesterday, although further terms haven’t been revealed, and a legal representative for Campbell tells The Verge that they will remain confidential. The case should be officially dismissed by June 2nd.
Campbell’s lawsuit, filed in February, alleged that Magic Leap’s executives turned a blind eye toward sexism at the company. Among other things, it claimed that Magic Leap employees made comments about women being bad with computers, dismissed female team members’ input, and created a “macho bullying” culture at the office. Campbell also alleged that she was fired for pointing out problems with the company’s treatment of women.
Magic Leap has spent several years working on augmented reality glasses that are supposed to rival anything currently on the market, including Microsoft HoloLens. However, the company has been dogged by allegations that it’s facing major technical difficulties and is far behind on its original plans. It’s currently rumored to be releasing an augmented reality headset later this year, at a cost of at least $1,000.
Update 3PM ET: Added comment from Campbell’s attorney.
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"I hit myself in the head to distract myself from the pain when I have a cluster headache. The pain is indescribable hell, and in desperate moments, I have hit my head against a brick wall and hit myself in the head with a cell phone,” says Hilde Vollan (34), a PhD candidate in bioinformatics at the University of Oslo.
Four years and four months ago, her life turned upside down when she started getting cluster headaches. Her life has been transformed – once, she was an active student with many friends, but she now lives a life in the dark at home with her parents. She has two to five cluster headaches every day, and also suffers
from migraine and tension headaches. If she dares to go out for a walk, she always brings someone who can support her, and a bag of pills – including an oxygen bottle, a mask to breathe with and migraine medicines she takes by injection. Her attacks can come in the middle of the street or inside a store.
“For years, I have tried to hide when the pain takes over, because people are scared and shocked to see me suffer such pain. But I've stopped hiding now. It's not my fault that I get such bad headaches,” says Vollan.
Now, Vollan will participate in a pilot study at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) where she will help in the testing of a new treatment.
MEN MORE SUSCEPTIBLE THAN WOMEN
“We also call this a suicide headache, because many sufferers become suicidal,” says NTNU senior consultant and researcher Erling Tronvik.
“This is the most extreme form of a headache, and the intensity of the pain is worse than what migraine patients experience. I've had patients tell me that they bang their head against the wall because of the pain. Others say that they put their thumb in a pair of pincers while they pull with all their might, all in a desperate attempt to deflect the intense pain,” says Tronvik, who is also affiliated with the Norwegian National Headache Centre at St. Olavs Hospital in Trondheim.
Unlike migraines, which mostly afflict women, cluster headaches mainly occur in men. About 5000 Norwegians suffer from cluster headaches. Some have daily seizures for a few months each year, while others have attacks several times a day, every day of the year.
CRIPPLED BY PAIN
“People who get these headaches daily are crippled by the pain. It’s an extremely challenging disease for both doctors and patients,” Tronvik says.
Until now, it has been difficult to help these patients. Scientists do not know why some people get cluster headaches. A number of patients have found relief from injections of migraine medicine and the use of oxygen, but this treatment does not help most sufferers. The illness leaves patients with a tremendous sense of helplessness.
But now Tronvik, in collaboration with physician Daniel Bratbak at St. Olavs Hospital and Professor Ståle Nordgård at NTNU, has come up with an entirely new treatment. The gear they have developed looks a pistol with a very thin barrel, just the thickness of a knitting needle. The barrel is inserted up through
the nose of the patient, and by passing through a natural hole in the nasal wall, the mouth of the barrel comes to a bundle of nerves behind the sinuses.
The surgeon pulls the trigger of the pistol, which shoots a dose of Botox to the area around the
nerve bundle. The whole process takes about a half-an-hour.
IN SEARCH OF PATIENTS
“Botox is a neurotoxin that stops the flow of impulses along the nerves. In theory, the connection
between the two nerves in the bundle is reduced or eliminated. The effect lasts from three to eight months. Then the patient has to get another injection. We designed the equipment ourselves, and
Botox has never been used for this anywhere else,” says Tronvik.
The researchers strongly believe in their treatment method, in part because a new study unrelated
to their work has shown an effect by using an electric current to paralyse the nerve
bundle.
“But that approach requires a lengthy operation,” Tronvik says. Now he’s in search of ten patients for a pilot study.
If the method proves to be effective, the researchers will extend the experiment to include 30 to 40 cluster headache patients and approximately 80 migraine patients. The treatment uses an MRI of the patient’s
head to make certain that the surgeon knows exactly where the nerve bundle is. A navigation tool, composed of three small spheres on the pistol, and a plate with three spheres mounted on the patient's head, enables the surgeon to find the nerve bundle using the MRI image.
TESTED ON TWO PATIENTS
“A computer sends light signals to all the spheres to form precise points. We don’t miss, but anyone who wants to participate in the study must accept the risk that it could happen, because this has never been done before. If the Botox hits an area near the nerve bundle, it could cause temporary double vision, or weaken the ability of the patient to chew. But with the use of the MRI and our navigation tools we can hit
the nerve bundle without any problem. We hope that this treatment method can help give patients a life without such great pain,” says Tronvik.
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Germany’s new government has vowed to become a “grand coalition for the little people”, as Angela Merkel’s conservatives and her two coalition partners embark on a precarious project of reforming Europe while nodding to the language and concerns of the far-right.
Merkel, who is due to be sworn in for her fourth term as chancellor on Wednesday, almost six months after national elections last September, said on Monday that her new government would focus on “the integration of refugees, but also on the state’s ability to act when people have not been granted right of residence”.
“We have all enjoyed the benefits of the Schengen area, allowing us to move freely,” Merkel said at a joint press conference with her new vice-chancellor and finance minister, the Social Democrat (SPD) Olaf Scholz, and her interior minister, Horst Seehofer of the Bavarian-based Christian Social Union (CSU).
“But when we introduced free movement, we did not sufficiently think about securing our outer borders. That has to happen now, as well as a development policy that tackles the causes of migration,” she added.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Andrea Nahles of the SPD toasts the grand coalition with Angela Merkel. Photograph: Michele Tantussi/Getty Images
On Sunday, Seehofer laid down his government’s law-and-order credentials by pushing for more video surveillance in public areas and faster deportations of rejected asylum seekers.
Wednesday’s swearing-in of the new government will put an official end to the longest period of coalition-building in Germany’s postwar history.
An aborted attempt to forge an unorthodox “Jamaica” coalition between Merkel’s CDU, the pro-business FDP and the Green party last November resulted in a revival of the “grand coalition” between centre-right and centre-left that has governed the country for the last four years, eventually approved by a vote of the SPD’s membership at the start of this month.
On Monday, Merkel nonetheless insisted that plans to present joint European initiatives with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in March remained on schedule, in spite of her ponderous path to power.
“I never said anything about a delay,” said Merkel, announcing that she would visit Paris shortly after her inauguration. “We certainly won’t have settled every last question, but we’ll be able to say more than in December. It surely would be too much to expect us to spell out every facet of the eurozone for the next 20 years.”
Merkel said the Franco-German tandem had been galvanised into action by the US president Donald Trump’s plans to introduce 25% tariffs on steel imports.
Referring to the threat of a pending trade war, Scholz said: “In an ever more complex world, it is absolutely necessary that Europeans stick together and develop solutions and methods to take control of shaping their future.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The party leaders pose with copies of their coalition agreement. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Scholz, the SPD caretaker leader and a former mayor of Hamburg, signalled that his party would foster more combative relations with its coalition partner, remarking that “the fourth grand coalition in German history did not start out as a love match”. Merkel said she was looking forward to a “good debating culture” within her cabinet.
Both parties go into government on the back of historically poor election results last September, and the SPD’s polling figures have nosedived after its leadership made a U-turn on an announcement to seek renewal in opposition.
Yet Scholz can embark on his new ministerial portfolio with his party on a high after successive polls over the weekend appeared to reward the SPD for going into government. A survey on Sunday by the polling institute Insa saw the far-right Alternative für Deutschland drop into fourth place behind Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, the SPD and the Green party.
The new government will start with the same constellation of political parties but a reshuffled lineup of personnel. The CDU has ceded control of the finance ministry to the SPD and of the interior ministry to the CSU. Merkel and the defence minister, Ursula von der Leyen, will be the only politicians to retain the roles they held over the last four years.
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Nel mio ultimo articolo su questo giornale avevo notato che i programmi elettorali dei vari partiti sono spesso vaghi e pieni di incoerenze. Ciononostante, è possibile individuare differenze di visione economica in tali programmi. Vediamo quali sono queste differenze focalizzandoci, in particolare, sugli obiettivi di finanza pubblica.
In un articolo pubblicato su questo giornale il 19 dicembre, avevo invitato i partiti a chiarire tali obiettivi (deficit, avanzo primario, debito pubblico) anno per anno per il prossimo quinquennio. Quattro partiti hanno risposto: in ordine temporale, Più Europa, Forza Italia, Lega e Liberi e Uguali. Il Pd non ha risposto ma ha comunque pubblicato un piano di rientro dal debito che contiene informazioni utili per valutare come questo partito gestirebbe i conti pubblici nei prossimi anni.
Il Movimento 5 Stelle ha inizialmente indicato che avrebbe risposto ma alla fine non è arrivato nulla, se non la conferma dell’obiettivo di ridurre il rapporto tra debito pubblico e Pil di 40 punti percentuali in dieci anni. Fratelli d’Italia non ha risposto.
I quadri di finanza pubblica pubblicati hanno elementi in comune. Tutti prevedono una riduzione del debito pubblico rispetto al Pil. In tutti i quadri questa riduzione è facilitata, ottimisticamente, da un aumento dell’inflazione (più inflazione vuol dire più Pil): sono anni che attendiamo una ripresa dell’inflazione. Tutti i quadri sottostimano la dinamica del debito: i partiti si sono dimenticati che, nei prossimi anni, il debito dovrebbe crescere più rapidamente di quanto giustificato dal deficit pubblico (e da eventuali flussi di privatizzazioni) per una serie di motivi (per esempio il deficit non include le spese per i contratti derivati). Non è un dettaglio da poco: nei prossimi tre anni questa discrepanza equivale a 55 miliardi (tre per cento del Pil).
Ma ci sono anche importanti differenze, soprattutto per quanto riguarda l’orientamento, più o meno espansivo, della finanza pubblica. A un estremo c’è la Lega che sottoscrive in pieno la tesi per cui occorre prendere a prestito più soldi per ridurre il debito (rispetto al Pil). L’avanzo primario (la differenza tra entrate e spese al netto degli interessi sul debito, il principale indicatore dell’orientamento più o meno espansivo della politica fiscale), stimato all’1,7 per cento del Pil nel 2017, verrebbe quasi azzerato nel giro di due anni e resterebbe basso negli anni seguenti. Le regole europee verrebbero violate in modo palese (con un deficit al di sopra del 3 per cento). Questo, secondo la Lega, farebbe ripartire l’economia e il rapporto tra debito e Pil scenderebbe. Anche prendendo per buona questa previsione, il debito scenderebbe meno che nei quadri presentati dagli altri partiti (11 punti percentuali di Pil). All’estremo opposto, c’è Più Europa che propone di aumentare l’avanzo primario al 5,2 per cento del Pil entro il 2022, in pieno rispetto delle regole europee e con un calo del debito di ben 23 punti percentuali. Gli altri stanno tra questi due estremi. Più vicino al rispetto delle regole europee, è il quadro di Forza Italia, con un avanzo primario che arriva al 4 per cento, nel contesto però di un tasso di crescita del Pil molto più elevato di quello di più Europa (un bel 2 per cento contro un prudente 1 per cento): insomma, si arriva a risultati non troppo distanti da quelli di Più Europa, ma sperando che la maggiore crescita faccia aumentare le entrate pubbliche. Non troppo distante sta Liberi e Uguali con un avanzo primario del 3,6 per cento nel 2022. Qui però l’aiutino del Pil è ancora più forte: si raggiunge una crescita di quasi il 2 e mezzo per cento al 2022. Quel che propone il Pd è invece lo status quo: l’avanzo primario resterebbe fermo al 2 per cento per i prossimi cinque anni (anzi per i prossimi dieci), come è rimasto fermo su questi livelli nei passati cinque anni. Il debito scenderebbe di 13 punti percentuali nel quinquennio essenzialmente perché l’inflazione farebbe accelerare il Pil. E il Movimento5 Stelle? Come ho detto, non hanno inviato un quadro completo di obiettivi, ma hanno espresso in varie sedi l’intenzione di aumentare il deficit e quindi di ridurre l’avanzo primario rispetto ai livelli correnti. Questo sarebbe compatibile con una riduzione del debito di 40 punti percentuali di Pil in 10 anni, il loro obiettivo, solo se il Pil crescesse di almeno 5 punti percentuali all’anno in termini reali, ritmi quasi cinesi.
Queste differenze non sono irrilevanti anche perché hanno diverse implicazioni per il dialogo con l’Europa. Un conto è presentarsi agli elettori con obiettivi in linea con le regole europee, come fa Più Europa (lo farebbe anche Forza Italia salvo che le generose promesse elettorali di questo partito, senza adeguate coperture, non sembrano coerenti con gli obiettivi di avanzo primario). Un altro conto è presentarsi con obiettivi che sfidano palesemente le regole europee, come la Lega, o che comunque non sono in regola con queste, come fanno tutti gli altri. Si dirà che l’elettore medio non si legge le tabelle con l’avanzo primario. Ma i sopra citati numeri sono del tutto in linea con la retorica seguita negli ultimi anni dai vari partiti nei dibattiti sull’austerità e sul rispetto delle regole europee. Essi riflettono diverse visioni del modo in cui funziona l’economia e delle priorità e dei rischi che la nostra economia fronteggia. Sta all’elettore scegliere quale visione preferire.
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By Kim Jae-heun
Celebrities from around the world were in attendance as fashion mogul Karl Lagerfeld presented his first Chanel Cruise collection at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP), Monday.
Lagerfeld, head designer of Chanel, said that he loves traditional Korean clothes, “hanbok,” material and patterns.
“The concept is a modern, international version of a typical Korean mood, how we see it for the modern 21st century but with inspiration from the past,” Lagerfeld said.
The top designer’s Seoul show, brought a host of K-pop stars, such as CL and G-Dragon, as well as international celebrities, including Tilda Swinton, Kristen Stewart, Gisele Bundchen and Barbara Palvin.
The event was the second Cruise collection the French fashion house held in Asia after hosting one in Singapore in 2013.
The Cruise collection, or resort collection, began as an event to offer ready-to-wear clothing for wealthy consumers traveling on cruises during the winter season. Luxury fashion labels now open the event annually, including Chanel’s in May. They have become a barometer to see brands’ future trends for spring and summer lines.
The Chanel 2015/16 Cruise collection in Seoul was a show full of energy. Karl Lagerfeld, Chanel’s head designer and creative director, melted bright colors like fuchsia pink, coral vivid orange and violet into the brand’s signature woven tweeds and textured cotton. He used light and diaphanous fabrics such as linen, organza, tulle, lace and shantung – a type of raw silk that the brand’s founder Mademoiselle Chanel often favored. Lagerfeld completed the pieces with ethereal and geometric patchworks and multi-colored stripes combined with delicate floral embroidery.
The top designer took inspiration from the Korean traditional dress “Hanbok” combining Asian sophistication and a contemporary spirit. Jackets had large sleeves and rounded shoulders while the original costume’s flat or folded collars were hidden. Lagerfeld cut the trousers wide and short, with skirts straight or pencil-shape just below the knee.
“I was impressed by his design of saekdong-jeogori (the Korean traditional jacket with sleeves of multicolored stripes) and the idea to graft origami as garments,” said Jung Ryeo-won, a Korean actress.
Some 1,000 VIPs including press and celebrities from around the world participated at the event.
British actress and fashion muse Tilda Swinton made her second visit to Korea, which she called her second home.
“Korea is full of friends for me,” said Swinton before the event began. “I am very curious about whites and colors. I am looking forward to seeing the show.”
Soo Joo, a Korean fashion model for Chanel, expressed her delight to perform the show in her home country.
“I have been working with Channel for two years and I am more than happy to show the modern and traditional side of Seoul,” Soo Joo said. Lagerfeld picked her as the Chanel muse representing Asia at the fashion show.
World renowned model Gisele Bunchen visiting Korea for the first time and Namie Amuro attended the show. American actress Kristen Stewart from “The Twilight Saga” film series was presented as a face of Chanel, while 21-year old Hungarian model Barbara Palvin was also in attendance.
Chanel model Jade de Lavareille of IMG models, said the Cruise collection as one of the best events she had ever taken part in.
“I started modeling two years ago and it is my second time with Chanel since a show at Brasseries Gabrielle in Paris, last March,” Lavereille said. “Coming to Korea on the other side of the world is such a different culture from what I am used to. People are nice and the places look so beautiful.
“I was really excited to model at the show because the clothes were so beautiful. I loved the colors and texture. It looked amazing in set and overall matched perfectly,” Lavereille said.
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Image caption Sammy Wilson rejected claims that his tweet was offensive
An Alliance MLA has complained about the DUP's Sammy Wilson to the assembly standards commissioner over a "tasteless" tweet.
Mr Wilson described politicians who reported previous comments he made about TUV leader Jim Allister to the commissioner as "assembly jihadists".
"Starting free speech campaign: Je Suis Sammy," he wrote.
Alliance MLA Stewart Dickson said the remark was in bad taste, but Mr Wilson said he had no regrets.
Mr Dickson said: "This remark by Sammy Wilson is extremely tasteless given the 17 people who were murdered in Paris and the ongoing threat by Islamic State in the Middle East.
"The 'Je Suis Charlie' phrase became the global response to the despicable scenes in France, so for Sammy Wilson to make his own version for a relatively trivial matter is disrespectful to those who lost their lives at Charlie Hebdo."
Last October, a Northern Ireland Assembly committee hearing was suspended after Mr Wilson called Mr Allister a "thug". His comments were referred to the assembly standards commissioner, Douglas Bain.
Mr Wilson said his tweet was "mocking the process by which assembly members can run to someone in authority every time they're offended".
He said the Stormont assembly was a "debating institution which is confrontational at times", and to try to sanitise it was "totally against the idea of free speech".
Mr Wilson, who joined Twitter earlier this month, said his tweet was "not insulting to those who lost their lives in Paris".
"The whole point was that this was about freedom of speech - this has now become the slogan of people who wish to have the right to express themselves in whatever way they want," he told BBC Radio Ulster's Talkback programme.
"I was actually mocking those who felt they had to run and hang onto the coattails of the assembly standards commissioner."
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Thousands have expressed solidarity with the victims of the Charlie Hebdo massacre
Mr Dickson called for Mr Wilson to retract his remark and apologise for the offence he had caused.
"As an elected representative he should be mindful of what he says," he said.
"Politicians should be held to the highest standard.
"I have raised this matter in the assembly and have written to the speaker and assembly standards commissioner, as well as the speaker of the House of Commons, as Mr Wilson is also an MP."
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The move is bound to face stiff opposition from Congressional Republicans, who both favor private solutions and worry that the FCC may misuse its authority to over-regulate American internet access. It's not clear that the FCC's mandate lets it get involved with intrastate politics on this level. However, there's no doubt that city governments feel they're getting a raw deal at the moment. They previously petitioned the FCC for help, complaining that the laws do too much to protect established cable and phone companies. It's certainly no secret that legislation limiting municipal broadband is often written by those companies in an attempt to protect a duopoly or monopoly. In that sense, the FCC might succeed by arguing that it's leveling the playing field and giving you more say over the kinds of services your city can provide.
[Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images]
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Poet Ntsiki Mazwai has again taken to social media to criticise South Africa’s education system that seems to take away the “Africaness” of a black child.
During a diatribe against the global dominance of “white culture”, she went as far as to suggest that white people have exerted a very “violent effect” on South Africa, with the entire ethnic group known in South Africa as coloureds being one of the results.
In a series of tweets, Mazwai said it was embarrassing when grown black men speak broken English to try to impress when they can just speak their own languages.
Though one of her weaknesses was her inability to be fluent in her mother tongue, she was proud of herself because even the best white schools in the country had not won in trying to make her “worship whiteness”.
“I think education took the best part of me…..my Africaness [sic].”
The main problem with the education system was its failure to teach the black child about their history and heroes, according to the poet.
“Teach the black child about her own heroes….because white heroes don’t mean shit to us…even white celebrities mean dololo to u.
“Your white heroes are not my heroes….I have my own heroes,” she said.
White people have had a very violent effect on black people…….on many levels — NtsikiWethu (@ntsikimazwai) June 1, 2017
Black people don’t worship Madonna and the Pope and want nothing to do with Pippa Middleton’s wedding or Ariana Grande, because “all these whites mean shit to us. We don’t care about them,” she said.
Your white heroes killed my people….your white heroes are trash — NtsikiWethu (@ntsikimazwai) June 1, 2017
In fact, blacks “don’t recognise your white gods”.
White heroes, who are “trash” killed “my” people, and were further successful in dividing blacks and creating “superior” blacks, said Ntsiki.
“Kana white people killed Steve Biko…white people killed Chris Hani.”
They did not stop there, according to Mazwai, their “very violent effect” on black people is still evident today through the entire race of coloureds who are apparently a result of rape culture.
“We have a group called coloured who come from white men raping black women….so erm…about white people.”
She further slammed white people’s “overinflated sense of self-importance”, because the same whites were getting money in former president Nelson Mandela’s name, she alleged.
Many coloured people may take issue with the poet’s views, however, as several coloured-advocacy groups choose to trace their ancestry back to the indigenous South African Khoisan people, thus denying that their heritage is only down to a mixing of racial DNA between “Africans” and “Europeans”.
She was taken to task by some of her followers, and she hit back at one by saying that anyone saying whites didn’t rape blacks was “pretending”.
We gonna pretend that white men didnt rape black women??? Oh ok https://t.co/xFJvFb8K9Q — NtsikiWethu (@ntsikimazwai) June 1, 2017
When Noel Barry-Wilson told her: “You think it’s constructive 2 demean the entire colored race including USA past president & all people left of middle on the grey scale?” she hit back that he was being idiotic and “stirring bullshit”.
He had earlier told her: “Why do you assume that the beautiful colored nation did not freely chose their partner & do not have any white mothers in their heritage?”
King Sankara told her not to insult “mix race relationships” while another follower mentioned Saartjie Baartman.
ayi sisi Ntsiki, let's not insult mix race relationships and let's not puke at the coloured race. — #WeVoteEFF (@vusiking) June 1, 2017
Also read:
http://citizen.co.za/your-life/your-life-entertainment-your-life/entertainment-celebrities/1016812/nelson-mandela-is-no-hero-to-me-ntsiki-mazwai/
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