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Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.’ 3Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went towards the tomb. 4The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10Then the disciples returned to their homes. 11But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to lookinto the tomb; 12and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’ 14When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ 16Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew,‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher). 17Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”’ 18Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her. The crucifixion of Jesus was not a unique event. Crosses are erected even today, in communities around the world and in the very souls of marginalized persons. The cross looms over history as a reminder of the reality of violence. It recalls many systems that seek to deprive persons of life and dignity. It reminds humanity of the violent structures that repeatedly bolster themselves against any perceived threat. To proclaim that God is present in Jesus’life and death is to proclaim that God’s presence permeates human existence, through its triumphs and defeats, in ecstasy as well as in agony. Yet the story of God’s hope for humanity culminates with death’s dramatic defeat. With the empty tomb. With a love that conquers even death. Jesus’story would not be told today if his earliest followers had not had some sense that his death would not mark the end of their movement. Christ’s resurrection confounds the wise, rather than allowing the violence of the powerful to scatter the weak. This love beyond the power of death is the truth of Jesus’life. Soelle argues that more than life after death “Jesus believed above all in a life before death.”[1] He lived in a way that bore witness to the transcendence of his vision. Calling Christ risen, Christians proclaim that the vision survived the visionary, that God continues to resist the absurdity of violence. This meaning of the resurrection is derivative of the experience of the cross. The tragedy of innocent suffering is the force behind the meaning of resurrection. Jesus’resurrection cannot be divorced from his death; it is significant precisely because it is a divine response to human violence. The resurrection symbolizes divine intention for life to survive beyond violent interruptions. It is a mistake to say that Jesus’ death was a good thing. It must be understood as a tragedy. But, it is faithful to rejoice at God’s insistence that this tragedy would not shut holy love out of the world. In August of 1955 Emmett Till, a fourteen year old black boy, was brutally murdered by a lynch mob in Mississippi. In an act of ultimate bravery, Mamie Till, Emmett’s mother insisted on an open casket funeral for her son. For three days, the boy’s brutalized body was on display. Photographs circulated around the world. Mamie Till sought to “expose white brutality and black faith”saying, “Lord you gave your son to remedy a condition, but who knows, but what the death of my only son might bring an end to lynching … Darling you have not died in vain, your life has been sacrificed for something.”[2] Mamie Till articulated the heart of Christology. In no way could she be heard to have willed or desired the death of her son: she merely yearned for his suffering to be rendered meaningful in a mad world. Mamie Till’s prayer was for her son’s resurrection in the form of a movement to resist the sort of violence that robbed him of his life. No resurrection erases the tragedy of the cross. Nothing erases violence. Rebecca Brock intones precisely the hope we can have on the other side of tragedy: contact with our own grief. “Grief,”Brock believes, “might enable us, the survivors, to act in the world with determination and compassion.”[3] Instead of seeking the resurrection as a balm to soothe Christians from the true gravity of the cross, Brock invites us to understand how coming into contact with grief is the work of the resurrection. “Church people use religion to cover over their pain.”Instead, Brock insists on a Christology that draws people into contact with their own pain and the pain of others, for the sake of feeling the grief that inspires resistance, that stimulates one to live for the sake of the abused and victimized, to struggle for liberation. The power of God is that presence that gets us through abuse and violence, it saves us to live on, to heal, and to work for justice. To this end, resistance is the work of resurrection. When grief at the violence and injustice that consume the world can be truly felt, the image of Jesus’resurrection then draws humans toward seeking ways of mirroring the divine impulse toward life. Remembrance leads to resistance; “apart from the consciousness of the vanquished and the remembrance of the victims, the cry of rebellion cannot arise.”[4] The political action of the people arises from the experience of eyes set squarely on the cross. Soelle calls this our passion.[5] When contact with the crucified world draws us to resist violence, this is the work of the resurrection. We do not then live merely in hope that someday we too may share in the reward of a resurrected Christ and be swept out of the world of woe. Instead we find symbolized in the resurrection of Jesus a model for resisting the insistence of violence on its own totality. In short, we proclaim, “another world is possible”and we are forging it through our resistance. Christians are called to live out the gospel of Jesus Christ in a world where death is a reality, and not shy from encompassing death into our theology. But undeserved and unjust violence reveal more about the world than they do about God. The death of Jesus shows how the world responds to a life with love held at the center; it shows how fiercely and completely the world rejects such love. Through our insistence on vindicating love, we claim the last word is God’s and the last word is life. By moving away from the glorious interpretations of the cross that persist in classical Christian theology and instead focusing our gaze on the suffering and death that punctuates history, Christians may finally uncover the radical nature of God’s acting in Jesus. Rita Brock and Rebecca Parker tell of the possibility that emerges beyond loss and death. Jesus was killed but his followers somehow continued to feel his presence in their midst, indeed they even experienced him in their everyday life, as a gardener or a stranger on the road. They “discovered that death was not the end. Mourning brought them to a moment that came as a surprise, as unexpected grace.”[6] The memory of Jesus lives with his followers, it can live with Christians even today. The memory connects us with Jesus’legacy, it allows us to “refuse to acquiesce to the legacy of violence.”[7] The resurrection is not something that happened years ago in a Judean garden, resurrection is action taken now. Christ is risen when Christians refuse to surrender to violence, Christ is risen when the suffering feel the divine presence with them, Christ is risen when we hold fast to our own humanity and the humanity of others in the face of the violence that denies human blessedness. The resurrection does not erase suffering: it teaches us to live in a world torn by injustice. It gives us hope that God is present in the ugliest violence of human life, and that God engages human history to create meaning on the other side of tragedy and injustice. [1] Dorothee Soelle, Essential Writings, Dianne L. Oliver ed. (Markyknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2006), 130. Emphasis added. [2]Mamie Till, in James H. Cone, The Cross and the Lynching Tree (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2011),67. [3] Rita Nakashima Brock and Rebecca Ann Parker, Proverbs of Ashes: Violence, Redemptive Suffering, and The Search for What Saves Us (Boston: Beacon Press, 2001), 90. [4] Dorothee Soelle, Suffering, Everett R. Kalin trans. (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1973), 125. [5] Soelle, Suffering, 125. [6] Brock and Parker, 249. [7] Brock and Parker, 249.
There is no other way to view the circumstances around the death of Alex Gervais except with profound sadness and heartbreak. His loss by suicide at the age of 18 ended a life that was difficult from the start. Born of two troubled parents with mental-health issues, Alex would struggle with anxiety and depression himself. Born into dysfunction and misery, he would be taken from his home at age 10 and become a ward of the state, with everything that entails – a never-ending sense of abandonment, frustrating interactions with overburdened social workers, foster parents ill-equipped to deal with complex emotional needs and dealings with an array of unqualified caregivers. This week, Bernard Richard, British Columbia's Representative for Children and Youth, released his report into Mr. Gervais's life and death. Two years ago, the aboriginal teen jumped from a fourth-storey window of a budget hotel, where he was staying in suburban Vancouver while in government care. The investigation chronicled a lifetime of indifference and neglect; Alex lived in 17 foster-care settings and was placed under the guidance of 23 different social workers. No one, it seems, had a vested interest in his long-term well-being. Story continues below advertisement Globe editorial: Why Alex threw himself out of a window in an Abbotsford hotel Related: Métis teen who died in care abandoned by B.C.'s child-welfare system: watchdog Reports such as these have become all too common in British Columbia. Over the past decade alone, there have been countless accounts of how the province's child-welfare system failed to safeguard the life of some innocents who would never know the protections, rights and privileges every child in this country deserves. These postmortems incite what is now an almost ritualistic response. First comes the outrage that greets the initial findings. Then, the provincial Opposition leader calls for the head of the minister in charge – "How many children must die on your watch before …." The minister then promises to follow through on all of the ombudsman's many recommendations. A few days later, the story is forgotten. All goes quiet until the next tragedy occurs. Rinse and repeat. Now, before those of you living elsewhere get too smug, know that it's not all that different in the rest of the country. Recently in Alberta, for instance, we learned the horrid details of the short, brutal life of the four-year-old aboriginal child named Serenity; starved, allegedly beaten and possibly sexually assaulted while the adults who cared for her were supposedly being monitored by the province's child-welfare system. It led to a firestorm of recriminations in the legislature. Every province has one of these stories. That said, British Columbia's child-welfare system seems unique in this regard. In a word, it is a mess. That is the only conclusion one can draw from the endless churn of inquiries chronicling the woefully inadequate protocols in place to look after some of society's most vulnerable people. Mr. Richard's predecessor, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, reported many times on the complete lack of accountability existing in various facets of the system. The case of Alex Gervais is yet another infuriating example of that. In his mid-to-late teens, Alex began exhibiting signs of acute mental distress, including suicidal thoughts and tendencies. At a time when he needed professional help the most, he was instead placed in the care of people whose résumés included stints as bouncers and truck drivers – people who saw the young Métis boy as nothing more than a paycheque. Story continues below advertisement Story continues below advertisement The last person put in charge of him was being paid $8,000 a month by the province. So desperate was the government to find someone to mind a teen dealing with drug and anger-management issues, it agreed to pay the person several times the going rate. Still, this caregiver was often nowhere to be found, allegedly spending money that was meant to buy food and clothes for a charge he often only kept in touch with via text message. These are the type of people the B.C. government has come to rely on to look after some of our most troubled kids. There is an entire ecosystem of them – unskilled, untrained, independent employees (some with criminal pasts), who come a lot cheaper than union-waged social workers but are not nearly equipped to deal with the burdens of those in their care. In child welfare, as in life, you get what you pay for. But the ultimate price can be a horrific one – Alex Gervais is testament to that.
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While the money flowing to presidential candidates who offer unqualified support for Israel is finally receiving some media attention, much of what falls under the rubric of “The Israel Lobby” is more subtle. In much of the mainstream media, it consists of a nearly incessant effort to present Israel to Americans as both exemplary (in terms of morals or science) and completely normal (as if Palestinians do not and never did exist). A striking instance of the phenomenon was presented over the weekend in USA Today, the middle-of-the-road national paper which, to my limited knowledge, has not been a foremost exponent of Israel Lobby positions. Over the weekend, it ran a piece, with illustrations, taking up the entire back page of the front section, entitled “Israel’s Guide to Water.” Michele Chabin, who seems to be the paper’s principal Israel correspondent, suggests that California might look towards the “Middle East”—that is, Israel—for a solution to its water difficulties. She then elaborates upon Israel’s decades of experience with managing scarce water resources, and the techniques and technologies that Israel has developed. She quotes an Israeli official, the former top water minister, who states reassuringly that “Israel no longer has a water shortage.” In a digression, she notes Israeli success in keeping pine trees alive in a dry climate, though not mentioning that the trees—“part of a man-made greenbelt”—are not indigenous to the region. The paper’s takeaway: brilliant Israelis, who make the desert bloom, can help solve California’s major problem. No doubt much of what the article recounts is true. Israel’s utilization of water recycling and desalinization probably is state of the art, or close to it. California and other drought-affected areas might well learn something from Israeli engineers. But is this really the most salient aspect of the Israeli water story? Last year, the president of the European Union, Martin Schulz, visited Israel and spoke before the Knesset. In a carefully phrased rhetorical aside, he asked whether it was true, as a Palestinian youth had told him, that an Israeli can use 70 liters of water daily and a Palestinian just 17. “I haven’t checked the data. I’m asking you if this is correct.” Schulz’s words caused an uproar. Members of the right-wing party Habayit Habehudi went ballistic, heckling Schulz and staging a walk-out. One of its members mounted the podium to give Schulz a Bible lesson. “The Holy One, blessed be He, gave Eretz Israel to the Jewish people.” Presumably the implication was that Israeli Jews have the right to all the water. Many Israelis were genuinely shocked at Schulz’s figures, the kind of unpleasant facts about the occupation that most Israelis prefer to ignore. In fact, Schulz’s 70 liter versus 17 figure was not correct, but it represented a ratio that is roughly accurate, and points to one of the most important—if little discussed—consequences of the Israeli occupation, now approaching its 50-year mark. For even if Martin Schulz did not, or pretended not, to know the precise facts, there is fundamental structural injustice in Israel’s water policy. Much of Israel’s water comes from underground aquifers on the occupied West Bank. Under the provisions of Oslo II, an interim agreement which the Palestinians naively expected would expire in five years, after the occupation was terminated, Israel maintained control of the central West Bank aquifers which it had seized in 1967. The Palestinians were allocated 118 million cubic meters a year and Israel 483. In other words 80 percent of the water was going to Israel, 20 percent to Palestine. Actual Palestinian per capita water usage is around 73 liters per day, well below what the World Health Organization considers a safe minimum. In some Palestinian cities, water use is half that. On average, Israelis use about 3 times as much water per capita as Palestinians (not 4, as Schulz said he had heard) though for Palestinians not connected to the water grid, the gap is greater. One highly visible fact about the West Bank is that Israeli settlements have swimming pools and lush lawns, while neighboring Palestinian villages struggle for water. In West Bank Area C, under Israeli control but not connected to the water grid, Israeli soldiers often destroy Palestinian cisterns designed to collect rainwater. Israeli settlers poison Palestinian cisterns with dirty diapers or dead chickens. Israeli water apartheid, as activists call it, is not a sideshow but a central feature of Israel’s occupation, a systematic policy designed to drive Palestinians off their land. This Amnesty International report, six years old but still highly relevant, details the myriad bureaucratic regulations by which Israel limits Palestinian access to water, which is no doubt why Martin Shulz tried, ever so tactfully, to raise the issue before the Knesset. For USA Today to ignore this central aspect of Israeli water policy is a result of either exceptional journalistic gullibility or a simple desire to spread Israeli propaganda. The presentation of Israel as a model for American water policy is outrageous. Would we expect USA Today to endorse measures whose consequence was the reduction of water usage of Hispanic and African-Americans to one-third that of whites? Almost certainly not. But for USA Today, Israel’s systematic and pervasive denial of Palestinians’ right to access their own natural resources is so normal, it apparently isn’t even worth mentioning. Scott McConnell is a founding editor of The American Conservative.
A Danish ad encouraging couples to have more sex has recently gone viral. The ad, created for a travel agency, specifically encourages couples to go on vacations where they can “Do it for Denmark.” Even potential grandmothers are brought into the mix. As a grandma struggles to help her son undo his wife’s bra, we learn that there is a better solution: if couples take vacations, they’ll naturally produce more grandchildren. The ad is part of a national attempt to increase the country’s low birth rate, which is necessary for Denmark to thrive economically and sustain its social welfare programs. “The Danish welfare system is under pressure. There are still not enough babies being born, despite a little progress. And this concerns us all,” the ad warns. A low birth rate means that the ratio of younger people to older people is decreasing — the fewer young people, the fewer workers who can contribute to the welfare system. In other words, the ad implores citizens to “Do it for Denmark” in order to save the country’s economic future. Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away in Lebanon, a different Danish ad has also received considerable attention. The ad, placed in Lebanese newspapers, warns that Denmark has tightened its regulations concerning incoming refugees. “The social benefits for newcomer refugees will be reduced by up to 50 percent,” the ad notes. Incoming refugees will also “not have the right to have their family brought to Denmark during the first year.” On the one hand, Denmark is actively encouraging an increase in the birth rate in an attempt to ensure that its working population is large enough to support the welfare system. At the same time, however, the government is warning incoming refugees — potential workers — to stay away. These disparate ad campaigns are explained by a growing conservative movement in Denmark, one that emphasizes nationalism and a strict immigration stance. In the June 2015 election, the Danish People’s Party (DPP) made waves, winning second place overall. Previously, the DPP had been a marginal influence; its heavily anti-immigrant and anti-European Union views are considered so extreme that Danes polled before the elections were hesitant to say that they supported the DPP at all, and polls dramatically under-predicted the DPP’s win. The rise of the DPP can partially be explained by a February 14 shooting that wracked the country. The attack, carried out by a man of Palestinian descent, left two dead and five injured. It affected both liberal and conservative parties, and caused former Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, once leader of the liberal-leaning Social Democrats, to campaign for stricter immigration protocol. Yet, the DPP didn’t succeed solely based on their anti-immigration platform. The party adopted a new strategy in the recent election — one that is exemplified by the two contrasting Danish ads. Many of the arguments against immigration resemble those in other nations: immigrants steal jobs, change the national culture, and increase the crime rate. But the DPP has also argued that the rise in immigration is at odds with the welfare economy. Incoming refugees need the welfare system to get a foothold in the country — an increase in refugees would, at least in the initial stage, further stress the system. The DPP postulates that, even after the initial stage, the welfare system could never recover because immigration and welfare aren’t compatible. The Danish welfare system is based off the concept of “Flexicurity,” meaning that the government provides tax-subsidized education and training programs, and the majority of jobs are for highly-skilled workers, who then pay high taxes. This system, according to the DPP, only works for these highly skilled workers, and immigrants lack the language skills or knowledge of social practices to meet the demands of the labor market. In the DPP’s view, immigrants take advantage of the welfare system, without contributing anything in return. This emphasis on welfare has helped the DPP win over both conservative voters, who object to increased immigration, and more liberal voters, who want to ensure that the welfare system remains functional. Though the DPP was once considered a marginal, extremist party, the increased emphasis on welfare, along with the appointment of a new, younger and less divisive leader, has broadened the DPP’s support base. Denmark is actively encouraging an increase in the birth rate in an attempt to ensure that its working population is large enough to support the welfare system. At the same time, however, the government is warning incoming refugees — potential workers — to stay away. Germany presents a starkly different example. The German birth rate is the lowest in the world, with 8.2 babies born each year per 1,000 people. This could cause a 16 percent drop in the population by 2060. Unlike Denmark, Germany is offering asylum to more refugees than any other European nation. Hans Kundnani of the German Marshall Fund of the United States in Berlin has said, “You can look at this as Germany pursuing a national interest in the sense that Germany has a long-term demographic problem…Often refugees are young, smart energetic people who make an economic contribution to the country they come to.” With the most serious demographic problem in the world, Germany can’t afford to discourage the immigration that could stave off crisis. Germany’s solution has downsides: the dramatic change in population dynamics has led to xenophobic violence and some civil unrest. For example, some Germans are protesting the possibility of a seismic shift in German culture, a trite argument that is a go-to for those opposed to certain kinds of immigration. The number of acts of aggression against refugees has risen from 198 in 2014 to 202 as of August this year; debate over immigration has become heated, and calls into question whether Germany has changed since the Nazi era. In one particularly dramatic attack, an apartment complex intending to house incoming refugees was burned to the ground, allegedly by right-wing arsonists. Wolfgang Hempel, a resident of the town, told the Washington Post, “Germany is turning black…Soon only dark-skinned people will be living here. It can’t go on like this. . . . And these days, everybody puts you in a Nazi corner just for voicing your opinion.” German anchorwoman Anja Reschke recently condemned both verbal and physical attacks against refugees, but also pointed to Germans who remain quiet in the face of rampant xenophobia. The critique went viral, and Reschke received an outpouring of both support and criticism. Regarding the backlash, Reschke said, “And then there were the people who said, ‘Look, I’m afraid our race is getting polluted by all those evil people from the whole of Africa, but no, I’m not a Nazi.’” It’s also unclear if this strategy will work economically: a 2001 report from the population division of the United Nations estimated that Germany would need an average of 324,000 immigrants per year to keep its population from shrinking. The argument has been contested, and other analysts suggest that immigration could nonetheless help. But the German government clearly believes that the economic effects of this immigration — as well as the moral need to offer asylum to refugees fleeing war and political corruption — outweigh the potential downsides. Despite the increase in anti-immigrant violence, the country seems to agree in part — unlike Denmark, Germany has not experienced a dramatic rise in support for anti-immigration parties. Germany’s policies suggest that the solution to a national demographic crisis, and the associated strain on the welfare system, may not be anti-immigration policies. But for both Denmark and Germany, the choice is not an easy one. Each country must consider the morality of the turning away potential refugees, as well as weigh their obligations to their current and future citizens. It’s unclear which strategy — cracking down on immigration or welcoming it — will ultimately be successful, but the outcomes will affect each nation’s population and economic conditions for years to come.
Rakhigarhi, (Hindi: राखीगढ़ी) or Rakhi Garhi (Rakhi Shahpur + Rakhi Khas), is a village in Hisar District in the state of Haryana in India, situated 150 kilometers to the northwest of Delhi. It is the site of a pre-Indus Valley Civilisation settlement going back to about 6500 BCE.[2] Later, it was also part of the mature Indus Valley Civilisation, dating to 2600-1900 BCE.[3] The site is located in the Ghaggar-Hakra river plain,[4] some 27 km from the seasonal Ghaggar river. Rakhigarhi encompasses a set of seven mounds, and there are many more settlement mounds in the immediate vicinity.[5] Not all of them were occupied at the same time. Depending on which mounds to include, the estimates of the size of Rakhigarhi have been given variously as between 80 and 550 hectares.[6][7][8] In January 2014, the discovery of additional mounds resulted in it becoming the largest Indus Valley Civilization site, overtaking Mohenjodaro (300 Hectares) by almost 50 hectares, resulting in almost 350 hectares.[9] The size and uniqueness of Rakhigarhi has drawn much attention of archaeologists all over the world. It is nearer to Delhi than other major sites, indicating the spread of the Indus Valley Civilization east across North India. Much of the area is yet to be excavated[10] and published.[11]:215 Another related site in the area is Mitathal, which is still awaiting excavation. In May 2012, the Global Heritage Fund, declared Rakhigarhi one of the 10 most endangered heritage sites in Asia.[12] A study by the Sunday Times, found that the site is not being looked after, the iron boundary wall is broken, and villagers sell the artefacts they dig out of the site and parts of site are now being encroached by private houses.[13] Location [ edit ] It is located in the Ghaggar-Hakra river plain,[14] some 27 km from the seasonal Ghaggar river. Today, Rakhigarhi is a small village in Haryana State, India.[15] There are many other important archaeological sites in this area, in the old river valley to the east of the Ghaggar Plain. Among them are Kalibangan, Kunal, Haryana, Balu, Haryana, Bhirrana, and Banawali.[5] According to Jane McIntosh, Rakhigarhi is located in the valley of the prehistoric Drishadvati River that originated in Siwalik Hills.[16] Chautang is a tributary of Sarsuti river which in turn is tributary of Ghaggar river (Drishadvati River).[17][18] Lohari Ragho is a smaller site nearby. Excavations [ edit ] The ASI excavated the place for three winters, starting from 1997. The excavation has been stopped for years because of a CBI investigation on the misuse of funds.[19] Much of the findings are donated to the National Museum. In 1963, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) began excavations at this site, and, though little has been published about the excavations.[20][21] Further excavations were conducted the ASI headed by the archaeologist, Amarendra Nath, between 1997 and 2000.[22][note 1] The more recent excavations have been performed by Vasant Shinde, an archaeologist from the Deccan College.[23] The ASI's detailed excavation of the site revealed the size of the lost city and recovered numerous artefacts, some over 5,000 years old. Rakhigarhi was occupied at Early Harappan times.[10][24] Evidence of paved roads, drainage system, large rainwater collection, storage system, terracotta bricks, statue production, and skilled working of bronze and precious metals have been uncovered. Jewellery, including bangles made from terracotta, conch shells, gold, and semi-precious stones, have also been found.[25] There are nine mounds in Rakhigarhi which are named RGR-1 to RGR-9, of which RGR-5 is thickly populated by establishment of Rakhishahpur village and is not available for excavations. RGR-1 to RGR-3, RGR6 to RGR9 and some part of RGR-4 are available for excavations.[24][26][27] Dating [ edit ] In 2014 six radiocarbon datings from excavations al Rakhigarhi between 1997 and 2000 were published, corresponding to the three periods at the site as per archaeologist Amarendra Nath (Pre-formative, Early Harappan, and Mature Harappan). Mound RGR-6 revealed a Pre-formative stage designated as Sothi Phase with the following two datings: 6420 ± 110 {\displaystyle 6420\pm 110} and 6230 ± 320 {\displaystyle 6230\pm 320} years before present, converted to 4470 ± 110 {\displaystyle 4470\pm 110} B.C.E. and 4280 ± 320 {\displaystyle 4280\pm 320} B.C.E.[5] Area [ edit ] Most scholars, including Gregory Possehl, Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, Raymond Allchin and Rita P. Wright believe it to be between 80 hectares and 100+ hectares in area.[4][6][28][29][30][31] Furthermore, Possehl did not believe that all mounds in Rakhigarhi belong to the same Indus Valley settlement, stating, "RGR-6, a Sothi-Siswal site known as Arda, was probably a separate settlement."[6] Amarendra Nath's who did excavations between 1997 and 2000, reported that the site covers more than 300 hectares (3.0 km2) in size with 7 mounds, five of which are integrated.[8] With new find of two additional mounds of 25 hectares each in 2014-15 during joint excavations conducted by the Haryana Archaeological Department, Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute and Seoul National University, the site has now been found much larger to be over 350 hectares (3.5 km2), making it the largest Indus Valley Civilization site and town in the world.[1] Discoveries [ edit ] A skeleton from Rakhigarhi on display in the National Museum Digging so far reveals a well planned city with 1.92 m wide roads, a bit wider than in Kalibangan. The pottery is similar to Kalibangan and Banawali. Pits surrounded by walls have been found, which are thought to be for sacrificial or some religious ceremonies. Fire was used extensively in their religious ceremonies. There are brick lined drains to handle sewage from the houses. Terracotta statues, weights, bronze artefacts, comb, copper fish hooks, needles and terracotta seals have also been found. A bronze vessel has been found which is decorated with gold and silver. A gold foundry with about 3000 unpolished semi-precious stones has been found. Many tools used for polishing these stones and a furnace were found there. A burial site has been found with 11 skeletons, with their heads in the north direction. Near the heads of these skeletons, utensils for everyday use were kept. The three female skeletons have shell bangles on their left wrists. Near one female skeleton, a gold armlet has been found. In addition semi precious stones have been found lying near the head, suggesting that they were part of some sort of necklace. In April 2015, four complete human skeletons were excavated from mound RGR-7. These skeletons belonged to two male adults, one female adult and one child. Pottery with grains of food as well as shell bangles were found around these skeletons.[32] As the skeletons were excavated scientifically without any contamination, archaeologists think that with the help of latest technology on these skeletons and DNA obtained,[33] it is possible to determine how Harappans looked like 4500 years ago.[34] DNA tests have been carried out on a single skeleton. Results announced in September 2018 showed that the skeleton had no Steppe DNA which may support the idea that Steppe DNA was introduced to India later by the Indo-Aryans.[35] Fire altars and apsidal structures were revealed in Rakhigarhi.[26] Hunting tools like copper hafts and fish hooks have been found here. Presence of various toys like mini wheels, miniature lids, sling balls, animal figurines indicates a prevalence of toy culture. Signs of flourishing trade can be seen by the excavation of stamps, jewelry and 'chert' weights. Weights found here are similar to weights found at many other IVC sites confirming presence of standardized weight systems.[36] Cotton cloth traces preserved on silver or bronze objects were known from Rakhigarhi, Chanhudaro and Harappa.[11]:333 An impressive number of stamps seals were also found at this site.[10] So far 53 burial sites with 46 skeletons have been discovered. Anthropological examination done on 37 skeletons revealed 17 to be of adults, 8 to be of subadults while the age of 12 skeletons could not be verified. Sex detection of 17 skeletons was successful out of which 7 were Male and 10 Female skeletons. Most of the burials were typical burials with skeletons in a supine position. Atypical burials had skeletons in a prone position. Some graves are just pits while some are brick lined with lots of pottery in it. Some of them also had votive pots with Animal remains symbolizing offerings to the dead. Bone remains of secondary burials were not charred hence ruling out the possibility of cremation practices. While these burials retained many of the Harappan features, group burials and prone position burials are distinct. Paleo-parasitical studies and DNA analysis to determine the lineage is being undertaken.[37][38] Granary [ edit ] A granary belonging to mature Harappan phase (2600 BCE to 2000 BCE) has been found here. Granary is made up of mud-bricks with a floor of ramped earth plastered with mud. It has 7 rectangular or square chambers. Significant traces of lime & decomposed grass are found on the lower portion of the granary wall indicating that it can also be the storehouse of grains with lime used as insecticide & grass used to prevent entry of moisture. Looking at the size, it appears to be a public granary or a private granary of elites.[39] Cemetery [ edit ] A cemetery of Mature Harappan period is discovered at Rakhigarhi, with eight graves found. Often brick covered grave pits had wooden coffin in one case.[10] Different type of grave pits were undercut to form an earthen overhang and body was placed below this; and then top of grave was filled with bricks to form a roof structure over the grave.[11]:293 Parasite eggs which were once existed in the stomach of those buried were found in the burial sites along with human skeletans. Analysis of Human aDNA obtained from human bones as well as analysis of parasite & animal DNA will be done to assert origins of these people.[40][41] Museum [ edit ] Rakhigarhi, which is an Indus Valley Civilisation site, also has a museum developed by the state government.[42] There is also Haryana Rural Antique Museum 60 km away, which is maintained by CCS HAU in its Gandhi Bhawan, exhibits evolution of agriculture and vanishing antiques.[43] Jahaj Kothi Museum, named after George Thomas, is located inside Firoz Shah Palace Complex and maintained by Archaeological Survey of India.[44] See also [ edit ] Notes [ edit ] ^ Amarendra Nath was later found guilty for forging bills during the excavation at Rakhigarhi. References [ edit ] Bibliography [ edit ]
Digby hipped me to the uncanny resemblance between so many Arizona GOP women and Tim Burton's horrific vision of mankind's enemies Brewer said she has been in elective office for 28 years, and Goddard has held office for nearly that long. "I think it's pretty defined what he stands for and what I stand for." Anyway, Brewer said, she believes the debates help Goddard more than they benefit her. "Why would I want to give Terry a chance to redefine himself?" she said. Brewer conceded that her performance in Wednesday's debate, and her refusal to answer a question from reporters afterward, was not well-handled. That includes an opening statement when she lost her train of thought and went silent, and walking away after the event rather than answering questions about her prior statements about headless bodies in the desert. Brewer blamed part of her post-debate activities on her gaffe in her opening statement. The governor also said she presumed reporters would want to talk to her about some of the issues raised during the hour-long, televised debate. "All you guys were doing and talking were beheadings, beheadings, beheadings," the governor said. "That is something that has stuck with you all for so long, and I just felt we needed to move on." Ronald Brewer, 46, is not just mentally ill. He was deemed criminally insane in 1990, following a July 1989 arrest and subsequent indictment for the sexual assault and kidnapping of a Phoenix woman. According to a Phoenix Police Department report dated July 29, 1989, Brewer, then an unemployed 25-year-old, forced his way into a woman's apartment on West Indian School Road and threatened to hurt her "real bad" if she didn't engage in sexual acts, including performing fellatio. According to a police interview with the victim, the entire ordeal lasted "approximately 20 minutes. During the assault, she feared for her life and thought the suspect was going to kill her if she did not cooperate." Those details are not available for public inspection at county Superior Court-- even though in a typical criminal case, they probably would be. On January 9, 2009, Superior Court Judge Pendleton Gaines sealed the entire case file at the request of Ronald Brewer's attorney. On December 1, 2008, President-Elect Barack Obama nominated then-Governor Janet Napolitano to be the head of Homeland Security. Her successor? Secretary of State Jan Brewer. Brewer assumed office as governor on January 21. The timing is curious. This marked the first time that Ronald Brewer's entire file was sealed. Previously, his mental-health files were sealed, which is typical. Criminal cases are rarely sealed, and then, only parts of such a case would usually be kept from the public. You may have read that Arizona's accidental governor, dingbat Jan Brewer, has made a firm decision. She will not, under any circumstances, participate in another debate between now and the November election. If you don't understand why-- or if you want more of a specific answer than "Republicans don't have anything to offer that goes over well with the general public"-- take a look at the segment Rachel Maddow did the other day; it's fairly self-explanatory:In fact, the only reason Brewer stumbled into-- let alone through-- the first catastrophic debate was because, according to her campaign, she wouldn't have qualified for the more than $1.7 million in public campaign funding if she didn't debate at least once. Instead, for the remainder of the Inferno State's campaign, she will just speak directly to fellow racists, irrational loons and bigots via Hate Talk Radio and the Republican Party's Fox News.Some people who watched the video of Brewer self-destructing before, during and after the debate think it may be because she had Ronald on her mind. No, not Ronald Reagan, Ronald Brewer, her criminally insane son. In fact, she could be feeling guilt pangs for allowing vital services to the mentally ill fall apart on the alter of the budget cuts she was trying to brag about during one of her brain freezes. Or maybe she was feeling distracted and guilty about something else:I wonder if he votes. Today, after making a monkey out of herself in full public view, Brewer has pulled back from her beheadings mania : "That was an error, if I said that," she said, flatly... very flatly. Welcome to Jan Brewer's dark, dark world! If I thought she would make Joel-Peter Witkin the official state artiste I might consider lending her some support. But, although he certainly captures the little that's in her head, I suspect he's not her, pardon the expression, taste. She strikes me as a more... classical gal. Labels: Arizona, Jan Brewer, Joel-Peter Witkin, Mars Attacks
It was nearly 3 years ago when “el salvador” arrived on his boat to Costa del Sol as a new hope for many Andalusian souls. The summer of 2010 will be remembered as a rebirth for Málaga Club de Fútbol. Abdullah Bin Nasser Al Thani, the messiah. When the Qatari became the new president of the club in July 2010, he passed the management baton over to Manuel Pellegrini, and soon La Rosaleda’s green carpet was lit up by a shining sky, with Van Nistelrooy, Toulalan, Mathijsen, Sergio Sanchez, Monreal, Buonanote, Joaquin, Isco, Willy Caballero and Santi Cazorla among its stars. Sports prophecies came true sooner than expected. By the end of 2011/2012 season, Malaga CF achieved the best results since its origins in the first decades of the 20th century. For the first time in its history, the team ended up in fourth place in La Liga, just behind Real Madrid C.F., F.C. Barcelona and Valencia C.F., which earned them a place in the UEFA Champions League 2012-2013. However, economic promises were not to have Al-Thani’s blessings that easily. In July 2012, midfielder Santi Cazorla, centre back Joris Mathijsen and forwards Rondón and Van Nistelrooy reported the non-payment of their salaries to AFE (the Spanish Football Players Association). C.A. Osasuna and Villareal C.F. also demanded that the club settle its debts for the transfers of Cazorla and Nacho Monreal. By autumn 2012, a 300,000 Euro fine was imposed on the club by UEFA for payment irregularities regarding player transfers, club employees and other social or tax administration authorities, as established by UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations. The Andalusian club could be facing a one year suspension from the Champions league if they do not reorganize their financial situation before March 31st . And so the winter transfer market arrived for a team flooded in a sea of doubts. The result: Malaga mourns the departure of Monreal to join the big family in Arsenal while Guru Pellegrini confesses that “there’s no way to hide the club’s situation”. There is much speculation about the Qatari’s role at this point. Evidence seems to demonstrate that Al-Thani may be hiding some dark intentions. There exist several luxurious projects signed by the Sheikh, including a leisure harbour in Marbella and a sports center in Malaga, demanding the city hall for building permissions. The city’s authorities haven’t approved these plans yet and rumours start flying over La Rosaleda: Al Thani could be using extortion as a means to achieve his target. To put it simply, “sign da ting” and we’ll all celebrate it watching Malaga’s victories. The team’s fans are surely willing to see the scaffoldings settling on Marbella’s seaside. One possible satisfactory ending to this saga for Malaga fans could come from an unlikely source. Since September 2012, several newspapers – including the prestigious Los Angeles Times, have reported that David Beckham was looking at the possibility of buying up 75% of the shares of the Andalusian team together with former US international Alexi Lalas. Unfortunately for fans of Malaga, there’s not any official confirmation to this spicy project. The massive number of criticisms lodged by the team’s fans after the departure of Monreal have only had one answer from the Qatari sheikh : “I would like to thank everbody and all the critics, either positive or negative. Greetings”. Let’s give you a pin and cap for that. Notwithstanding, the team players have come to the agreement not to pressure managers, and to concentrate and be optimistic towards the final stretch of the season. Pellegrini and his boys have been putting in great performances in recent months. They currently sit in fourth place in La Liga, and on February 19th they will be playing against Porto in the Champions League Round of 16. Go Malaga! Vamos!
Toyota Kicks Up More Dust with the Debut of the Newest Tacoma TRD Pro Off-Road Pickup February 11, 2016 16-inch TRD black alloy wheels with Goodyear Wrangler ® All-Terrain Kevlar ® -reinforced tires All-Terrain Kevlar -reinforced tires TRD Pro aluminum front skid plate Rigid Industries ® LED fog lights LED fog lights Projector-beam headlights with black bezels, LED Daytime Running Lights (DRL), and auto on/off feature Taillights with black bezels TRD Pro badge on front door with diamond-pattern knurled finish Black TRD Pro and 4x4 rear tailgate badging Black TRD Pro leather-trimmed heated front seats with TRD Pro logo located in the headrest 4-way adjustable driver’s seat with lumbar support and 4-way adjustable front passenger seat Entune™ Premium Audio with Integrated Navigation and App Suite TRD shift knob TRD Pro floor mats Leather-trimmed tilt/telescopic steering wheel with audio and Bluetooth ® hands-free phone controls hands-free phone controls Rear parking assist sonar Blind Spot Monitor (BSM) and Rear Cross-Traffic Alert (RCTA) FOX 2.5 Internal Bypass shocks tuned by TRD TRD-tuned front springs with a 1-inch lift TRD-tuned rear suspension with progressive-rate off-road leaf spring Tacoma TRD Pro Wheels -16” TRD black alloy -Aggressive wheel offset widens the track +1.0-inches front and rear Tires -Goodyear Wrangler® All-Terrain Kevlar®-reinforced tires Shocks FOX 2.5 Internal Bypass shocks Tuned by TRD - Front: TRD-tuned FOX 2.5 Internal Bypass Coil-overs with TRD coil springs - Rear: TRD-tuned FOX 2.5 Internal Bypass Shocks with TRD Off-Road specification Leaf Springs - 2.5-inch diameter aluminum bodies - FOX patented Internal Bypass technology - Position-sensitive Damping - Internal Floating Pistons (IFP) - Hardened, oversized shock shafts are protected by redundant dust boots - Improved suspension droop travel and bottom out resistance Springs -Unique TRD-Tuned front springs provide a 1-inch lift -TRD-tuned rear suspension includes progressive-rate leaf springs from TRD Off-Road models. Fog Lights - Rigid Industries® LED fog lights - Cool white (6500K) light color -35-degree high intensity beam pattern - Instant On/Off Skid Plate - TRD PRO front skid plate - Constructed of ¼-inch aluminum Exterior - Unique heritage-inspired “TOYOTA” front grille with color-keyed surround - Blacked-out hood scoop and graphic - Black bezel headlights, taillights, and overfenders - Color-keyed mirrors, door handles, rear bumper - Black “TRD PRO” badge on front door with diamond-pattern knurled finish - TRD Pro and 4x4 rear tailgate badging Exterior Colors -Cement, Barcelona Red Metallic, Super White Interior - Black TRD Pro Leather-trimmed heated front seats - TRD Pro logo located in headrest - TRD Shift Knob - TRD Floor Mats - - Whether tackling treacherous snow-covered terrain, driving off the beaten path, or surviving extreme conditions where roads fear to tread, the adrenaline-pumping TRD Pro Series from Toyota is up for any challenge. Two years ago, the TRD Pro Series arose from Toyota’s storied off-road racing heritage, with its numerous victories in the grueling Baja off-road endurance races. Born from this experience, the Toyota TRD Pro Series Tacoma, Tundra, and 4Runner have helped serious off-roaders go places they never dreamed possible.This fall, the Toyota Tacoma will rejoin the 2017 model year TRD Pro family with all-new factory-installed off-road equipment designed by the experts at Toyota Racing Development (TRD) to make it even more off-road capable than before.Aimed squarely at extreme off-roading enthusiasts who challenge themselves and their trucks and SUV’s in some of the harshest conditions, the new 2017 Tacoma TRD Pro will raise the bar on TRD Pro performance. Courtesy of TRD, the new Tacoma TRD Pro will add an array of new performance equipment and features, making this a truly second-generation TRD Pro product, and the new benchmark for challenging off-road terrain.The 2017 Tacoma TRD Pro is designed to not only look tough, but to perform in the toughest off-road environment. Based on the Tacoma TRD Off-Road 4x4 Double Cab Short Bed model in either 6-speed manual (with clutch start-cancel switch) or 6-speed automatic transmission, the new Tacoma TRD Pro will be available in three exterior colors: Cement, Barcelona Red Metallic, and Super White. The exterior of each Tacoma TRD Pro model will also include:Each Tacoma TRD Pro will also come equipped with a heritage-inspired TOYOTA front grille with color-keyed surround, blacked out hood scoop and graphic, color-keyed power outside mirrors with turn signal indicators, color-keyed door handles, black overfenders, and a color-keyed rear bumper.Driving a sporty package in rugged off-road conditions does not mean you can’t ride in comfort and with the latest safety and convenience technologies. The new Tacoma TRD Pro combines sportiness and convenience with standard features that include:The new Tacoma TRD Pro also includes an analog instrumentation that features a 4.2-inch color Multi-Information Display (MID) with an integrated inclinometer and tilt gauge. The MID also adds outside temperature, odometer, tripmeters, and average fuel economy.As in all Tacoma models, a GoPromount is located on the windshield for serious off-roaders who like to document their exploits with GoProHERO cameras.The new 2017 Tacoma TRD Pro continues to be all about off-road performance as it strives to raise the bar from the original. The Tacoma TRD Pro will be powered by a 3.5-Liter V6 DOHC 24-valve direct-injection Atkinson-cycle engine with VVT-iW (Variable Valve Timing-intelligent Wide) intake and VVT-I exhaust.Tacoma TRD Pro really earns its off-road cred through its TRD-installed suspension and exhaust enhancements that include:Every Tacoma TRD Pro will be equipped with 4WDemand part-time 4WD with a transfer case and Automatic Limited-Slip Differential (Auto LSD) that are both electronically-controlled. Also standard will be a V6 Tow Package that includes a Class-IV towing receiver hitch, ATF cooler (automatic only), engine oil cooler, power steering cooler, 130-amp alternator, 4- and 7-pin connector with convertor, and Trailer-Sway Control (TSC).An electronically controlled locking rear differential is also standard to help distribute engine power evenly to both rear wheels so they move at the same speed, providing more grip in low-traction conditions.When the trail gets challenging, Tacoma TRD Pro’s Crawl Control (CRAWL) will help drivers conquer their off-road adventure. Equipped on automatics only, this advanced system automatically modulates the throttle and brakes on five low-speed settings so you can keep your focus on navigating across difficult terrain.Equipped on Tacoma TRD Pro automatic is the Toyota Multi-terrain Select system. With five modes to choose from, the system helps regulate wheel spin by automatically adjusting the engine throttle and traction control. When combined with the standard Goodyear Wrangler All-Terrain tires with tough Kevlar construction, Multi-terrain Select helps enhance traction dramatically, meaning you can get back to the fun more quickly.Tacoma TRD Pro’s Hill Start Assist Control (HAC), equipped on automatic transmission models only, helps you safely get up those hills. This technology helps minimize Tacoma from rolling backward when you move your foot from the brake to the gas pedal, so you can move upward with confidence.The added traction of 4WD is great, but with Active Traction Control (A-TRAC), it’s even better! Equipped only on the Tacoma TRD Pro manual, A-TRAC is a 4WD traction control system that uses the 4-channel ABS system to control power flow to the front and rear wheels, all without cutting throttle input, to help make traction no matter where you may be.The TRD Pro Series is the most-advanced yet in a long line of TRD packages for Toyota trucks that dates back to 1998 when the first Off-Road package was introduced for Tacoma.TRD has been an in-house engine and chassis developer for successful Toyota racing activities around the world for nearly four decades. It also develops motorsport-derived accessories for Toyota, Lexus and Scion street cars and trucks. TRD’s U.S. operations were first established in 1979 and are headquartered in Costa Mesa, Calif., with an additional facility in Salisbury, N.C.Like all Toyota vehicles, the Tacoma TRD Pro receives a 36-month/36,000 mile basic new-vehicle warranty applies to all components other than normal wear and maintenance items. Additional 60-month warranties cover the powertrain for 60,000 miles and corrosion with no mileage limitation. The Tacoma also comes standard with Toyota Care, a complimentary plan covering normal factory-scheduled maintenance and 24-hour roadside assistance for two years or 25,000 miles, whichever comes first.The Tacoma TRD Pro will be assembled at Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Texas, Inc. (TMMTX) in San Antonio.The Tacoma TRD Pro Series will start getting down and dirty in the fall of 2016.
Posted on by Chris Brennan --- This episode of the podcast is a recording of a lecture I presented recently titled 12 Reasons Why Whole Sign Houses is the Best House System. This talk was presented on Wednesday, November 18, 2015 as an evening webinar for the Nightlight Astrology group organized by Adam Elenbaas. When Adam invited me to give a lecture for his group on whole sign houses I realized that I had never given a talk solely dedicated to just that topic before. So, I decided to frame my argument as more of a polemical set of arguments for why someone might adopt whole sign houses as their preferred method of house division. Basically, my goal with the talk was to discuss some of the most appealing historical, conceptual, and practical arguments in favor of that specific approach to house division. Usually I tend to favor more nuanced discussions that incorporate different perspectives on things, but since it was just going to be a relatively short lecture I thought it would be better just to focus on some specific points in favor of the approach. It seems like a lot of people have been switching to whole sign houses recently, I wanted to show what it is that people are finding appealing about this approach. Towards the end of the talk I did make some conciliatory remarks about the possibility of using whole sign houses together with quadrant houses, which is an approach that I do feel is worth exploring, even if I think that whole sign houses should still be the primary approach. Below you will find the PowerPoint slides for the talk, a synopsis of the 12 arguments I made in favor of whole sign houses, and then links to download or stream the recording of the lecture. PowerPoint Slides You can download the PowerPoint slides that contain the diagrams and lecture notes for the talk below: 12 Reasons Why Whole Sign Houses Is The Best House System This is a PDF file, so you will need to have Adobe Reader in order to open it. 12 Reasons for Why Whole Sign Houses Is The Best House System A synopsis of the 12 arguments I gave in favor of whole sign houses in the talk: Whole sign houses was both the original form of house division as well as the dominant form of house division for the first thousand years of the practice of western astrology. Many of the core significations of the houses were first developed within the context of whole sign houses, and only make sense still today conceptually within the context of that framework. The shift to quadrant houses happened suddenly and may not necessarily have been very well-considered. It solves a long-standing dispute that astrologers have had for the past 1000 years now since the switch to quadrant houses occurred. Whole sign houses provides a stark contrast to other approaches, and is more readily testable than other systems. Transits through the houses are more clear, both in terms of when they start and end, as well as in terms of the circumstances associated with them becoming more evident immediately. WSH creates a better distinction between the 1st and 12th houses, so that planets that rise over the horizon do not immediately move into the 12th house, thus resolving a conceptual issue with the significations usually associated with that house. Provides a solution to the Gauquelin “plus zone” issue. Rectification becomes more straightforward. It has been the primary form of house division in India for almost 2000 years. It was used in the earliest texts on horary and electional astrology. It has recently been adopted by a number of leading contemporary astrologers, which is notable because it involves switching to a system that is different than the one they started with, rather than sticking with whatever approach they happened to first learn. Transcript A transcript of this episode is available here: Episode 52 transcript Listen to This Episode You can either play this episode of the podcast directly from the website or download it as an MP3 to your computer by using the buttons below: Share this: Facebook Twitter Reddit Email
The science of salt and electrolytes (are we consuming enough?) Will Little Blocked Unblock Follow Following Oct 28, 2017 Clockwise from lower left: celtic gray sea salt, coarse sea salt, kosher salt, and regular table salt. photo credit Modern science has revealed that we were wrong (and fooled) yet again. As it turns out, mineral deficiencies are likely more of a problem than we realize, as not consuming enough salt and electrolytes is both easy to do and dangerous for our health. First, the JAMA Internal Medicine exposed last year that the sugar industry literally paid scientists in the 1960s to shift the blame from sugar to saturated fat & cholesterol as underlying causes of heart disease. Now, an increasing body of evidence suggests that the origins of the low-salt movement are also scientifically flawed. Most notably, the political influence of scientists such as Frederick M. Allen, Walter Kempner, Lewis K. Dahl, George Meneely, and Harold Battarbee set a course in the 20th century that resulted in low-salt dogma that made its way into the 1977 Dietary Goals and, ultimately, into the 1980 Dietary Guidelines that have influenced us ever since: …the 1977 Dietary Goals mainly relied on George Meneely and Harold Battarbee for recommending low-salt to all Americans. However, even these authors believed that salt restriction was only important in those who had a low intake of potassium and only in those who were genetically susceptible to the blood-pressure-raising effects of salt. In other words, even these authors never believed that all Americans should be given low-salt dietary advice. Uh oh. Houston, we have a problem: My goal in this article is to teach the underlying science of sodium and other electrolytes as they relate to human health. I’ll point to research that suggests that the “low-salt” movement is likely causing more harm than good, and I’ll discuss dietary techniques that can guide you toward overall electrolyte nutrition. Of course, please consult with your doctor/medical team before making any changes to your diet. I’d encourage you to study, share, and discuss the cited research with them as you refine a plan for your ongoing health. What are salt and electrolytes, exactly? Technically, a “salt” is any substance that contains a combination of charged particles called cations (positively charged) and anions (negatively charged). These individual particles are known as “electrolytes” because they can conduct electricity when “separated” (Greek: lytós) in water. Electrolytes can be individual elements (e.g. sodium) or groups of elements (e.g. phosphate). What we typically call “salt” is actually “table salt” (NaCl); a sodium atom bound to a chloride atom that easily comes apart in water. What electrolytes are important for human health? In our bodies there are seven major electrolytes: Sodium (Na) Chloride (Cl) Potassium (K) Magnesium (Mg) Calcium (Ca) Phosphate (HPO4) Bicarbonate (HCO3) The other notable electrolytes are zinc, iron, manganese, molybdenum, copper, and chromium. To answer this question thoroughly, in fact, let’s look at a Periodic Table and note all the individual elements that we need in our bodies: Since 96.2% of our body weight comes from oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen alone, that means that 3.8% of our weight comes from all of the other elements noted above. Most of these elements are (or are included in) electrolytes and play vital roles in millions of chemical processes that occur in our bodies every day. Does too much sodium cause high blood pressure? This is the million dollar question (or more like a multi-trillion dollar one). As it turns out, there is no conclusive scientific evidence that an over-consumption of sodium causes high blood pressure in the majority of people. There is, of course, tons of research attempting to show correlation between the two; but even then, for those with normal blood-pressure (i.e. less than 120/80 mmHg), there is little-to-no correlation. Even for those with hypertension already (!), there is only a minor correlation, and even then for only 45% of that population. What!? We’ve been told all our lives that eating a low amount of salt is important for health. To make things even more confusing, recent evidence has even shown an opposite correlation: “While we expected dietary sodium intake to be positively associated with both SBP [systolic blood pressure] and DBP [diastolic blood pressure], the opposite was found.” — Lynn L. Moore et. al, Boston University School of Medicine Even so — as any good scientist will tell you — correlation (in any direction) does not equal causation. Is it possible that something else besides salt is problematic in the food that people with blood pressure issues consume? Could that ingredient actually be causing the high blood pressure, or could it be a complex mixture of multiple ingredients? (Spoiler alert: it looks like carbs are the key problem) Here’s what we know There is good evidence that a low-sodium diet causes: You have to ask yourself then, for everyone — including the small population of people where low-salt diets reduce some blood pressure — are the risks worth it? What about the other electrolytes? How do I know if I have a problem? Symptoms of electrolyte imbalances include one or more of the following: Muscle aches, spasms, twitches and weakness Restlessness Anxiety Frequent headaches Abnormally large thirst Insomnia Fever Heart palpitations (irregular heartbeats) Digestive issues like cramps, constipation, or diarrhea Confusion and trouble concentrating Bone disorders Joint pain Significant changes in appetite or body weight Fatigue (including chronic fatigue syndrome) Numbness and pain in joints Dizziness, especially when standing up suddenly For those interested, I’ve included detailed information in Appendix A below about the 13 notable electrolytes in the human body, including symptoms of too much or too little in your system. How much of these electrolytes should I be consuming every day? Here are the current FDA guidelines (I’ll comment more about sodium below; the others aren’t as controversial): Sodium: 2,400mg* (changing to 2,300mg in July 2018) Chloride: 3,400mg Potassium: 3,500mg Magnesium: 400mg Calcium: 1,000mg Phosphate (from Phosphorous: 1,000mg) Bicarbonate: (from H20 and CO2 via carbonic anhydrase) Zinc: 15mg Iron: 18mg Manganese: 2mg Molybdenum: 75μg (micrograms, aka mcg) Copper: 2mg Chromium: 120μg *Scientific evidence suggests this may be harmfully low for most people. Based on a study of over 100k people across 17 countries, “an estimated sodium intake between 3 g per day and 6 g per day was associated with a lower risk of death and cardiovascular events than either a higher or lower estimated level of sodium intake.” Another study looked at ~275k people and found that between 2,645mg and 4,945mg of sodium per day was the optimal range. Therefore, based on the data above, you may want to discuss with your doctor a plan to consume sodium in the ~3–6g/day range, especially if you are not hypertensive. Thankfully, odds are if you haven’t been paying much attention to how much salt you consume, as long as you aren’t gorging yourself on tons of processed foods, you are likely naturally consuming about 3–6g/day anyway. Your body knows what it needs. Outside of sodium, however, there is serious cause for concern that Americans aren’t consuming enough potassium, magnesium, calcium, zinc, and iron. This may be due to the depletion of these minerals in the soil that grows our fruits and vegetables, the massive decline in milk consumption and beef intake over the past 30 years, and/or the fact that most people have trouble consuming leafy greens (especially spinach) on a regular basis. In fact, it’s worth diving into each of these electrolytes to get a better idea how much you need to eat to meet the guidelines. In Appendix B below, I’ve included an extensive list of healthy foods to eat in order to get enough of these minerals in your diet. How do doctors test for electrolyte problems? The most common way to test for electrolyte imbalances is, of course, blood tests. Most normal lab tests check for sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium, and bicarbonate in your blood serum, but unless you or your doctor specifically ask for it, rarely will you get results about the other electrolytes. Since minor electrolyte deficiencies and imbalances often result in a general lack of energy (and since most american adults mask these symptoms with caffeine), it’s common for electrolyte problems to go untreated. Furthermore, calcium, potassium, and magnesium, for example, can appear normal in routine blood serum tests, but actually be low inside cells and interstitial spaces in our bodies. To address this issue, other tests include: Red Blood Cell (RBC) Tests — i.e. testing electrolytes inside red blood cells themselves, rather than just blood serum. — i.e. testing electrolytes inside red blood cells themselves, rather than just blood serum. EXA tests — which take a cheek swap and measure electrolytes from that soft tissue, where elements like magnesium are more commonly found. — which take a cheek swap and measure electrolytes from that soft tissue, where elements like magnesium are more commonly found. Tolerance (or load) testing — this involves injecting someone with a safe dose of the electrolyte, then measuring output in urine. — this involves injecting someone with a safe dose of the electrolyte, then measuring output in urine. Ionized tests — these tests isolate only the “free ions” of the electrolyte in the blood (i.e. the most important for many biological processes), whereas normal serum tests pick up all forms, including those bound to other elements or molecules. Needless to say, if you suspect an electrolyte imbalance and it’s not showing up in blood serum tests, urge your doctor to run additional tests. How much sodium do we lose when we workout or sweat for long periods of time? This is an important question, since the 3–6g of daily sodium intake values noted in the studies above do not account for signifiant levels of exercise or sweating (e.g. working outside in hot climates). It’s been showed that working a full shift in a hot climate can result in losing up to 6g of sodium in a day. In fact, since there is around 1g of sodium in 0.5lbs of sweat in an average person (which varies greatly depending on what shape you are in and how acclimated to the climate you are), and it’s common to lose about a pound (or more) of sweat in an hour of working out, this means an average non-athlete can lose well more than 2g of sodium in a typical workout. Even well-conditioned athletes have been shown to lose between 409mg and 1,248mg of sodium per hour, depending on the quantity of sweat lost. Therefore, it’s critical for people sweating to replenish sodium levels accordingly to maintain proper hydration (e.g. 2g of extra sodium per hour of working out). It’s unfortunately common for endurance athletes — or people new to hot climates — to suffer from hyponatremia (i.e. low-salt, a very serious condition), even if they have been drinking plenty of water. In fact, drinking too much water without consuming sodium can cause hyponatremia, since it dilutes the concentration of what little salt is left in the body. Do we also lose other electrolytes in our sweat? Yes, though not as much as sodium in proportion to the recommended daily values. One study of 113 people found that the mean losses of iodine, sodium, potassium, and calcium in sweat following a 1-hr game were 52 micrograms, 1,896 mg, 248 mg, and 20 mg, respectively (iodine deficiency, in fact, became a concern amongst the participants). Another study recommended that athletes should consume 10–20% extra magnesium per day, as both male and female athletes were more susceptible to deficiencies versus those who don’t sweat as much. Furthermore, a comprehensive study of 8-hr work shifts of heat-exposed steel workers found the following (WBGT = Wet Bulb Globe Temperature): Long story short, a diverse supplementation of electrolytes is needed if you sweat. These should be considered above the recommended daily intakes. Why do low-carb dieters (especially those going into ketosis) need to consume an extra quantity of electrolytes? If you’ve studied any amount of low-carb dieting, then hopefully you’ve come across advice suggesting an increase in electrolyte consumption. This is important. Full-on ketogenic dieting (which I’ve written about here), for example, comes with the recommended additional intake of 3-5g of table salt (NaCl), 1g of potassium, and 300mg of magnesium. The more carbohydrates you consume in your diet, the less additional electrolytes you need. This is because dropping carbs results in a lower amount of insulin and a greater amount glucagon in your blood, which signals to your kidneys to dump electrolytes (notably, sodium), which lowers blood volume and can increase heart rate (plus all the other low-salt symptoms listed above and in Appendix A). This is also aligns with evidence that high-carb diets, not high-salt diet (although they are often correlated), causes hypertension and can lead to obesity and various diseases of the heart. Do electrolyte imbalances play a role in hangovers? Yes they do. Not only does alcohol inhibit anti-diuretic hormone (ADH) secretion (which makes you urinate more often and lose water), but your liver requires an arsenal of electrolytes across the board in order to properly detox the ethanol. Thus, a solid diversity of electrolytes (and other vitamin/nutrients) are needed, along with plenty of water, to speed up recovery. What is the best way to practically keep electrolytes in balance throughout the week? In Appendix B below I’ve included a long list of nutrient-rich foods to consider across the span of notable electrolytes. That being said, it’s easy to see that, especially for someone who works out and/or sweats regularly, that it’s very difficult to meet the recommended guidelines for most electrolytes (especially potassium and magnesium). You can use an app like MyFitnessPal to track approximately how many electrolytes you are consuming per day (and you’ll see how hard it is). Therefore, in addition to consuming a fair amount avocados, nuts, and spinach (mixing up both raw and cooked forms) on a regular basis, as I mentioned above, I’d highly recommend discussing with your doctor a high-quality daily supplement regime. With our food sources in the USA containing less nutrients than before (even “whole foods” like fruits and vegetables), it’s difficult to put together a plan to consume a sufficient amount of electrotypes to meet even basic health conditions. Furthermore, if you workout regularly, you may want to consider direct electrolyte pill supplementation (I use Rapid Rehydr8 as a general purpose mixture, and Doctor’s Best for high-adsorption magnesium). Anecdotally, I’ve found that consuming both water and electrotypes before a workout results in significantly greater performance (research also backs this up). Finally, it’s helpful to have a diversity of salts in your kitchen (e.g. garlic salt, Himalayan Salt, Redmond Real Salt, Celtic Sea Salt, etc..), as many other elements beyond sodium and chloride can be found in them to round out your electrolyte intake (plus, the nuanced flavors are amazing, you won’t be disappointed). Author’s note: thanks in advance for any/all feedback, corrections, and comments to this article. I’ve personally experienced dramatic health benefits by paying close attention to electrolyte levels (especially sodium, potassium, and magnesium), and I hope this article helps you do the same. Subscribe to my newsletter and I’ll let you know when I write more about health and fitness topics (I also write about entrepreneurship, blockchain technology, and other science/tech topics). For those interested in additional reading about sodium in particular, I’d highly recommend Dr. James DiNicolantonio’s insightful book The Salt Fix. And last but not least, remember to comment (which you can also do inline by highlighting something), hit the clap button, and/or share this article with a friend if you’ve found it helpful. Thanks! Appendix A: Detailed information about the 13 notable electrolytes in the human body Sodium is primarily responsible for fluid control in the body, and thus helps regulate the concentration of all other electrolytes. It is also involved in nerve and muscle function. Too little sodium is indicated by dizziness, lethargy, confusion, and nausea. Too much causes muscle twitches and seizures. Chloride is critical for the electrical neutrality of most fluids in the body (especially extracellular fluid), and also helps control water levels. Too much or too little chloride is evidenced by excessive fatigue, muscle weakness, breathing problems, frequent vomiting, prolonged diarrhea, excessive thirst, or high blood pressure. Potassium is most critical for ensuring an electrical potential inside cells so muscle and nerve tissue operates correctly (it does not play much of a role in regulating fluid volume). Symptoms of low or high potassium include weakness, tiredness, or cramping in arm or leg muscles, tingling or numbness, nausea/vomiting, abdominal cramping, bloating, constipation, and heart palpitations. Magnesium is critical for hundreds of biochemical reactions in the body, and it also plays a key role in nerve, muscle, and bone function. It’s extremely rare to have too much magnesium given how efficient the body is at excreting it, but too little can cause muscle spasms and cramps, anxiety & depression, high blood pressure/hypertension, hormone & sleep issues, and — most notably — low energy. Calcium is critical for transmitting nerve impulses, muscle contractions, and, of course, maintaining bone integrity. Too little calcium can result in muscle cramps, confusion, and tingling in the lips and fingers. Too much leads to increased thirst and urination, belly pain, nausea, bone pain, muscle weakness, confusion, and fatigue. Phosphate is the critical anion that balances out calcium and is critical for energy production as well as bone integrity and function. Too little phosphate results in joint pain, weakened bones, fatigue and irregular breathing. Too much leads to similar symptoms as too little calcium (i.e. muscle cramps, confusion, and tingling in the lips and fingers). Bicarbonate is the key buffer of pH in your body. In response to increased acidity (e.g. lactic acid build up after working out), the kidneys secrete bicarbonate to lower blood pH. On the flip side, if the blood becomes too basic, the kidneys will slow bicarbonate release. Symptoms of high bicarbonate include confusion, hand tremors, lightheadedness, muscle twitching, nausea, vomiting, numbness or tingling in the face/hands/feet, and prolonged muscle spasms (tetany). Too low bicarbonate increases blood acidity and results in rapid and shallow breathing, confusion, fatigue, headaches, sleepiness, lack of appetite, jaundice, and an increased heart rate. Zinc plays a variety of roles in wound healing, protein formation, and — most notably — the immune system. Too little zinc results in poor memory, a weakened immune system, constant onset of colds, loss of taste or smell, sleep problems (zinc is needed to make melatonin), hair loss, loss of appetite, low libido, and diarrhea. Too much leads to abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach irritation, headaches, irritability, fatigue, and/or dizziness. Iron is essential for proper blood formation, the distribution of oxygen throughout the body, and thousands of chemical processes essential for your health. Low iron causes dizziness, fatigue, lightheadedness, palpitations, and breathing problems. Too much iron leads to chronic fatigue, joint pain, abdominal pain, liver disease, diabetes, palpitations, sever heart problems, and skin color changes (bronze or green-ish). Manganese is a utility player involved in a wide variety of roles, including proper function of connective tissue, bones, blood clotting factors, the creation of sex hormones, blood sugar regulation, calcium absorption, fat & carbohydrate metabolism, and brain/nerve function. Too much can result in neurological disorder (manganism) with symptoms including tremors, trouble walking, and spasms in muscles of the face. These symptoms are often preceded by irritability, aggressiveness, and even hallucinations. Too low manganese, on the other hand, causes weak bones (osteoporosis), anemia, chronic fatigue syndrome, low immunity and frequently getting sick, worsened symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS), hormonal imbalances, impaired glucose sensitivity, and/or changes in digestion and appetite. Molybdenum serves as a catalyst for a variety of reactions involving amino acids, nitrogen, uric acid, sulfites, and antioxidants in our bodies. Too much and you can experience severe diarrhea, gout, skin problems, hair loss, growth retardation, osteoporosis, thyroid abnormality, bone and joint abnormalities, and/or significant (not healthy) weight loss. Too little — which is extremely rare — can lead to sulfite sensitivity, an increased breathing or heart rate, low libido, night blindness, and/or mouth and gum disorders. Copper is involving in reducing free radicals in the body, making collagen for healthy connective tissue, and producing red blood cells, nerve cells, and immune cells. Too much copper in your system (which is more common for females due to estrogen’s ability to retain it) includes physical fatigue, mind racing, extreme emotional highs and lows, anxiety, and/or reproductive problems. Too little copper can result in fatigue, arthritis, osteoporosis, paleness, low body temperature (i.e. often feeling cold), anemia, and/or frequently getting sick due to the suppressed immune system. Chromium is involved in a variety of processes involving the metabolism of fats, carbs, and proteins. Notably, chromium helps regulate blood sugar levels by working with insulin to transport glucose across cell membranes. Too little can lead to poor blood glucose control, bone problems, low energy, skin problems, cholesterol problems, vision issues, wound healing slowness, and/or heart complications. Too much can result in nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, renal failure, severe gastrointestinal irritation, and/or ulcers. Appendix B: How to consume sufficient potassium, magnesium, calcium, zinc, and iron How to consume 3,500mg of potassium per day It’s harder than you think. Foods that will help you consume enough potassium include: Avocado: 1 whole: 1,067 milligrams (30 percent DV) Acorn squash: 1 cup: 896 milligrams (26 percent DV) Spinach: 1 cup cooked: 839 milligrams (24 percent DV) Sweet potato: 1 large: 855 milligrams (24 percent DV) Wild-caught salmon: ½ filet: 772 milligrams (22 percent DV) Dried apricots: ½ cup: 756 milligrams (22 percent DV) Pomegranate: 1 whole: 667 milligrams (19 percent DV) Coconut water: 1 cup: 600 milligrams (17 percent DV) White beans: ½ cup: 502 mg (15 percent DV) Banana: 1 large: 487 milligrams (14 percent DV) A longer list can be found here. Long story short, most people likely aren’t consuming enough potassium, which could explain — in part — why most people feel generally tired (and cover it up with caffeine consumption). How to consume 400mg of magnesium per day Similar to potassium, magnesium is also difficult for most Americans to consume in adequate amounts. Foods high in magnesium include: Spinach — 1 cup: 157 milligrams (40% DV) Chard — 1 cup: 154 milligrams (38% DV) Pumpkin seeds — 1/8 cup: 92 milligrams (23% DV) Yogurt or Kefir — 1 cup: 50 milligrams (13% DV) Almonds — 1 ounce: 80 milligrams (20% DV) Black Beans — ½ cup: 60 milligrams (15% DV) Avocado — 1 medium: 58 milligrams (15% DV) Figs — ½ cup: 50 milligrams (13% DV) Dark Chocolate — 1 square: 95 milligrams (24% DV) Banana — 1 medium: 32 milligrams (8% DV) A more extensive list can be found here. Deficiencies in magnesium cause tiredness, anxiety, depression, and sleep problems…which may explain a few things for the typical american adult. How to consume 1000mg of calcium per day Many americans consume enough cheese to make calcium deficiencies less of an issue than potassium or magnesium, but still, note that foods high in calcium include: 1) Raw Milk: 1 cup: 300 mg (30% DV) 2) Kale (cooked): 1 cup: 245 mg (24% DV) 3) Sardines (with bones): 2 ounces: 217 mg (21% DV) 4) Yogurt or Kefir: 6 oz: 300 mg (30% DV) 5) Broccoli: 1 ½ cup cooked: 93 mg (9% DV) 6) Watercress: 1 cup: 41 mg (4% DV) 7) Cheese: 1 oz: 224 mg (22% DV) 8) Bok Choy: 1 cup: 74 mg (7% DV) 9) Okra: 1 cup: 82 mg (8% DV) 10) Almonds: 1 oz: 76 mg (8% DV) A more exhaustive list can be found here. How to consume 15mg of zinc per day Thankfully, at least in the USA, zinc tends to easier than other electrolytes to get enough of in your diet, especially if you aren’t a vegetarian (i.e. beef, pork, and seafood have fair amounts of zinc, especially oysters, lobster, and crab). That being said, zinc deficiencies do continue to be a problem worldwide. Other food sources especially high in zinc include: 1. Lamb: 3 ounces: 6.7 milligrams (45 percent DV) 2. Pumpkin Seeds: 1 cup: 6.6 milligrams (44 percent DV) 3. Grass-Fed Beef: 100 grams: 4.5 milligrams (30 percent DV) 4. Chickpeas (Garbanzo Beans): 1 cup: 2.5 milligras (17 percent DV) 5. Cocoa Powder: 1 ounce: 1.9 milligrams (13 percent DV) 6. Cashews: 1 ounce: 1.6 milligrams (11 percent DV) 7. Kefir or Yogurt: 1 cup: 1.4 milligrams (10 percent DV) (values vary) 8. Mushrooms: 1 cup: 1.4 milligrams (9 percent DV) 9. Spinach: 1 cup: 1.4 milligrams (9 percent DV) 10. Chicken: 100 grams: 1 milligram (7 percent DV) A more extensive list can be found here. If you find yourself in seasons where you are getting sick more often, consider upping the consumption of zinc-rich food. How to consume 18mg of iron per day If you often get tired in the middle of the day and/or feel lightheaded often, a slight (or significant) iron deficiency could be your problem. Foods high in iron include: 1. Spirulina: 1 ounce: 8 milligrams of iron (44 percent DV) 2) Liver: 3 ounces of organic beef liver: 4.05 milligrams of iron (22.5 percent DV) 3) Grass-Fed Beef: One lean grass-fed strip steak (214 grams): 4 milligrams of iron (22 percent DV) 4) Lentils: ½ cup: 3.3 milligrams of iron (20.4 percent DV) 5) Dark Chocolate: 1 ounce: 3.3 milligrams iron (19 percent DV) 6) Spinach: ½ cup cooked: 3.2 milligrams (17.8 percent DV) 7) Sardines: 1/4 cup: 1.8 milligrams (10 percent DV) 8) Black beans: ½ cup: 1.8 milligrams (10 percent DV) 9) Pistachios: 1 ounce: 1.1 milligrams (6.1 percent DV) 10) Raisins: 1/4 cup: 1.1 milligrams (6.1 percent DV) A more extensive list can be found here. Similar to zinc, if a sufficient amount and variety of beef/pork/chicken is consumed, or vegetables such as spinach, you should be getting enough iron in your system to maintain health. Thanks for reading! Subscribe to my newsletter and I’ll let you know when I write more about health and fitness topics (I also write about entrepreneurship, blockchain technology, and other science/tech topics). Remember to comment below, hit the clap button, and/or share this article with a friend if you’ve found it helpful. Thanks!
The St. Louis Blues solidified their fourth player until the 2020-2021 season. Joining the players of Jake Allen, Jaden Schwartz, and Vladimir Tarasenko, Alexander Steen has signed a 4-year contract extension worth $23 million. At the start of the St. Louis Blues training camp, Steen and the Blues got the contract extension that they were searching for. A perhaps final contract that will likely see Steen finish his hockey career, at the age of 37, when it ends. Though injuries have prevented Steen from skating a full 82 game season over the last few years, Alexander managed 64 points in 2014-15 over 74 games, and 52 points in 67 throughout the 2015-16 season. On and off the ice, Steen is a core veteran amongst the St. Louis franchise and could very well see Top 5 in All-Time Games Played for the Blues. Advertisements
Before March Madness basketball overwhelms me, Big Shots suffers the heat in Morocco at the 24th Marathon des Sables in the Sahara Desert before cooling off in Croatia at the Synchronized Skating World Championships in Zagreb. Then it's on to Malaysia for the rain-shortened Malaysian Grand Prix before joining Sara Campbell 314 feet under water for her record breaking free dive off the Bahamas. Hold your breath, Big Shots is bringing you March Madness this week on Wednesday after both the men's and women's champions have been crowned. Note for regular Big Shots readers: for the weeks of April 13 and 20 I leave Big Shots in the very capable hands of fellow Globe picture editor Lloyd Young while I'm on vacation. We've got a deep bench. ( 37 photos total
Routing in Vapor 2.0, Part 1: Basic Routing Hello droplets! Routing is one of the core functions of any backend framework. It is quite simple and elegant with vapor. So let's begin! Create a new Vapor project, called Routing, by running: $ vapor new Routing --template=api Then run vapor xcode to create the Xcode project, and press y when prompted to open the Xcode project. First, delete the Post.swift file and the PostController.swift file, we will not be using them. Then, in the setupPreparations() method, in Config+Setup.swift , delete the line preparations.append(Post.self) . This entire tutorial will take place in Routes.swift . Delete all of the content from the setupRoutes() function. Basic route First, let's make a simple GET request. add the following route to setupRoutes() : get("hello") { request in return "Hello, Vaporists!" } The get function is called on our instance of droplet . All routes in vapor are called from the instance of our droplet. Every route in vapor has 3 things: A method (get, post, put, patch, delete) A path, supplied by the user ( `"hello"` in our case) a closure with the request Also, we may notice that we returned a string. Every route closure in Vapor can return 1 of 3 ways: a Response a type conforming to the ResponseRepresentable protocol protocol throw an error that conforms to Vapor.error Nesting Routes Nesting a hard-coded route is quite simple in vapor. Add the following to setupRoutes() : get("hi/how/are/you") { request in return "this path is /hi/how/are/you" } Custom Response: We can also return a custom Response object as well. First, add import HTTP to the top of your Routes.swift file. Now, for example, we can redirect: get("foo") { request in return Response(redirect: "https://apple.com") } Navigating to /foo will now redirect you to the Apple website. or we can return a certain status: get("bar") { request in return Response(status: Status.forbidden) } Like Status.forbidden , we can also return other instances of the Status enum. Some of the more common ones are: Status.accepted Status.authenticationTimeout Status.badRequest Status.badGateway Status.created Status.notFound Or, we can return a Response with a status and customized JSON: get("vapor") { request in return try Response(status: Status.accepted, json: JSON(node: ["yourStatus here": "hello world!"])) } Parameters Oftentimes we need routes such as /posts/1 , for showing a post with an id of 1, or /posts/1/comments to show the post's comments. Vapor handles this very elegantly with its type-safe Parameterizable protocol: get("post", Int.parameter) { request in let parameter = try request.parameters.next(Int.self) return "You requested route /post/\(parameter)" } get("post", Int.parameter, "comments") { request in let parameter = try request.parameters.next(Int.self) return "You requested route /post/\(parameter)/comments" } With the Parameterizable protocol, any type that conforms to it can be represented as a parameter as above. If your uniqueId is not an int, but a string, that is also Parameterizable: get("heart", String.parameter) { request in let parameter = try request.parameters.next(String.self) return "You requested route /heart/\(parameter)" } Part 2 of this series on Routing in vapor will go more in depth on the Parameterizable protocol, and how we can use it with our models to efficiently retrieve objects. Fallback Routes A fallback route is defined in vapor as follows: get("foobarbaz", "") { request in // this route matches: // /foobarbaz/1 // /foobarbaz/1/2/3 return "this is a fallback route" } As the second parameter, simply put a "", and the route will match anything, as long as it begins with foobarbaz Groups If we need to put multiple routes underneath one common route, for example /v1/users and /v1/posts and /v1/comments , we can easily group them: group("v1") { v1 in v1.get("users") { request in return "this route is /v1/users" } v1.get("comments") { request in return "this route is /v1/comments" } } Alternatively, you can do the exact same as above, using this syntax: let v1 = grouped("v1") v1.get("users") { request in return "this route is /users/all" } v1.get("comments") { request in return "this route is /users/none" } And of course, you can combine different types of routes as well, such as grouping and parameters: v1.get("users", Int.parameter) { request in let parameter = try request.parameters.next(Int.self) return "You requested /v1/users/\(parameter)" } That's it for this beginning tutorial to routing in Vapor 2! Check back soon for Part 2 of the series, which will focus on using the Parameterizable protocol with your models, organizing your routes in controllers, and route collections. Thanks for reading!
AFP/Getty Images An effort by Sen. Dianne Feinstein to bar gun sales to suspected terrorists was blocked Thursday. The Senate on Monday rejected an effort to bar suspected terrorists from buying guns. The amendment to a bill dealing with the Affordable Care Act was offered by California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat. It would allow the U.S. to block the sale or transfer of guns to suspected or known terrorists. The amendment needed 60 votes to pass, but got only 45 yes votes in the Republican-controlled Senate. Just one Republican, Mark Kirk of Illinois, voted with Democrats to approve the measure. The vote came a day after a mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., that left 14 people dead. President Barack Obama said Thursday it was unclear if terrorism or another motive was involved, but did not rule out a terror link.
Some of you might have wondered how the NFL decided to permit players to wear pink cleats and other accessories during the month of October. According to Steve Reed of CarolinaGrowl.com, the idea for the promotion of breast cancer awareness came not from some tie-wearing exec on Park Avenue, but from a member of the rank and file. Running back DeAngelo Williams, per Reed, petitioned the league during the offseason for permission to wear pink cleats to help the cause. “It means something to a lot of people affected by it,” Williams said. “Families and the people actually affected by it. Nothing is stronger than wearing pink on the thing that keeps you going in the National Football League and that’s your cleats. . . . Because if you don’t have a firm foot in the ground you’re going to slip.” The fact that the uniform-obsessed NFL made the gesture in the first place was significant on its own; the fact that the idea came from one of the league’s player makes it an even bigger deal, in our view.
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan is hoping the lure of deeper economic ties with Russia will strengthen strategic relations in the face of a rising China, but skeptics question whether the approach will generate a breakthrough in a decades-old territorial dispute. Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Sochi, Russia, May 6, 2016. REUTERS/Pavel Golovkin/Pool Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of a business conference in Vladivostok to discuss, among other things, closer economic cooperation in such areas as energy and technology. The meeting at the two-day forum in the Russian port city, which begins on Friday, will be followed by Putin’s visit to Japan in December, a Russian official has said. It will be Putin’s first visit since Abe took office in December 2012, although Abe has been to Russia several times. Japan has been eyeing closer ties with Russia to counter China’s growing clout, as well as its interest in Russia’s natural resources. In a sign of the focus on economic ties, Abe has given his trade minister Hiroshige Seko an additional portfolio in charge of economic cooperation with Russia, the main government spokesman in Tokyo said on Thursday. Earlier attempts to schedule a visit by Putin were derailed by Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region, which prompted Tokyo to join the United States and other Western countries in imposing sanctions on Moscow. Former lawmaker Muneo Suzuki said broadening economic ties with an eye to the eventual resolution of the territorial row over islands in the western Pacific made sense because Russia’s energy resources and Japan’s technological expertise and investments were a good fit. “What President Putin is hoping for is Japan’s technology. If Japan’s technology is sought after for the development of Russia’s Far East, we should make it available,” said Suzuki, who has advised Japanese prime ministers on Russian relations. “As for Japan, we are importing oil and gas from the Middle East, which is some 10,000 km away. It would be in our national interest to procure them stably from Vladivostok or Sakhalin, which are just a stone’s throw away,” Suzuki told Reuters. CONCESSION “UNTHINKABLE” Japan claims sovereignty over a string of Russia-controlled western Pacific islands, called the Northern Territories in Japan and Southern Kuriles in Russia. The row over the island chain, seized by troops of the former Soviet Union at the end of World War Two, has prevented a formal peace treaty between the two countries. Critics say it is unlikely that economic cooperation would prompt Putin to hand over what Moscow regards as its own territory. Putin enjoys high approval ratings after the Crimea annexation despite Russia’s economic difficulties. “The Crimea annexation painted him as a great leader who took back territory that was once lost, and triggered an upturn in his support rating,” said Shigeki Hakamada, professor emeritus at Japan’s Aoyama Gakuin University. “It is rather unthinkable that Putin makes a concession on what he himself said became Russian territory as a result of World War Two,” he said. Increased infrastructure investments on the disputed islands signal a clear reluctance on Russia’s part to hand the islands over, James Brown, associate professor at Temple University’s Japan campus, told reporters this week. Hakamada said some promising comments could come from bilateral talks “to keep economic cooperation from Japan coming”. “But I don’t think there will be a real concession,” he said.
Greenlight Capital head David Einhorn says gold is going higher, interest rates are way too low, and the U.S. government has no intention of paying its bills. “We’re going to continue to own gold as long as we think the monetary and fiscal policies don’t make sense,” Einhorn, who expects the price of gold will continue to rise, told CNBC. “Zero (interest) rates are a very dangerous long-term policy.” “Individuals would benefit, particularly pensioners, from having some income,” says Einhorn. “There are people who save money but can’t speculate in the stock market, and they’re getting nothing. If we raised the rates a bit, they might have a bit more income, and that could help the economy.” The beneficiaries of the zero-rate policy are the banks, those with variable-rate liabilities and the federal government, which owes a mountain of debt it has “no serious plan to repay,” Einhorn points out. The world appears to have learned the wrong lesson from the demise of Lehman Brothers, Einhorn notes. "The policy (now) is not to let anything fail,” he says. “That works until you have something that’s too big to bail.” “If you build a safer car, people drive faster,” Einhorn observes, and bailouts encourage increased risk-taking. Weak U.S. nonfarm-payroll data undermined confidence in the dollar and sent gold prices higher, as did Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s suggestion the Fed’s program to buy $600 billion in Treasury securities may be extended beyond the initial target it announced early last month. "Given that further debasing of fiat currencies is back on the agenda it seems likely the precious metals, particularly gold and silver, are poised for fresh gains, with gold homing in on last month's all-time record," James Moore, analyst at FastMarkets.com, told The Wall Street Journal. © 2019 Newsmax Finance. All rights reserved.
Please take note of the location change (See below for map) As of September 28th 2014, Food Not Bombs Las Vegas has begun holding our weekly vegetarian/vegan picnics at Huntridge Circle Park, rather than Baker Park. Baker Park was used as our weekly location for Food Not Bombs Las Vegas meals and other events for over six years, since the closing of Circle Park and served that purpose quite well until recent changes within the park limited the usable space available within the park. Those and various other reasons went into the decision to move back to Huntridge Circle Park. Food Not Bombs in Las Vegas FoodNotBombsLasVegas.org has been sharing food with hungry people in the Las Vegas area since 2005. During that time, members have often used their own money to cover expenses for necessary food ingredients not received through donations; bowls, plates, utensils, etc. necessary for eating; transportation costs; and other assorted costs associated with providing food with a large group of people on a weekly basis. In order to provide variety and fill nutritional needs often unmet in typical “soup kitchens,” these meals are either vegetarian or vegan. Also, most of the food served consists of food that otherwise would be thrown out and therefore issues of waste are also addressed by the recovery and preparation of that food for people that need it. Currently, Food Not Bombs Las Vegas holds two weekly potluck style picnics on Sundays and Mondays, where food is shared with people in need within the Las Vegas area community (the only real requirement is that you are hungry). In addition, members of FNBLV spend time with and advocate for those affected by extreme poverty. Often, people that are homeless or in danger of becoming homeless are looked down upon and harassed by others, especially by members of law enforcement. In fact, in 2006 when the City of Las Vegas actually made it illegal to feed hungry people, members of Food Not Bombs were themselves cited and even arrested for defying those laws. Therefore, that compassion for and advocacy toward those experiencing financial difficulties is oftentimes as important as the sharing of food itself, especially since Las Vegas is one of the most hard hit areas in almost every economic category during the current recession. General Information about Food Not Bombs and the Las Vegas Picnics: Every Sunday from 10:30 am to around noon (there’s no designated end time) and every Monday at 11:30 am, Food Not Bombs Las Vegas holds weekly picnics where members share food with hungry people, address unnecessary waste, and make a statement about non-violence in relation to all living creatures at Huntridge Circle Park, which is located at 1251 S. Maryland Pkwy just south of Charleston Blvd. These picnics are an event not just a handout or charity action. Members interact with and befriend local people who may be experiencing difficulty making ends meet and are in need of a supplement to their available food resources. We share healthy nutritious vegetarian or vegan meals with them as a way of building community and ensuring those who might be experiencing financial difficulties that they are still valued members of our society. In addition, anyone wanting to get involved with Food Not Bombs within the Las Vegas area is encouraged to come and talk to current members and explore ways that they can become a part of this organization and/or suggest new ways that we can be a part of the local community. And, of course, if you are hungry and need some food, you are more than welcome to come down and share in what we have available. Food Not Bombs Las Vegas is a local autonomous branch of an international movement FoodNotBombs.net that for decades has supported sharing, respect, peace, cooperation, dignity, a nurturing of the environment and most of all optimism at a time when many are in despair. We also encourage a “Do It Yourself” feeling of empowerment and a rejection of the need to solve problems through violence including the violence of war, violence of poverty and violence against animals and the earth, as well as humans. We strive to show that it is not necessary to waste so much of the food that we work so hard to grow by organizing a voluntary system of food recovery and redistribution. No one should need to go hungry when we have so much abundance. Food Not Bombs is not a charity. This energetic all volunteer grassroots movement is active throughout the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Australia. For over 30 years the movement has worked to end hunger and has supported actions to stop the globalization of the economy, restrictions to the movements of people, end exploitation and the destruction of the earth and its beings. It is a matter of ending the domination of corporate power and providing access to, and encouraging participation in, the making of decisions that affect our life and future. View Larger Map —gail.sacco
OSLO (Reuters) - Workers on Norwegian offshore oil drilling rigs signed a new wage deal on Wednesday, avoiding a strike, labor unions and employers said in separate statements. Some 280 rig workers had threatened to strike if the talks failed, including staff on Rowan Companies’ Viking and Gorilla rigs, and on the Statoil-operated Heidrun, Statfjord, Aasgard, Volve and Oseberg fields. Labor disputes on drilling rigs typically halt oil and gas exploration and drilling of new production wells at existing fields, but do not affect current production at wells. Workers will get a 0.5 percent pay rise, said Norway’s state-appointed mediator, who brokered the deal. The price of North Sea crude oil, Norway’s top export, has fallen by some 60 percent since 2014, resulting in about 40,000 layoffs in the industry, according to the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association, which negotiated on behalf of rig firms. “It’s estimated that another 15,000 will lose their jobs before activity levels recover, which at the earliest will happen two years from now,” it added. As part of the wage deal, it was agreed that those being laid off will have the right for a two-year period to be rehired if an employer increases staffing. In return, both unions and employers will contribute to identifying potential cost cuts, the state mediator said. “We had wished for a better outcome on wages than this mediation gave us,” said Hilde-Marit Rysst, who heads the Safe trade union, one of three organizations negotiating on behalf of workers. “But given the situation this industry is in, we’ve shown moderation in order to win acceptance for our key priority, the right to reinstatement. We expect markets to improve, and if they do this victory will allow many of our members to win back their jobs,” she added. Separately, oil and gas companies are due to negotiate with production workers from June 30 to July 1. If no agreement is found, a strike hitting the output of crude and natural gas could begin on July 2.
The end of 2016 has been marked by fantasy-romance dramas like “Goblin” and “The Legend of the Blue Sea” from heavy-hitting actors and writers. As the year draws to a close, however, the beginning of 2017 is also promisingly full of pre-productions and big-name actors that we can look forward to. This is actress Lee Young Ae’s first return to the drama world in more than eleven years after “Jewel in the Palace.” “Saimdang, Light’s Diary” will air on SBS and is written by Park Eun Ryung and direted by Yoon Sang Ho. 100 percent pre-produced, it finished filming in May and took the extra time to work on post-production to deliver a high-quality final product. “Saimdang” is about a Korean art history lecturer Seo Ji Yoon (Lee Young Ae) who stumbles across the diary of Saimdang (also played by Lee Young Ae), an artist, writer, calligrapher, and poet in the Joseon Dynasty. Through the diary, Seo Ji Yoon uncovers the secrets and romance between Saimdang and Lee Gyeom (Song Seung Heon), a painter, calligrapher, and musician of the same time period. “Saimdang, Light’s Diary” premieres on January 25. “While You Were Asleep” “While You Were Asleep” (working title) is written by Park Hye Ryun, the writer of hits such as “I Hear Your Voice” and “Pinocchio.” Another SBS production, Park Hye Ryun reunites with Lee Jong Suk and teams up with Suzy in this drama about a woman who can foresee unfortunate events in her dreams and a prosecutor who works to prevent those dreams from coming true. “While You Were Asleep” is directed by Oh Choong Hwan, who has previously worked on “Doctors” and “My Love From the Star.” “Whisper” (working title) is another comeback project for an actress who has been on a long-time hiatus from the small screen. Lee Bo Young will be returning to the drama world for the first time in three years with this SBS production written by Park Kyung Soo, who is famous for her revenge-themed series. Lee Bo Young last appeared in a drama in 2014’s “God’s Gift – 14 Days.” In “Whisper” she will be playing a police station detective named Shin Young Joo in the suspense melodrama about a man and a woman working to uncover the huge sins involving money and power in the country’s greatest law firm. “Whisper” will air sometime in March 2017. “Strong Woman Do Bong Soon” (written by Baek Mi Kyung and directed by Lee Hyung Min) features the match-up of two refreshing and sweet actors, Park Bo Young and Park Hyung Sik. Park Bo Young plays the titular Do Bong Soon, while Park Hyung Sik plays the crazy second-generation chaebol heir Ahn Min Hyuk. The JTBC drama is said to be a “hardcore” romance between an immensely physically strong woman and a man full of crazy charms. “Man to Man” Continuing the “bromance” trend of 2016, “Man to Man” features the matchup between Park Sung Woong and Park Hae Jin. Park Sung Woong plays the top Hallyu star Yeo Woon Kwang, while Park Hae Jin plays Kim Sul Woo, a national intelligence service officer who becomes the star’s bodyguard after he is given a secret mission. The script was written by “Descendants of the Sun” co-writer Kim Won Suk, and Lee Chang Min (“Remember“) will be directing. The JTBC drama will air sometime in the first half of 2017. Which dramas are you looking forward to most? Source (1)
Former Boston Celtics forward Jae Crowder was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a swap of Kyrie Irving and Isaiah Thomas this week. Sadly, on the night of the trade, Crowder lost his mother to cancer (via Cleveland.com): “Helen Thompson, 51, lived outside of Atlanta. Crowder asked for prayers for his family via Twitter on August 13 — an obvious sign his mother’s disease had worsened. A source close to Crowder confirmed his mother’s death.” Thomas, who will join Crowder on the Cavs, played for Boston in the postseason shortly after the passing of his sister. Both players have had significant tragedies in recent months. Crowder will soon be introduced in a press conference with his new team, though an exact date is yet to be determined. While he has been quiet, his father commented on his behalf to Bleacher Report. Can confirm report of @LeadingSports_ that Jae Crowder's mother Helen lost her battle with cancer. Was dealing with this and trade. Prayers pic.twitter.com/S0Rll5kFKf — Mike Petraglia (@Trags) August 24, 2017 Related Jae Crowder is big reason why the Cavaliers won Kyrie Irving trade
Get the biggest Liverpool FC stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email Liverpool have been handed a fitness boost after a scan revealed Joel Matip’s ankle injury is not serious. The centre back limped off before the end of the Reds’ 2-0 win at Wigan on Sunday, prompting fears of another defensive casualty after losing Mamadou Sakho and Joe Gomez to Achilles problems. But scan results showed no serious damage has been sustained, with the Cameroon international suffering from just bruising, meaning there are no long-term fears about the injury. It is unclear whether he will be fit in time for the trip to Huddersfield on Wednesday but will head out to the United States for the club’s tour on Thursday. Jurgen Klopp could have ill-afforded another setback following injuries to Sakho and Gomez, both of which will see them miss the start of the season – although Augsburg centre back Ragnar Klavan will strengthen that position, medical on Merseyside on Tuesday ahead of a £4.2m deal. The German boss was hopeful following the win over Wigan that Matip’s injury would not prove too serious, after the 24-year-old complained about pain in his ankle. “I hope it’s only a minor problem,” Klopp said. “He said he’s had it one or two times already. “Joel gets better and better and better, you can see it. It’s not too serious, hopefully. “It’s the foot he had problems with in the past and then he had a little bit of pain when pre-season started because of the intensity. He’s used to it.” Over the summer, Matip had screws removed from his right foot, which were fitted two years previous after breaking it. Despite being on crutches for a few weeks, he has featured in all three games of Liverpool’s pre-season so far, and was set to play the full 90 minutes at the DW Stadium before the pain cut his afternoon short.
A gecko foot on a glass pane. One day all this could be yours. Lunx/Shutterstock Materials have been created that could allow robots, or possibly even people, to replicate the much-admired capacity of geckos to climb vertical surfaces and hang upside-down. Better still, where existing imitations are clunky to operate, the latest version can be turned on and off with ease using a specific wavelength of light, providing the opportunity to move as easily as to stick. Gecko feet have an abundance of hairs covered in projections so fine they represent an enormous surface area compared to the size of the gecko itself. Weak attractions to surfaces, known as van der Waals forces, become quite significant when multiplied over such areas – powerful enough to allow the little lizards to grip onto vertical glass. Past attempts to replicate this using microscopic wedges have been met with some success. Nevertheless, some problems remain. One is how to unstick the pads when it is time to move. Geckos have this sorted out, but even for them the default setting is to stick – to such an extent they will stay in unlikely locations even after death. A paper in Science Robotics has announced progress in this area. It describes the creation of what the authors call a bioinspired photocontrollable microstructured transport device (BIPMTD) made of three layers. The first consists of mushroom-shaped microstructures 70 micrometers (0.003 inches) long that mimic the geckos' hairs. Underneath this lies a liquid crystal layer and finally a backing layer. The mushroom-shaped structures of a BIPMTD under a microscope. Emre Kizilkan Liquid crystals containing the chemical azobenzene change shape when exposed to light of wavelengths of 320-380 nanometers, slightly too short for the human eye to see. Their previous dimensions are restored either when warmed up or when exposed to light in the 420-480 nanometer range (violet to blue). “Light is a stimulus that can be controlled very quickly and precisely (e.g., in time, intensity, and wavelength),” the paper notes. “It is a very attractive stimulus for developing bioinspired photoresponsive reversible adhesive systems.” Lead author Emre Kizilkan, a masters student at Kiel University in Germany, and colleagues fixed strips of BIPMTD to the bottom of a glass slide and measured the adhesive force against a glass ball suspended below. When UV light was turned on, it changed the geometry of the liquid crystals, affecting the microstructures so that the adhesive force dropped by almost two-thirds, returning when the light was turned off. Weaker UV light produced intermediary strength adhesion. Although Kizilkan's has yet to be translated into a wall-climbing robot, let alone gloves and shoes that would allow people to climb Spiderman-like, the potential to scale up is clear. Just don't try it inside a blacklight-illuminated nightclub. The azobenzene molecular structure bends when exposed to UV light, weakening its grip. Emre Kizilkan and Jan Strueben
Some 500 passengers who boarded a Moscow-Vladivostok flight were forced to get off the plane after a woman suddenly changed her mind and decided to get divorced. As a result, the flight was delayed for seven hours causing fury among the passengers. The incident took place at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport on Monday as a Rossiya Airline plane was readying for take-off, RIA Novosti reports. The passengers were not happy and took to social media to express their anger. One passenger, Elena, wrote on her page that she was told by a flight attendant that "a woman aged 40 took a decision to divorce her husband. Urgently! And she needed to walk off the plane. Cabin crew tried in vain to persuade her not to leave the aircraft because this is a long procedure." Passengers also posted videos of people exiting the plane. Angry passengers shot clips of people disembarking the plane and boarding a waiting bus. The incident caused the most fury among families with small children and they urged the airline to punish the woman with a heavy fine. Авиакомпания Россия решила отмолчаться. Обидно, что эта женщина не понесёт никакого наказания. Пожилого мужчину на скорой увезли , много детей плакали , были и те, кто не выдержал и отказался от рейса. Видео опубликовано Elena Shteynikova (@elenashtein) Июл 4 2016 в 1:03 PDT According to witnesses, the woman kept repeating: "I am not in the mood to fly now." She demanded the flight attendants let her leave the plane. Due to safety regulations, more than 500 other passengers were also obliged to exit the plane. The aircraft and every piece of luggage had to go through security screening again, prompting a 7-hour delay.
We already knew Toshiba was coming out with a Chrome OS device, but in the four months since Intel teased it at IDF, we haven't seen anything in the way of specs, much less product shots. That changes today: The company just announced the Toshiba Chromebook here at CES, making this the first time we've seen the device up close. Of note, this has a 13-inch display, which, for whatever reason, has never been used on a Chromebook before. At any rate, Toshiba is betting that consumers coming over from Windows and Mac machines will want the same in-between-sized screen they're already used to -- especially if they plan on spending a lot of time in Gmail and GDocs. Due to that larger screen, this is naturally going to be a bit heavier than, say, the HP Chromebook 11 (three pounds vs. 2.3), but what you lose in portability, you'll make up for in power. While HP's offering makes do with an ARM processor, the Toshiba Chromebook offers a Haswell-series Celeron 2955U CPU for the same price, promising stronger performance and longer battery life (up to nine hours, say company reps).
On Friday Nov 13 2015, I gave a presentation at the 5-day Ethereum DevCon1 Conference in London held at Gibson Hall. The title was “Communicating the Ethereum Narrative”, and it’s a short 14 minute presentation, followed by 8 minutes of Q&A. And this is the Slideshare: The main point I made is that Ethereum is now more than just the Ethereum we knew as just part of the Foundation’s work. Today, when we think of Ethereum, we need to include the following 5 parts of it: Ethereum Foundation The Blockchain’s Network The various Technologies (core, extended, and via 3rd parties) The Ecosystem of partners, supporters, developers, funders, advocates, emerging startups, dApps and Apps creators Ethereum Users and Customers The presentation also includes a short history of Ethereum, how Ethereum has propagated into Financial Services, and some recommendations going forward. I hope you enjoy it, and it helps you better understand Ethereum and its potential.
Fans should “expect to be shocked” by Avengers: Infinity War While promoting the launch of SeeJee Studios in Beijing, China, directors Anthony and Joe Russo (via CBM) were naturally asked about their upcoming films Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, which they teased will shock audiences. “The stakes of both Civil War and the Avengers: Infinity War movies are gonna be very high, and there will be a price to pay for the characters,” Joe Russo said. “And that’s the whole point of cumulative storytelling. We’re going to go on emotional journeys with these characters. We’ve got a lot invested in the emotion. We have a responsibility to be mindful of how these people feel about the characters and, at the same time, we also have a responsibility to carry through on the storytelling. As filmmakers, we believe in stakes. You can’t have good storytelling without strong stakes. So, there will be a price to pay, there will be a price to pay in Civil War. There will be characters who suffer in that movie, and he will come out of that movie and never be the same. And in Infinity War the stakes will be raised to a whole new level. People should expect to be shocked when they see those movies.” Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War finds Steve Rogers leading the newly formed team of Avengers in their continued efforts to safeguard humanity. But after another incident involving the Avengers results in collateral damage, political pressure mounts to install a system of accountability, headed by a governing body to oversee and direct the team. The new status quo fractures the Avengers, resulting in two camps—one led by Steve Rogers and his desire for the Avengers to remain free to defend humanity without government interference, and the other following Tony Stark’s surprising decision to support government oversight and accountability. Screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely wrote the script for Captain America: Civil War and will also pen the two-part Avengers: Infinity War, which the Russos will also direct. Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War will debut in theaters May 6, 2016 with Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 slated for release on May 4, 2018 and Part 2 to follow on May 3, 2019.
On Friday, the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) was home to a public celebration of Bhangra, a folk dance from the Punjab region of North India. The staff at OMCA welcomed Non Stop Bhangra, a music and dance collective and production company from San Francisco. The group hosts dance classes and performs at festivals and large public events. The night consisted of a performance by the Non Stop Bhangra dancers and a quick lesson in the basics of Bhangra technique taught by Vicki Virk, the dance company’s cofounder. The celebration was part of a weekly event called Friday Nights at OMCA, at which members of the public enjoy food from food trucks parked outside the museum, listen to live music, and dance with their friends and family. Every Friday a different musical group or dance collective is featured at the event. To learn more about Non Stop Bhangra you can visit their website. For more information on Friday Nights at OMCA, you can go here.
Saskatoon police are investigating a Molotov cocktail attack that took place early Sunday morning outside a popular 8th Street nightclub. Police were called to the 2400 block of 8th Street East at approximately 3 a.m. following a disturbance inside Beily's Ultralounge. Police said three men were asked by staff to leave the lounge. The men were escorted out. When they reached their vehicle, the men used pepper spray and a knife to assault employees before fleeing the scene, police said. The bar employees suffered minor injuries. Men return to scene of assault About an hour later, witnesses said they saw and heard a window being smashed. They discovered two undetonated Molotov cocktails -- one made from a beer bottle and the other fabricated from a liquor bottle -- outside the building. Witnesses said the Molotov cocktails were thrown from the same white car the three men got into earlier. Two suspects are described as black males, 25 years old, six-foot in height and between 180-200 pounds. One man had a goatee and short hair. The other had dreadlocks and was wearing a baseball cap. The third man was described as being of East Indian descent, between five-foot-eight and five-foot-10, and between 200-220 pounds. The vehicle was later located. Police continue to search for the suspects. Police ask that anyone with information call 975-8300, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
Richard Chaplow, the former Burnley, West Brom and Southampton midfielder, has been banned for two matches in the United States for verbal abuse of openly gay LA Galaxy defender Robbie Rogers. However, Chaplow has vigorously denied that any of his language was homophobic. Furthermore, the USL made no finding that he had used any homophobic language. The incident took place during last Saturday's match between the Orange County Blues - Chaplow's club - and the LA Galaxy reserve team in the third tier United Soccer League. After the match Rogers released a post on social media that he was repeatedly called a "queer" by an opposing player, sparking huge controversy and widespread support for the former US international. On Wednesday, the USL announced in a statement that they had suspended Chaplow for two matches and fined him for "offensive and abusive language directed at another player during his team’s game against the LA Galaxy II on Aug 20".
Carrying a weapon without a round in the chamber can be deadly. There are some people who are uncomfortable carrying in conditions 2 through 0, but their concerns can usually be solved with more training, a holster with proper firearm retention, or simply a different weapon. Safety must always come first when carrying a firearm, but if you ever need a firearm to defend yourself you need it right now. Many people who carry in condition 3 or higher assume they will have time to chamber a round when needed. It takes less than a second, right? The victim in the video below learned that half a second can make all the difference in the world. If you happen to be uncomfortable carrying a chambered weapon, don’t start now just because you read an article online. Go get some training. Do some research. Practice constantly. Find the right gear that works for you and be ready to defend yourself if and when the time comes.
When the final whistle sounded in Russia 2018 qualifier between Iran and Korea Republic on 11 October, the Iranian players and 75,000 supporters present at Tehran’s Azadi Stadium joyfully celebrated their victory. Nine days later, the Iranians were rejoicing again following the publication of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking for October. The Asian side had moved up by no fewer than ten places, and now sit in 27th position in the overall standings, and in first place among AFC teams only. This represents Iran’s best placing since 2006, when they occupied 19th spot, just slightly lower than their record high of 15th in 2005. The 1-0 win that Carlos Queiroz’s men recorded versus Korea Republic was not the only reason behind their surge up the rankings table, as it came less than a week after a notable success over Uzbekistan in Tashkent. In the space of a few days, Iran, now top of Group A, picked up a precious six points – taking their total to ten – from their two principal opponents in the section, in which the Uzbeks and South Koreans occupy second and third place respectively. Queiroz was full of praise for Korea Republic, who reached the semi-finals of the 2002 World Cup and have represented Asia on the global stage on nine occasions. “Playing against them was a real challenge and we learnt a lot,” he told FIFA.com. “We’ve got nothing to lose, while they have an excellent reputation due to hosting the World Cup and having a great team with great players.” Despite topping their qualifying pool and improving their ranking, there is still a long road ahead, according to Queiroz. “The battle to get to the World Cup continues. We took three points against the Koreans, but we need more wins and more points. It’s just one step towards our goal.” Dreaming big The Portuguese tactician is hopeful of steering his charges to Russia 2018, an achievement that would see him become the first coach to lead the three-time Asian champions to two successive World Cups, following their appearance at Brazil 2014. Although Team Melli have participated in four World Cups in total, they have never qualified two consecutive times. If they were to accomplish such a feat at the culmination of the qualifying campaign in September 2017, this current generation of players would write a new chapter in Iranian football history. “Iran have had numerous talented players and coaches over the years, but they’ve never been to two World Cups in a row,” said Queiroz. “My mission and my dream is to make sure that they succeed. We have to avoid the mistakes of the past if we’re going to achieve that objective.” Iran face Syria on 15 November, in a match that will mark the halfway stage on the journey to Russia 2018. If they were to secure their fourth win of the third round, they would put themselves in an excellent position, especially as three of the last five games are scheduled to be held in Tehran. Queiroz had declared on a previous occasion that the Iranian team was a constant work in progress: “They get better every year. When I started working in Iran, we had just one player performing in Europe. Now we’ve got eleven of them.” Back in the present, he concluded on a positive note: “We need to keep working hard. The time has come for us to achieve the impossible.” If Queiroz and Iran continue to put in the work and aim high, there is little doubt that they will continue their remarkable rise up the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking in the years to come.
Typography could be considered the most important part of any design. It’s definitely among the most important elements of any design project. And yet it’s often the part of a design that’s left for last, or barely considered at all. Designers are often intimidated by typography, which can result in bland typographical design or a designer always using one or two “reliable” typefaces in their designs. This series aims to change that. If you’re intimidated by typography, or even just aren’t quite sure where to start, then read on. We’ll break down typographic theory and practice, starting with the basics (so that everyone starts on the same page). In this part, we’ll talk about the basics of typographic theory, including the different kinds of typefaces (and how typefaces and fonts differ), as well as the basic anatomy of a typeface. And each part will also offer more resources for delving deeper into typography. Typefaces vs. Fonts: Difference? A lot of people use the terms “typeface” and “font” interchangeably. But they’re two very distinct things. Before we get started talking about typography, let’s get our terms straight. A typeface is a set of typographical symbols and characters. It’s the letters, numbers, and other characters that let us put words on paper (or screen). A font, on the other hand, is traditionally defined as a complete character set within a typeface, often of a particular size and style. Fonts are also specific computer files that contain all the characters and glyphs within a typeface. Several types of fonts are; Old style serif Transitional serif Square sans-serif Geometric sans-serif Formal script Casual script When most of us talk about “fonts”, we’re really talking about typefaces, or type families (which are groups of typefaces with related designs). Classifying Typefaces There are a number of different ways to classify typefaces and type families. The most common classifications are by technical style: serif, sans-serif, script, display, and so on. Typefaces are also classified by other technical specifications, such as proportional vs. monospaced, or by more fluid and interpretational definitions, such as the mood they create. Technical Style of Typefaces We will go over 6 different typefaces which are own characters. You can find a diverse range of fonts under these typefaces. Serif Typefaces Serif typefaces are called “serifs” in reference to the small lines that are attached to the main strokes of characters within the face. Serif typefaces are most often used for body copy in print documents, as well as for both body text and headlines online. The readability of serifs online has been debated, and some designers prefer not to use serifs for large blocks of copy. Within the serif classification, there are many sub-types. Serif typeface includes: Old Style Serifs like Adobe Jenson, ITC Berkeley Oldstyle, and Goudy Old Style like Adobe Jenson, ITC Berkeley Oldstyle, and Goudy Old Style Transitional Serifs like Times New Roman, Baskerville, and Americana like Times New Roman, Baskerville, and Americana Neoclassical & Didone like Didot, Marconi, and Bodoni like Didot, Marconi, and Bodoni Slab Serifs like American Typewriter, Rockwell, and Soho like American Typewriter, Rockwell, and Soho Clarendon Serifs like Bookman, Clarendon, and Nimrod like Bookman, Clarendon, and Nimrod Glyphic Serifs like Albertus, Cartier Book, and Friz Quadrata Old Style serifs (also called humanist) are the oldest typefaces in this classification, dating back to the mid 1400s. The main characteristic of old style characters is their diagonal stress (the thinnest parts of the letters appear on the angled strokes, rather than the vertical or horizontal ones). Typefaces in this category include Adobe Jenson, Centaur, and Goudy Old Style. Transitional serifs date back to the mid 1700s, and are generally the most common serif typefaces. Times New Roman and Baskerville are both transitional serif fonts, as are Caslon, Georgia, and Bookman. The differences between thick and thin strokes in transitional typefaces are more pronounced than they are in old style serifs, but less so than in modern serifs. Modern serifs, which include typefaces like Didot and Bodoni, have a much more pronounced contrast between thin and thick lines, and have have a vertical stress and minimal brackets. They date back to the late 1700s. The final main type of serif typeface is the slab serif. Slab serifs have little to no contrast between thick and thin lines, and have thick, rectangular serifs, and sometimes have fixed widths. The underlying characters hapes often more closely resemble sans serif fonts. Sans-Serif Typefaces Sans-serif typefaces are called such because they lack serif details on characters. Sans-serif typefaces are often more modern in appearance than serifs. The first sans-serifs were created in the late 18th century. There are four basic classifications of sans-serif typefaces: Grotesque like Venus, Monotype Grotesque, and News Gothic like Venus, Monotype Grotesque, and News Gothic Neo-Grotesque like Helvetica, San Francisco, and Roboto like Helvetica, San Francisco, and Roboto Humanist like Tahoma, Verdana, Calibri, and Trebuchet like Tahoma, Verdana, Calibri, and Trebuchet Geometric like Gotham, Avenir, and ITC Avant Garde Grotesques are the earliest, and include fonts like Franklin Gothic and Akzidenz Grotesk. These typefaces often have letterforms that are very similar to serif typefaces, minus the serifs. Neo-Grotesque typefaces include some of the most common typefaces: MS Sans Serif, Arial, Helvetica and Univers are all neo-grotesque sans serif type fonts. They have a relatively plain appearance when compared to the grotesques. Humanist typefaces include Gill Sans, Frutiger, Tahoma, Verdana, Optima, and Lucide Grande. These are more calligraphic than other sans-serif typefaces, and are also the most legible (hence the popularity of some of them for website body copy). They’re more calligraphic than other sans-serifs, meaning they have a greater variation in line widths. Geometric sans-serifs are more closely based on geometric shapes. Generally, the “O”s in geometrics will appear circular, and the letter “a” is almost always simple, just a circle with a tail. They’re the least commonly-used for body copy, and are also the most modern sans-serifs, as a general rule. Script Typefaces Scripts are based upon handwriting, and offer very fluid letterforms. There are two basic classifications: formal and casual. Formal scripts are often reminiscent of the handwritten letterforms common in the 17th and 18th centuries. Some scripts are based directly on the handwriting of masters like George Snell and George Bickham. There are modern creations, too, including Kuenstler Script. They’re common for very elegant and elevated typographical designs, and are unsuitable for body copy. Casual scripts more closely resemble modern handwriting, and date back to the mid-twentieth century. They’re much less formal, often with stronger strokes and a more brush-like appearance. Casual scripts include Mistral and Brush Script. Display Typefaces Display typefaces are probably the broadest category and include the most variation. The main characteristic is that they’re unsuitable for body copy and are best reserved for headlines or other short copy that needs attention drawn to it. Display typefaces can be formal, or informal, and evoke any kind of mood. They’re more commonly seen in print design, but are becoming more popular online with the use of web fonts. Also included among display typefaces are blackletter typefaces, which were the original typefaces used with the first printing presses. Since that time, better, more readable fonts have been developed. Dingbats and Specialty Typefaces Dingbats are specialty typefaces that consist of symbols and ornaments instead of letters. Wingdings is probably the best-known dingbat font, though there are now thousands, often created around themes. The typeface above is Jellodings. Proportional vs. Monospaced Typefaces In proportional typefaces, the space a character takes up is dependent on the natural width of that character. An “i” takes up less space than an “m”, for example. Times New Roman is a proportional typeface. In monospace typefaces, on the other hand, each character takes up the same amount of space. Narrower characters simply get a bit more spacing around them to make up for the difference in width. Courier New is one example of a monospace typeface. Mood of Typefaces The mood of a typeface is an important part of how it should be used. Different typefaces have strikingly different moods. Commonly used moods include formal vs. informal, modern vs classic/traditional, and light vs dramatic. Some typefaces have very distinct moods. For example, Times New Roman is pretty much always going to be a traditional font, which is why it’s so commonly used for business correspondence. Verdana, on the other hand, has a more modern mood. Some typefaces are more transcendent, and can convey almost any mood based on the content and the other typefaces they’re combined with. Helvetica is often considered one such font. Weights & Styles Within the majority of typefaces, you’ll find more than one style and/or weight. Weights are often classified as “light”, “thin”, “regular”, “medium”, “bold”, “heavy”, or “black”. Each of these refers to the thickness of the strokes that make up the characters: There are three general styles you’ll find with many typefaces: italic, oblique, and small caps. Small caps are often used for headings or subheadings, to add variety to your typography if using a single typeface. Italic and oblique are often confused or used interchangeably, but are two distinct styles. Oblique type is simply a slanted version of the regular characters. You could create this using the “distort” function in Photoshop, although sometimes a separate oblique font is included within a typeface. Italics are slanted like obliques, but are actually a separate set of characters, with their own unique letterforms. The Anatomy of a Typeface The different letterforms within a typeface share a few common characteristics. These characteristics can be important in determining whether two (or more) typefaces work well together, or clash. Here are the most basic parts of a typeface: The above image shows the different guidelines that are generally present in a typeface. The baseline is the invisible line that all the characters sit on. Rounded letters sometimes sit just a tiny bit under the baseline, and descenders always drop below this line. A given typeface will have a consistent baseline. The meanline is the height of most of the lowercase characters within a typeface, and is generally based on the lowercase “x” if there are varying heights among the lowercase characters. This is also where the term “x-height” comes from. The cap height is the distance between the baseline and the top of uppercase letters like “A”. The above illustration shows three common parts to letterforms. The stem is the main upright of any letter, including the primary diagonal. It’s could be considered the anchor of the character. The bar is any horizontal part, which are sometimes also called arms. The bowl is the curved part of a character that creates an interior empty space. The inside of a bowl is a counter. The ascender of a lowercase character is any part that rises above the meanline, such as the uprights on the letters “d”, “h”, and “b”. Descenders are the parts of a lowercase character that drop below the baseline, such as in a “p”, “q” or “g”. Serifs are the extra flourish at the end of a stroke on serif typefaces. Some typefaces have very pronounced serifs, while others are barely distinguishable. The aperture of a character refers to the opening at the bottom of some characters, such as the uppercase “A” or lowercase “m”. An ear is a decorative extension on a letter, as highlighted on the “g” above. Hairlines are the thinnest part of a serif typeface. Crossbars are horizontal strokes, as found on the uppercase “A” and “H”. Terminals are only found on serif characters, and are the end of any line that doesn’t have a serif. Loops are found on some lowercase “g” characters, and can be fully closed or partially closed. Spurs are tiny projections from curved strokes, such as on some uppercase “G” characters. Links connect the top and bottom bowls of a double-stacked lowercase “g”. The spine is the curved stroke found on the letter “s”. Tails are sometimes-decorative descending strokes, as seen on an uppercase “R”. Finials are the tapered endings of some strokes. Shoulders are any curved stroke that originate from a stem. In Part 2… Next Monday we’ll discuss paragraph composition and using special typographic characters, like ligatures and hyphens. We’ll dive right into basic typographic layouts, and how to decide on a typeface for your project. Stay tuned! Additional Resources (ik)
LAS VEGAS — This summer, Stephen Curry signed through the 2022 season, Kevin Durant linked back with a loud gesture that hinted at his long-term intentions and Andre Iguodala recommitted for three more years. Klay Thompson’s contract is not up until 2019, Draymond Green’s until 2020. The Warriors’ five most important pieces are settled, which is settling for an organization. But another under-the-radar, potentially tricky financial decision awaits next summer: Patrick McCaw, who is perhaps the team’s sixth-most important piece from a team-building standpoint, will be a restricted free agent. It’s a situation that has crept up on the Warriors quickly. McCaw was the 38th overall pick in the draft just 13 months ago. Immediately, he morphed into the exact thing a team with expensive superstar talent needs: Cheap, useful labor off the bench. McCaw only made $543,471 last year — or just about what Curry will make per game next season. McCaw’s salary will jump to $1.3 million in Year 2, but that remains an extreme bargain for a versatile wing the coaching staff increasingly believes is capable of 20-plus productive minutes per night. “I think the biggest jump you ever make in your career is between Year 1 and 2,” coach Steve Kerr said. “Year 1 you realize you can play in this league. Now he’s realizing he can be really good in this league.” Related Articles NBA rescinds DeMarcus Cousins’ technical vs. Charlotte 5 technical foul calls even more ridiculous than DeMarcus Cousins’ shoe toss As Golden State finds its ‘joy’, Kevin Durant is playing with anger Warriors 121, Hornets 110: Warriors’ DeMarcus Cousins makes more progress Warriors’ Draymond Green to play vs Charlotte And that’s where the benefits of his second-round status shift from the Warriors to McCaw. First-round rookie contracts contain team options for a third and fourth year. McCaw’s doesn’t. He can hit restricted free agency two years before the first 30 players selected in his same draft. “To be so young and know that I have a chance to be coming into a nice amount of money, it’s crazy to me,” McCaw said. Fourteen years ago, a far different Warriors front office regime was in a somewhat similar situation. They drafted Gilbert Arenas with the first pick of the second round in 2001. By his second season, Arenas averaged 18.3 points per game. The Wizards gave him a six-year, $60 million contract that offseason. The Warriors, already over the salary cap, had no ability to match the offer because they couldn’t equal the first year’s salary. The second-round superstar they found and nourished had bolted by Year 3, off to spend his prime seasons elsewhere. So starting with the 2005 Collective Bargaining Agreement, the NBA added a provision — named the Arenas Rule — that allows incumbent teams an ability to match all offers made to their second-round now restricted free agents. Want Warriors news in your inbox? Sign up for the free DubsDaily newsletter. An opposing suitor could conceivably sign McCaw to, let’s say, a four-year, $55 million offer sheet next offseason. But the first year of the deal can’t be more than the mid-level exception — which will be around $9 million — and the second year can’t be more than a small raise of about five percent, before jumping to huge numbers in Years 3 and 4. Using their exception or their Early Bird rights — allowing them to sign McCaw for 105 percent of the league average salary — the Warriors will have an ability to match any contract McCaw receives next summer. So then the question becomes what does McCaw actually get and are the Warriors willing to shell out that much guaranteed money to one of their non-superstars just as their luxury tax numbers skyrocket. The market for McCaw, you would expect, will be fierce. Plenty will depend on how he plays this upcoming season — “It’s huge for me,” he said — but McCaw fits the trend of today’s NBA. He’s a long, rangy, versatile two-way wing with great defensive technique, the ability to hit 3s, a splash of playmaking and an NBA upbringing in a championship environment. “So patient out on the floor,” assistant coach Mike Brown said. “His pace is unbelievable for a young kid. Most times when you see young guys come into the league, their pace is so frantic, up and down, running all over the place, jacking shots. But from Day 1, Patrick’s pace has been fantastic … very uncanny.” There won’t be nearly as much available money next offseason as there was last offseason, when Tyler Johnson, a more unproven second-round wing, got a four-year, $50 million offer sheet from the Nets ($5.6 and $5.8 million in the first two years, $18.8 and $19.6 million in the final two). But it only takes one team to spike McCaw’s value. Maybe it is the Nets, who continue to toss mega offer sheets at younger options who fit their rebuilding timeline, or the Hawks, who have a general manager — former Warriors front office scouting guru Travis Schlenk — who knows McCaw so well. “I really don’t know what to expect. It’s crazy to even say that I’ll be a restricted free agent,” McCaw said. “I know what that is. I know what that means. Now it’s about handling that situation at 22 years old, talking to different teams, meeting with different teams, things like that, trying to figure out the best situation for me to do. Because at the end of the day, it’s all a business. I built great relationships in my first year with a lot of GMs and the organization, with Golden State.” That relationship with the Warriors could prove important. Restricted free agents in search of a way out often concoct offer sheets with suitors that include poison pills to scare away their current teams. Maybe it’s a trade kicker or a deal that stings the incumbent in an important year — like, say, in the 2020 offseason when Draymond Green’s contract is up. But if McCaw and the Warriors are intent on continuing their partnership, they could better sculpt a deal that helps both sides. “Who knows where I’ll be,” McCaw said. “Hopefully I’m still with Golden State. …To be a part of this team, this organization the first two years, to learn — because every organization is not like Golden State. To have guys, superstar level talented players taking pay cuts to keep something together means a lot to me being young, having a group of guys who want to be together no matter the cost. It’s huge. It’s unreal I’m in this situation right now.” Weeks before his own free agency nearly took him elsewhere, Andre Iguodala used his championship parade speech to shed some light on his relationship with McCaw, a guy he mentored last season. “It can be hard for a guy like me, who basically sees my replacement,” Iguodala said. “You see your replacement and you want to hold on and get your extra years and your extra money. But I had some great veterans, Aaron McKie and Kevin Ollie, who brought me up the right way. So it’s only right I give back. Patrick McCaw is next.” Then Iguodala — who pried his extra years (three) and money ($48 million) from the Warriors — paused for a second, realizing that McCaw may not just be “next” up on the depth chart, but is next up at the negotiating table. “He’s a second-rounder, so it’s tough,” Iguodala said. “Somebody’s going to try to steal him next year.” If the Warriors are willing to pay — and so far, they certainly have been — then no one can steal him away. But teams will likely try.
Gene therapy that could cure motor neurone disease (ALS) moves one step closer Therapy aims to silence the faulty SOD1 gene known to cause a specific form of MND Groundbreaking research funded by £2.2 million philanthropic donation The goal is to get the therapy to MND patients in the clinic as soon as possible Researchers at the University of Sheffield have moved one step closer to a gene therapy that could silence the faulty SOD1 gene responsible for triggering a form of motor neurone disease also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Scientists from the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN) have begun groundbreaking research to develop a gene therapy that, if successful, could cure one form of the devastating neurological disease which affects more than 5,000 people in the UK. Until now, all available treatments and drug-trials conducted across the world have failed to effectively halt the progression of the condition. Riluzole, the only drug that has demonstrated a survival benefit, prolongs life for just three to six months and may not be effective in all patients. Professor Mimoun Azzouz, leading Gene Therapy Scientist and Chair of Translational Neuroscience, said: “This pioneering project has the potential to deliver the first meaningful neuroprotective therapy for MND, offering a real beacon of hope for patients and their families living with this cruel disease. “Silencing the SOD1 gene that is associated with 20 per cent of familial MND cases may be as close as we can get to a cure for MND in the near future. Our ultimate goal is to get the gene therapy for SOD1-related MND into the clinic as soon as possible. Gene therapy is regarded as an innovative technique with huge potential for the treatment of neurological conditions including motor neurone disease. “We plan to use the gene therapy initially in an inherited form of MND caused by alterations in a gene known as SOD1, but we intend to broaden the approach to other groups of MND patients in the future. ALS/MND is characterised by the progressive loss of nerve cells (motor-neurons) that connect the brain with the muscles to control movements. As the disease progresses, patients may lose the ability to walk, move, eat, talk and finally breathe.” This pioneering research, funded by a £2.2 million donation from an anonymous donor, is jointly led by gene therapy expert Professor Mimoun Azzouz and world-leading MND expert Professor Dame Pam Shaw – the founder of SITraN. “MND is considered a rare disease and therefore tends to be overlooked in terms of funding for the development of new therapies,” said Professor Pam Shaw. “This emphasises the importance of the extremely generous donation made by a philanthropist based in the USA, for our gene therapy research programme and for our patients with MND who don’t have time to wait.” “The experience that we have accumulated with our gene therapy and Clinical Trials programmes at SITraN is crucial to develop this new therapy for patients with ALS/MND. We plan submission for regulatory approval by August 2015, for permission to take this therapy to patients in the clinic. ” Researchers at SITraN will now start a large preclinical study before the first-in-human clinical trial. The team are also currently preparing for the first ever UK gene therapy trial in humans for Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) which is a childhood form of MND. Additional information Sheffield institute for Translational Neuroscience SITraN is a leading global facility which is an essential development in the fight against motor neuron disease and other common neurodegenerative disorders of the motor system. The key vision of SITraN is to develop an international centre of excellence for basic through to applied research in neurodegenerative disease to complement the existing partnerships of academic research groups, government and charitable research funding bodies the pharmaceutical industry and the health care sector. For more information please visit http://sitran.dept.shef.ac.uk/ Motor Neurone Disease Association To find out more about the MNDA please visit http://www.mndassociation.org/ The University of Sheffield With almost 25,000 of the brightest students from around 120 countries, learning alongside over 1,200 of the best academics from across the globe, the University of Sheffield is one of the world’s leading universities. A member of the UK’s prestigious Russell Group of leading research-led institutions, Sheffield offers world-class teaching and research excellence across a wide range of disciplines. Unified by the power of discovery and understanding, staff and students at the university are committed to finding new ways to transform the world we live in. In 2014 it was voted number one university in the UK for Student Satisfaction by Times Higher Education and in the last decade has won four Queen’s Anniversary Prizes in recognition of the outstanding contribution to the United Kingdom’s intellectual, economic, cultural and social life. Sheffield has five Nobel Prize winners among former staff and students and its alumni go on to hold positions of great responsibility and influence all over the world, making significant contributions in their chosen fields. Global research partners and clients include Boeing, Rolls-Royce, Unilever, AstraZeneca, Glaxo SmithKline and Siemens, as well as many UK and overseas government agencies and charitable foundations.
culture Catholic Schools: Separate But Equal Funding As Ontario's Catholic schools continue to oppose gay-straight alliances, many are asking why we're still funding the schools at all. We look into the history of Catholic school funding in Ontario. At the upcoming rally in Queen’s Park this Sunday to support gay-straight alliances in Roman Catholic schools across Ontario, we easily imagine students holding up signs proclaiming “Equality or Bust.” Forty years ago, placards with that message were also held up by pupils, but at a mass rally at Maple Leaf Gardens to urge the provincial government to fully fund separate secondary schools beyond grade 10. The current debate about the appropriateness of providing public money for religious education is the latest manifestation of an issue that has bedevilled Ontario educators and politicians since the days of the Family Compact. There was a time when education in Ontario was headed down a non-denominational path. Back in the 1840s when, depending on the day, the province was known as Upper Canada or Canada West, Egerton Ryerson championed a “common school” system for all students regardless of their faith. While Ryerson envisioned a system free of church influences, politics scuttled his plans. Since the Protestant minority in Lower Canada/Canada East had obtained the right to their own schools, the Catholic minority felt they merited the same treatment. By giving the minorities funding, the religious majorities in both Canadas could be satisfied for a few minutes before their next squabble. Despite his reservations, Ryerson agreed to clauses in a series of acts beginning in 1841 that established separate schools in the colony’s educational system (Toronto’s first, St. Paul, opened within a year). Though opposition was fierce—Protestant papers imagined “popish plots” galore—the establishment of a separate school system seemed secure following the passage of the Scott Act in 1863. Even then, there was a provision that later proved annoying for rural Catholics: “no person shall be deemed a supporter of any Separate School unless he resides within three miles (in a direct line) of the Site of the School House.” Those who lived four miles away were out of luck until a Canadian Supreme Court ruling nearly a century later. Yet few supporters of full funding quote the Commons Schools Act or Scott Act. Instead, they point to the document that created modern Canada, the British North America Act of 1867. Section 93 covered the separate school situations in Ontario and Quebec by guaranteeing the rights of those that already existed. By the 20th century, the consensus was that the laws on the books covered funding for separate schools up to grade 10. Beyond that, students either entered the public system for free or coughed up tuition fees for private schools that covered the remaining secondary school grades. Of the attempts prior to the 1980s to secure full funding, one that came close was the Provincial Education Program campaign of the late 1960s, where the Catholic Church used leaflets, letters, public meetings, and sermons to rally the cause. While they succeeded in gaining support from the provincial Liberals and NDP, the campaign caused a backlash among many non-Catholics. While pro-funding supporters argued out of claims of fairness, opponents ranged from old-fashioned bigots to newspaper editorials similar to one in the Star which believed a fully separate school system would not promote “a tolerant and harmonious society.” Internal divisions were also apparent among Catholics: there was surprise when future cardinal Emmett Carter initially backed a proposal to move operations of London’s Catholic Central secondary school to the city’s public school board. At a rally sponsored by a Catholic high school student association that drew an overflow crowd to Maple Leaf Gardens on October 25, 1970, Minister of Education William Davis told the audience not to “hold out any false hopes” that funding would be extended. He was as good as his word: nearly a year later, on the eve of the 1971 election campaign, Davis, now Premier, rejected the idea on grounds that it opened up the doors to a fragmented education system. He believed full funding could be “tantamount to the abandonment of the secondary and post-secondary educational system as it exists today, in which the education of the student, while it reflects the ethical and spiritual values of the community, and while teaching respect and tolerance for all religions and creeds, remains, nonetheless, non-denominational and non-sectarian in character.” Though the Liberals and NDP campaigned in support of full funding, Davis’s Progressive Conservatives won the election. Case closed. Or was it? Flash forward to the end of Davis’s tenure. On June 12, 1984, he shocked Queen’s Park by announcing that as of September 1985, starting with one grade per year, full funding would be extended to separate secondary schools. Indicating that he hoped the move would heal “a long and heartfelt controversy,” Davis received a standing ovation from all parties in the legislature. Families would no longer have to pay up to $1,100 a year in tuition to send their kids to high schools that would no longer be private, while officials in cities like Toronto looked forward to easing their overcrowded conditions with new facilities. Some concessions were forced onto separate school boards: they would have to accept any students and, over the next 10 years, had to agree to hire any non-Catholic teachers laid off from the public system due to shifting enrolments. There was backlash among traditional Protestant Tory supporters, who couldn’t believe what Davis had dropped on them. This betrayal was among the factors that helped sink the Big Blue Machine in the wake of the 1985 election, which saw several anti–full funding candidates run for office. New Premier Frank Miller indicated he would delay the implementation of funding, but his fatally small minority government had no chance to act. Under David Peterson’s Liberals, full funding rolled out as intended and sparked turmoil in some communities as public schools were closed or threatened with closure. Yet Ontario’s publicly funded separate school system was beginning to seem out of step with actions elsewhere. Denominational schools went by the wayside in Newfoundland and Quebec in the late 1990s. The United Nations human rights committee declared full funding discriminatory in 1999. There was also the question of why, beyond historical and political reasons, Catholics merited a school system while other faiths didn’t. The status quo rolled along until the provincial election campaign of 2007, when Progressive Conservative leader John Tory proposed extending funds to other religions. The success of Tory’s proposal among the public is one of the reasons we’re covering Tim Hudak during the current election. Where does the full funding issue go from here? The refusal of bodies like the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board to heed provincial guidelines on equity and inclusivity in relation to gay students may satisfy staunch adherents of the faith, but such demonstrations of bullying damages their public image—and much more seriously, their credibility in the eyes of many Ontarians. Apart from the Greens, who back one secular system, the major parties contesting the current election are barely rocking the boat in terms of suggesting changes to the funding formula or addressing how to confront Catholic boards on their discriminatory actions. All that’s certain is that the debate over public funding has hardly been settled by the legislation that was supposed to do just that. Additional material from History of Separate Schools of Ontario and Minority Report 1950 by E.F Henderson, Arthur Kelly, J.M. Pigott, Henri Saint-Jacques (Toronto: English Catholic Education Association of Ontario, 1950), Catholic Education and Politics in Upper Canada by Franklin A. Walker (Toronto: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1955), Catholic Education and Politics in Ontario Volume III by Franklin A. Walker (Toronto: Catholic Education Foundation of Ontario, 1986), and the following newspapers: the June 13, 1984 edition of the Globe and Mail; the February 10, 1968, October 26, 1970, September 1, 1971, June 13, 1984, and June 3, 1985 editions of the Toronto Star; and the October 26, 1970 edition of the Telegram.
Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. Feb. 23, 2015, 4:41 PM GMT / Updated Feb. 23, 2015, 4:42 PM GMT BERLIN — German prosecutors have charged a 94-year-old man with 3,681 counts of accessory to murder on allegations he served in the Nazi death camp Auschwitz. Schwerin prosecutors' spokesman Stefan Urbanek said Monday the suspect was an SS sergeant who served as a medic in Auschwitz in an SS hospital. In that role, Urbanek said, the man helped the extermination camp function and could thus be charged as an accessory to the 1944 killings. Urbanek wouldn't release the suspect's name in line with privacy laws. The man is one of 30 former Auschwitz suspects against whom federal investigators recommended in 2013 that state prosecutors pursue charges under a new precedent in German law. His attorney, Peter-Michael Diestel, told the Bild newspaper there's no evidence of any "concrete criminal act" by his client. In-Depth — The Associated Press
The first cover of Charlie Hebdo since the deadly Jan. 7 attack is here, and it's a doozy. Libération reports that the French satirical newspaper's "survivor issue" cover will feature an image of the Prophet Muhammad holding a "Je Suis Charlie" sign, along with the words "Tout est pardonne," or "All is forgiven." The new cover is cheeky jab at Islamic extremism with a powerful message: Despite the bloodshed at the newspaper's Paris offices that left 12 dead less than a week ago, Charlie Hebdo will not be silenced. The new issue of Charlie Hebdo hit newsstands on Wednesday, Jan. 14, with an estimated print run of more than 3 million copies, far higher than paper's normal run of 60,000. It will also be translated into 16 languages. This isn't the first time Charlie Hebdo had to get back on its feet after a gruesome attack on the newspaper. In 2011, its offices in Paris were destroyed by firebombs after it printed an issued jokingly "guest edited" by Muhammad titled Sharia Weekly and featuring a cover drawn by Luz, the same cartoonist who drew this week's cover. A week later, Charlie Hebdo printed a powerful cover showing its cartoonist kissing a Muslim man with the headline reading "Love Is Stronger Than Hate." h/t Libération
About This Game Ben and Ed - Blood Party is a silly and gory 3d Platformer. Play alone or together online and survive deadly obstacle courses. Customize your zombie, create your own levels and upload them via Steam-Workshop. Play as a zombie Use the advantages of your rotten body! Lose limbs, throw your head, be transformed into a meat block, dance and more... Multiplayer Play with up to 4 people. Compete for the first place and find out who can drag his rotting body to the goal fastest, or cooperate to complete the deadly obstacle courses together. Level Editor Build your own levels with the integrated level editor. Create a course, place traps and make life hell for those who try to complete it. Zombie Editor Customize your zombie. Make him or her beautiful. We have sandals! Steam Workshop Upload your levels to Steam Workshop and let the world die in it, or download countless levels made by other players.
In an ideal scenario, the education sector works together with the industries to ensure a balance between skilled workforces and job opportunities. But it is not always the case, especially when it comes to digital currency technology. The mismatch between job and education sector has led to many professionals and students registering for various online courses on Bitcoin and blockchain technology. At present, there are only a handful of universities offering professional courses on these topics. But thankfully, there are few online course platforms that allow people to learn the much-required skills so that they can benefit from the increasing requirement of blockchain professionals in banking, financial and IT institutions. A leading business magazine has recently reported on the surge in demand for cryptocurrency based courses. The MOOC platform, Coursera is a big hit among those aspiring to make a career in cryptocurrency technology. But these courses aren’t limited to Coursera, few colleges, and other online platforms are also encashing upon the increasing demand by offering various levels of blockchain technology courses. A recent analysis of the jobs in banking and finance sector showed an increase in job listings for blockchain experts by many leading banking and technology businesses. With banks and financial institutions heavily invested in the research and development of blockchain based applications for their operations, the demand for in-house professionals is expected to go up even further. READ MORE: Banking Sector Witnesses Surge in Blockchain Technology Related Jobs The scarcity of qualified blockchain specialists also means a fat paycheck for those who meet the requirements. Jared Kenna, an investor and entrepreneur in digital currency sector was quoted by the magazine saying, “The supply of people that have extensive blockchain experiences is pretty low and the demand is quickly increasing. Sometimes they get five job offers a day… An experienced blockchain developer can command $220,000 a year.” Jared believes that the only way to supplement the demand at the moment is to hire a blockchain expert with lots of experience to lead a team of those who have just graduated from a blockchain boot camp (blockchain technology course programs). At present, there are only around 7000 to 8000 people who can work on blockchain technology at various proficiency levels, says Jeff Garzik. Many companies are also conducting blockchain boot camp for employees within their campuses to prepare them for the upcoming global technology shift. There are plenty of tutorials and blogs available on the internet explaining different parts of blockchain development. Someone with a strong technology background can manage to become a decent blockchain developers by making use of these resources. This is a small window of opportunity for course providers to offer blockchain technology courses at a premium. Given the increasing usage of distributed ledger technology, we can expect it to become part of the standard curriculum in the coming days. Ref: Bloomberg \| Yahoo Finance \| Image: NewsBTC
Last weekend saw us reach a milestone as we brought NHS Hack Day back to London in our tenth event in just three years! NHS Hack Days are weekend events that bring together patients, healthcare and technology professionals and other “geeks who love the NHS” under the banner of making NHS IT less bad. It’s always a pleasure to see so many talented people come together to share their time, skills and experience to create something together, and this was no exception. The event started with clinical staff, patients, and anyone else who felt they had a way to make the world a little better pitching ideas that they wanted to work on. Pitches start with a User Need - for instance the surgeons who need a way to track their continuing professional development, or the doctor who wants quick and easy offline access to formulary information. The attendees then pick what project they want to work on, and form teams to try and build a prototype over the weekend. At the end of the weekend, we gathered together to share what we’d learned and what we’d built over the weekend. Some of the stand-out projects from the weekend were The Locumator - an app which helps hospital schedulers and doctors to fill vacant slots with bank staff, and Take Your Meds - a low-tech phone reminder application that sends a configurable audio message via phone call to a patient, reminding them to use the mouthwash, or take their medication. You can see the whole list here. Locumator’s presentation More information on Take Your Meds is available from their Github account This time, our cat-herder in chief was the amazing @deckofpandas - and we’d like to thank her again for all of her hard work in making the event such a great experience for everyone involved. Next time looks like being Manchester in Autumn 2015 - although the venue & exact date are yet to be confirmed. We’d love it if you joined us though - so do sign up to the mailing list to be kept in the loop !
The way in which music is shared and consumed right now means that you can feel like you know an artist almost inside and out before their first ‘proper’ release even comes out. Spoiler alert: you probably don’t. Like many others who were gassed to all fuck on ‘Okishima Island’ and ‘Mishima Curse’, I initially linked Samename with a blossoming scene of producers whose mutations of grime’s signifiers helped usher in one of London’s best new club nights, Boxed. But like many of the artists associated or directly involved with that movement, whatever you want to call it, the music Samename has been making over the last couple years isn’t so easily identifiable as grime, or even dance music. Samename’s debut EP, Yume, combines a rich pool of ideas with rare songwriting ability, from barrages of off-kilter Jersey club kicks, to bold re-interpretations of classic sino-grime melodies, even to meditative moments of running water, cicadas chirping and devices you’re more likely to find in relaxation apps or RPG healing points than Dalston’s largest collection of gunfingers. What brings it together is Samename’s ever-growing identity, which has never sounded so potent. We spoke to Samename to get a little more insight into his first EP, which you can stream here on FACT ahead of its release on Pelican Fly next week. While your tunes have always had a strong Japanese influence running through them this EP has really thrown them at the forefront. Even if we ignore the titles the tunes sound more rooted melodically in traditional eastern music than, let’s say grime or Jersey club music. How long have you identified with Japanese culture and what elements have the greatest influence on your music? First of all, I want to make it clear I don’t identify with all of Japanese culture: there are certain aspects of it (i.e. certain Japanese composers, traditional Japanese instruments, Japanese Buddhism, video games, anime, art) that have influenced the record and my productions more heavily in the past year. I feel like there’s a huge obsession with Japanese culture at the moment and that generally a lot of it comes from a dishonest and naive place that can potentially be harmful and offensive. Undoubtedly I’m inspired and influenced by certain aspects of Japanese culture but I made sure before starting this record, and while writing it, that If I wasn’t properly informed on something that I tried to educate myself as much as possible. I think if you’re going to draw influence and inspiration from something, the end product usually turns out miles better if you take the time out to find out about it in the first place. So I did this mostly because I’m interested in those particular aspects of Japanese culture. In wanting to get this record bang on I wanted to make sure I was citing these particular aspects correctly. Let’s not mention the ‘S’ word, but do you think there’s a logical reason behind grime’s ongoing love affair with the east? In so many ways it’s felt an ideal match. I’ve read so many producers’ and bloggers’ thoughts on this, but honestly I feel like people are dissecting it way too much. It’s funny in a way. Do people honestly believe that all grime producers influenced by eastern sounds are influenced for the same specific reason? I think each producer who’s cited eastern music probably has done for individual reasons, don’t you? My influences are mainly Japanese, not Sino i.e. Chinese. Like I mentioned before, I’m into things that belong to Japanese culture but that was by no means a conscious decision… a lot of the time I just looked closer at what I was watching and listening to and it happened to be the case that it had been made in Japan. I think that’s probably the same for a lot of producers in that context, but there are probably countless other reasons too. Unless you’re able to have a one-to-one with every grime producer who’s cited it in their work, I think it’s almost pointless to look for one specific reason. I welcome that, it keeps things interesting not being able to pinpoint one reason and keeps things open to interpretation rather than providing a specific focal point that producers can focus on and then come up with something as a result. “I feel like if your song just sounds like an old one and doesn’t add anything, you’re not adding to this dialogue in a healthy manner.” The opening track ‘Sakura’ has a wicked re-interpolation of one of my all-time favourite grime instrumentals, ‘Chinese Water’. Intertextuality has always felt like a crucial part of your tunes (Battle Royale samples, Wiley’s plugsounds, Ha dance stabs) but it never feels cheap or forced. How important is it to you that you make those sounds your own? I’ve never really thought about that too much. I think if you rewind to 3-4 years ago when I actually felt happy with just sharing my music with people, I wore my influences on my sleeve. The first explicitly ‘grime’ tune I made was a bootleg of ‘Stomp’, then half a year or so on I made that refix of ‘Colder’ which was a weird ballroom/grime crossover and now I’m at this stage where I feel like that it has been less forced in relation to mixing genres. I was using those samples almost like training wheels, whereas now I think explicit samples don’t run through my music as much as they used to, and I think I’ve got my own sound. With re-writing that melody from ‘Chinese Water’ I thought it’d be interesting to flip it, use Japanese instrumentation on a Chinese melody and then expand upon what had already been done in order to make it my own. Making certain things sound like my own is very important to me. I believe as a musician, you subconsciously – or even consciously at times – participate in a musical dialogue with other producers. People bounce off each other all the time, some producers more than others, and as a consequence I feel like if your song just sounds like an old one and doesn’t add anything, you’re not adding to this dialogue in a healthy manner. I think things can get very stale quickly if that occurs. Whilst I’m not overly conscious of this when sitting down and making my music, I try my best to make sure I have done something which in my mind is fresh. While there is an obvious grime influence, Yume sounds equally indebted to Jersey club and properly prog cinematic shit. Do you have any goals in mind when making your tunes, or is it simply a case of creating something you want to make? And do you ever consciously try to avoid making a tune that sounds too grime, too Jersey or too videogamey? With my debut EP I wanted to show people what I’m about and create something that’s an obvious springboard for my future material. It’s dipping its toes in many oceans in my mind, but then again my influences come from many oceans. I guess I’m drawing from things I’ve grown up with and not all of them are musical, in a way this record is a tribute to things in my childhood, to the present and also my interest in club music which goes back to as far back as I can remember becoming conscious of different types of music as a kid (my father was heavily into house and deeply involved in the club scene). My goal, like it always has been, is to create because I want to and because it’s an enjoyable process. Alongside that, now that I’ve got my first EP finished, I want to progress from there and make songs that are aimed at the club specifically or stuff that’s specifically made to listen to at home or to be heard in a game/movie if I were to score the OST. How long do you usually spend on a tune? This varies a lot, and can sometimes run to an unhealthy amount. If someone sets me a deadline, it’s almost impossible to tell if I’ll keep to it, finish it before or finish it months after. There have been times I’ve done things in a day and there have been times where I’ve spent half a year on a production. That’s pretty similar in regard to the EP. I spent so long on ‘Shinigami’ and it never really wore me down mentally but with ‘Gishiki’ I had one horrific nightmare because of it – the worst of my life in fact – and that really delayed the process. There were some peculiar happenings related to that track; it really spooked me. With the other two tracks on the EP, ‘Sakura’ and ‘Nuriko’, it was just the standard job except I went back and brushed them up numerous times, more than I usually do, as I felt like I wanted my debut to be something extra special. There’s a big back-story with all the EP tracks and the name Yume is a hint at that. Each track has a story to it and there is also an overall story collectively but I want to keep that open to interpretation for now. Do you have any plans for anything after this EP? I’ve just finished university this week, so hopefully I’m going to be immersing myself in writing new material. I’ve got ideas for my next record and I think I’m ready to lay them down now. Apart from collaborating with a few people, which I’ve only recently started to open up to, I’m just going to keep trying to push my sound forward in a way that I find interesting. Musically, I feel like I’m still just teething and I’ve got a long, long way to go before I can call myself an accomplished producer, but that’s something I really welcome.
One college team might be looking to poach the NFL ranks for a coach, but it appears that the pros could be looking to do the reverse, as well. According to the NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, two successful programs could be targeted. Of the two, UCLA's Jim Mora has the closest NFL ties. The former head coach of the Atlanta Falcons and Seattle Seahawks, he was in the NFL from 1985 until he was fired by the Seahawks in 2010. While UCLA was somewhat disappointing this year, Mora is responsible for bringing the program back to national prominence in just three years. Mora was less successful in the NFL than he has been in college, finishing 32-34 overall with a 1-1 record in the playoffs. Auburn's Gus Malzahn has no NFL ties and was a high school coach until becoming an assistant at Arkansas in 2006. He first became a head coach at Arkansas State in 2012, and then took Auburn to the national title game and won an SEC championship in his first year at Auburn in 2013. Overall, he's 29-9 as a college coach and 20-6 at Auburn. Last year, he was mentioned as a candidate for the Cleveland Browns job. One team that could potentially target Malzahn is intriguing. .@RapSheet on Gus Malzahn: "I would expect the Dolphins to have interest in him if they part ways with Joe Philbin." — NFL Media PR (@InsideNFLMedia) December 21, 2014 The Dolphins hired Alabama coach Nick Saban, the best coach in college football in the last decade, from LSU in 2005. Saban went just 15-17 in two years in Miami before bolting for Alabama. How would Dolphins fans respond to getting yet another successful college coach with few NFL ties?
Marvell today announced the Marvell Avastar 88W8864, a wireless local area network (WLAN) system-on-chip (SoC) and the industry's first 802.11ac 4x4 solution built to improve the throughput of enterprise and retail access points (APs) and the robustness of wireless video distribution.The widespread adoption of Wi-Fi enabled devices requires faster, more efficient and reliable wireless that enables quick and seamless connectivity. Compared to its predecessor 802.11n, 802.11ac offers up to a three times increase in Wi-Fi throughput and more than two times the power efficiency when processing high-speed loads.Earlier this year, Marvell announced the industry's first 802.11ac 2x2 combination radio chip, the Avastar 88W8897, which pairs today's leading wireless technologies - near field communications (NFC) and Bluetooth 4.0 - with mobile multiple input multiple output (MIMO), transmit beamforming and support for Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Miracast. The latest addition to Marvell's portfolio of Avastar 802.11ac products, the 88W8864 establishes new industry benchmarks for the wireless performance and range of enterprise and retail APs, service provider gateways, hotspots, video bridges and set-top boxes across the globe and is currently sampling."I believe that with Marvell's new breakthrough 802.11ac 4x4 Wi-Fi solution, we are positioned to change the landscape for enterprise-class network infrastructure and carrier grade video applications, further empowering the entire spectrum of always-on devices. The new era of the digital lifestyle requires superior wireless connectivity which serves as a critical pillar for delivering live content across all screen sizes and 'Smart Furnishings' for connected consumers," said Weili Dai, Co-Founder of Marvell. "I am very proud to see our dedicated team of engineers continue to build ground-breaking wireless technologies that support the latest industry standards, significantly improving network capacity, performance and reliability for Wi-Fi devices accessing the cloud infrastructure. Working with the industry's largest and most innovative global carriers and OEMs over the last decade, Marvell has established a successful track record of delivering world class wireless solutions for enterprise, consumer and mobile applications."The 4x4 WLAN SoC configuration is the baseline architecture for best-of-breed enterprise, retail and service provider network infrastructures. Since the introduction of the Marvell Avastar 88W8764 802.11n 4x4 SoC in 2010, Marvell has become a leading provider of the 4x4 architecture, delivering the highest peak throughput wireless coverage in the industry and the most robust, reliable link quality available. By combining the advanced 4x4 MIMO solution with Marvell's market-proven beamforming technology and now 802.11ac support, the 88W8864 is poised to further enhance the company's stronghold in indoor and outdoor APs and also expand its presence in the service provider video market.The 88W8864 is unique in that it is designed to ensure seamless wireless throughput of high bandwidth data applications and enable reliable, carrier-grade HD multi-stream video distribution over Wi-Fi networks, delivering high-quality, low latency, artifact-free video content across service provider gateways and set-top boxes. The 88W8864 will be integrated into a broad range of Marvell's media platforms that serve these markets, including Marvell's video and network SoC platforms, bringing industry-leading 802.11ac connectivity to enhance consumers' immersive digital entertainment experiences."Marvell's innovation in the wireless space continues to improve the performance and connectivity of both enterprise and consumer applications, such as access points, set-top boxes and carrier-grade high-definition video," said Will Strauss, president and principal analyst, Forward Concepts. "With the release of the Marvell 802.11ac 4x4 chip, the company is bringing to market a solution that offers a significant increase in Wi-Fi bandwidth capacity and reliability. As the first wireless provider to introduce a 4x4 802.11ac chip, Marvell is building on its tradition of delivering solutions that alleviate design challenges and enhance the end-user experience."Key features of Marvell's Avastar 88W8864 SoC include:This standard significantly increases bandwidth available over the Wi-Fi link and network capacity for densely populated environments, extending wireless capabilities to a variety of new use cases such as real-time video streaming and wireless back-up. With built-in 802.11ac support, Marvell's 88W8864 chip delivers up to 1.3 Gbps of throughput and is ideal for enterprise APs and the transfer of carrier-grade wireless.Beamforming, a specialized method of radio-frequency transmission that can be integrated across a range of devices from APs to laptops and smartphones, greatly improves link robustness and wireless performance enabling, for instance, the seamless streaming of HD video in locations where devices could previously maintain only minimal connection to the network. Marvell is unique to offer support for both implicit and explicit beamforming, which improves the performance of existing devices in the network, even if they themselves do not implement beamforming. Marvell's beamforming technology, which is leveraged by its entire family of Avastar solutions, outperforms other digital signal processing techniques for range extension by at least six times. In addition, beamforming increases the battery life of any device connected to the 88W8864.● Complete 4x4 MIMO dual-band 802.11ac solution● 1.3Gbps WLAN PHY rate● Channel bandwidth up to 80MHz● 256 QAM modulation scheme● Market proven implicit and explicit Transmit Beamforming technology● Low Density Parity Check (LDPC)● Powerful Wi-Fi offload engine● Marvell Spectrum Management● Multi-stream, low PER and latency HD video● Integrated Wi-Fi position engine● Marvell Platform Advantage
The following joint statement from the global climate justice movement was released by Attac and 350.org. by This Changes Everything We are at a crossroads. We do not want to be compelled to survive in a world that has been made barely livable for us. From South Pacific Islands to the shores of Louisiana, from the Maldives to the Sahel, from Greenland to the Alps, the daily lives of millions of us are already being disrupted by the consequences of climate change. Through ocean acidification, the submersion of South Pacific Islands, forced migration in the Indian Subcontinent and Africa, frequent storms and hurricanes, the current ecocide affects all species and ecosystems, threatening the rights of future generations. And we are not equally impacted by climate change: Indigenous and peasant communities, poor communities in the global South and in the global North are at the frontlines and most affected by these and other impacts of climate disruption. We are not under any illusions. For more than 20 years, governments have been meeting, yet greenhouse gas emissions have not decreased and the climate keeps changing. The forces of inertia and obstruction prevail, even as scientific warnings become ever more dire. This comes as no surprise. Decades of liberalization of trade and investments have undermined the capacity of states to confront the climate crisis. At every stage powerful forces – fossil fuel corporations, agro-business companies, financial institutions, dogmatic economists, skeptics and deniers, and governments in the thrall of these interests – stand in the way or promote false solutions. Ninety companies are responsible for two-thirds of recorded greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Genuine responses to climate change threatens their power and wealth, threatens free market ideology, and threatens the structures and subsidies that support and underwrite them. We know that global corporations and governments will not give up the profits they reap through the extraction of coal, gas and oil reserves; and through global fossil fuel-based industrial agriculture. Our continuing ability to act, think, love, care, work, create, produce, contemplate, struggle, however, demands that we force them to. To be able to continue to thrive as communities, individuals and citizens, we all must strive for change. Our common humanity and the Earth demand it. We are confident in our capacity to stop climate crimes. In the past, determined women and men have resisted and overcome the crimes of slavery, totalitarianism, colonialism or apartheid. They decided to fight for justice and solidarity and knew no one would do it for them. Climate change is a similar challenge, and we are nurturing a similar uprising. We are working to change everything. We can open the way to a more livable future, and our actions are much more powerful than we think. Around the world, our communities are fighting against the real drivers of the climate crisis, protecting territories, working to reduce their emissions, building their resilience, achieving food autonomy through small scale ecological farming, etc. On the eve of the UN Climate Conference to be held in Paris-Le Bourget, we declare our determination to keep fossil fuels in the ground. This is the only way forward. Concretely, governments have to end subsidies to the fossil fuel industry, and to freeze fossil fuel extraction by leaving untouched 80% of all existing fossil fuel reserves. We know that this implies a great historical shift. We will not wait for states to make it happen. Slavery and apartheid did not end because states decided to abolish them. Mass mobilisations left political leaders no other choice. The situation today is precarious. We have, however, a unique opportunity to reinvigorate democracy, to dismantle the dominance of corporate political power, to transform radically our modes of production and consumption. Ending the era of fossil fuels is one important step towards the fair and sustainable society we need. We will not waste this opportunity, in Paris or elsewhere, today or tomorrow. This statement was published in a new book called Crime Climatique Stop! You can see the list of supporters, sign on to the manifesto, or get the book here. Sign MANIFESTO here.
You'll need to bring a second pair of pants with you if you want to participate in the first-ever "Extra Pants Subway Ride" on Sunday. View Full Caption Facebook/Tony Zaret It could be a face-off between the have-nots and the have-extras. While an expected 4,000 subway riders will strip off their pants this Sunday as part of the "No Pants Subway Ride," at least two people will be putting on a second pair. Stand-up comedian Tony Zaret and his wife will lead the first "annual Extra Pants Subway Ride," a parody of the yearly pantsless stunt launched by the New York City-based prank collective Improv Everywhere in 2002. The Greenpoint couple plans to join "No Pants" participants at Maria Hernandez Park, one of seven meeting points dictated by the event's coordinators, at 3 p.m. and board the L train at the Jefferson Street stop. But rather than stand or sit quietly until it's time to surprise other straphangers, they'll declare their intention to mount a brief piece of street theater. The "Extra Pants Subway Ride" Facebook event instructs attendees to — as soon as the subway car doors close — "stand up and announce, 'Ladies and gentlemen, we are now going to perform a humorous flash mob. We hope you find it entertaining!'" and then put their extra pairs of pants on. (Pant-less riders are instructed to tell inquiring bystanders that they "forgot to wear pants," that yes, they're “a little cold," and that they have no connection to fellow pants-less riders whatsoever.) Zaret, 38, said his satirical subway ride takes aim at all flash mobs, unexpected but rehearsed performances that he objects to because, "for the first couple of minutes, most people are just sitting there thinking, why are all these people around me being so annoying? "What if there was an announcement before the flash mob started, that we’re going to do a flash mob, we’re going to make you rethink what is theater? And then they begin enjoying the flash mob from the moment it starts. That’s why I’m trying to do the 'Extra Pants Subway Ride' a little differently." Should we expect a rumble between the bare-legged and the bundled-up? Asked to comment on the rival event, Improv Everywhere and "No Pants" founder Charlie Todd told DNAinfo he thinks it's "a very funny parody." Zaret advises "Extra Pants" ride participants to wear normal pants and bring with them "a nice pair of sweats with a wide hole on the bottom, so you can just slide them on without having to take your shoes off. "That way," he added, "you can take them off and on again, if you start to get bored and a bunch of new people come on the train, you can say, 'Oh, you missed the street theater — look, I'm putting on my pants again,' and it won’t be, like, an elaborate process.” The Facebook event has 18 confirmed participants so far ("so that should probably mean it will be about 3 people," Zaret said), and its creator predicts it will last a mere 15 minutes. "After a couple of minutes, the magic will be over," said Zaret, who hosts a monthly show at the Upright Citizens' Brigade theater in the East Village. "It’s not like pants off, which is exciting for hours."
Bisphenol A, commonly known as BPA, may be among the world’s most vilified chemicals. The compound, used in manufacturing polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins, is found in plastic goggles, face shields, and helmets; baby bottles; protective coatings inside metal food containers; and composites and sealants used in dentistry. As animal studies began to show links between the chemical and breast and prostate cancer, early-onset puberty, and polycystic ovary syndrome, consumer groups pressured manufacturers of reusable plastic containers, like Nalgene, to remove BPA from their products. Warnings went out to avoid microwaving plasticware or putting it in the dishwasher. On May 6th, the President’s Cancer Panel issued a report deploring the rising number of carcinogens released into the environment—including BPA—and calling for much more stringent regulation and wider awareness of their dangers. The panel advised President Obama “to use the power of your office to remove the carcinogens and other toxins from our food, water, and air that needlessly increase health care costs, cripple our Nation’s productivity, and devastate American lives.” Dr. LaSalle Leffall, Jr., the chairman of the panel, said in a statement, “The increasing number of known or suspected environmental carcinogens compels us to action, even though we may currently lack irrefutable proof of harm.” The narrative seems to follow a familiar path. In the nineteen-sixties, several animal studies suggested that cyclamates, a class of artificial sweetener, caused chromosomal abnormalities and cancer. Some three-quarters of Americans were estimated to consume the sweeteners. In 1969, cyclamates were banned. Later research found that there was little evidence that these substances caused cancer in humans. In the nineteen-eighties, studies suggesting a cancer risk from Alar, a chemical used to regulate the color and ripening of apples, caused a minor panic among parents and a media uproar. In that case, the cancer risk was shown to have been overstated, but still present, and the substance remains classified a “probable human carcinogen.” Lead, too, was for years thought to be safe in small doses, until further study demonstrated that, particularly for children, even slight exposure could result in intellectual delays, hearing loss, and hyperactivity. There is an inherent uncertainty in determining which substances are safe and which are not, and when their risks outweigh their benefits. Toxicity studies are difficult, because BPA and other, similar chemicals can have multiple effects on the body. Moreover, we are exposed to scores of them in a lifetime, and their effects in combination or in sequence might be very different from what they would be in isolation. In traditional toxicology, a single chemical is tested in one cell or animal to assess its harmful effects. In studying environmental hazards, one needs to test mixtures of many chemicals, across ranges of doses, at different points in time, and at different ages, from conception to childhood to old age. Given so many variables, it is difficult to determine how harmful these chemicals might be, or if they are harmful at all, or what anyone can do to avoid their effects. In the case of BPA and other chemicals of its sort, though, their increasing prevalence and a number of human studies that associate them with developmental issues have become too worrisome to ignore. The challenge now is to decide a course of action before there is any certainty about what is truly dangerous and what is not. In 1980, Frederica Perera, a professor at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health and a highly regarded investigator of the effects of environmental hazards, was studying how certain chemicals in cigarette smoke might cause cancer. Dissatisfied with the research at the time, which measured toxic substances outside the body and then made inferences about their effects, she began using sophisticated molecular techniques to measure compounds called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAH—which are plentiful in tobacco smoke—in the body. Perera found that after entering the lungs the compounds pass into the bloodstream and damage blood cells, binding to their DNA. She hoped to compare the damaged blood cells from smokers with healthy cells, and decided to seek out those she imagined would be uncontaminated by foreign substances. “I thought that the most perfect pristine blood would come from the umbilical cord of a newborn,” Perera said. But when she analyzed her samples Perera discovered PAH attached to some of the DNA in blood taken from umbilical cords, too. “I was pretty shocked,” she said. “I realized that we did not know very much about what was happening during this early stage of development.” Perera’s finding that chemicals like PAH, which can also be a component of air pollution, are passed from mother to child during pregnancy has now been replicated for more than two hundred compounds. These include PCBs, chemical coolants that were banned in the United States in 1979 but have persisted in the food chain; BPA and phthalates, used to make plastics more pliable, which leach out of containers and mix with their contents; pesticides used on crops and on insects in the home; and some flame retardants, which are often applied to upholstery, curtains, and other household items. Fetuses and newborns lack functional enzymes in the liver and other organs that break down such chemicals, and animal studies in the past several decades have shown that these chemicals can disrupt hormones and brain development. Some scientists believe that they may promote chronic diseases seen in adulthood such as diabetes, atherosclerosis, and cancer. There is some evidence that they may have what are called epigenetic effects as well, altering gene expression in cells, including those which give rise to eggs and sperm, and allowing toxic effects to be passed on to future generations. In 1998, Perera initiated a program at Columbia to investigate short- and long-term effects of environmental chemicals on children, and she now oversees one of the largest and longest-standing studies of a cohort of mothers and newborns in the United States. More than seven hundred mother-child pairs have been recruited from Washington Heights, Harlem, and the South Bronx; Perera is also studying pregnant women in Kraków, Poland, and two cities in China, and, since September 11, 2001, a group of three hundred and twenty-nine mothers and newborns from the downtown hospitals near the World Trade Center. In all, some two thousand mother-child pairs have been studied, many for at least a decade. This March, I visited Columbia’s Center for Children’s Environmental Health, where Perera is the director, and met with a woman I’ll call Renee Martin in an office overlooking the George Washington Bridge. Martin was born in Harlem, attended a community college in Queens, and then moved to 155th Street and Broadway, where she is raising her five children. She entered the study eleven years ago, when she was pregnant with her first child. “I was asthmatic growing up,” Martin said. “And I was concerned about triggers of asthma in the environment. So when they asked me to be in the study I thought it would be a good way to get information that might tell me something about my own health and the health of my child.” She showed me a small black backpack containing a metal box with a long plastic tube. During her pregnancy, Martin would drape the tube over her shoulder, close to her chin, and a vacuum inside the device would suck in a sample of air. A filter trapped particles and vapors of ambient chemicals, like pesticides, phthalates, and PAH. “I walked around pregnant with this hose next to my mouth, but, living in New York, people hardly notice,” she said with a laugh. The Columbia team also developed a comprehensive profile of Martin’s potential proximity to chemicals, including an environmental map that charted her apartment’s distance from gas stations, dry cleaners, fast-food restaurants, supermarkets, and major roadways. They took urine samples and, at delivery, blood samples from her and from the umbilical cord, along with samples from the placenta. Nearly a hundred per cent of the mothers in the study were found to have BPA and phthalates in their urine. Urine and blood samples are taken as the babies grow older, as well as samples of their exhaled breath. “We have a treasure trove of biological material,” Perera said. The researchers track the children’s weight and sexual development, and assess I.Q., visual spatial ability, attention, memory, and behavior. Brain imaging, using an M.R.I., is performed on selected children. Martin was still breast-feeding her two-year-old daughter. “I bottle-fed my first child,” she told me. “But when you learn what can come out of plastic bottles and all the benefits of breast-feeding—my other children were nursed.” The Columbia group regularly convenes the families to hear results and discuss ways to reduce their exposure to potential environmental hazards. At one meeting, Martin found out that some widely used pesticides could result in impaired learning and behavior. “I told the landlord to stop spraying in the apartment” to combat a roach infestation, she said. On the advice of the Columbia researchers, Martin asked him to seal the cracks in the walls that were allowing cockroaches to enter, and Martin’s family meticulously swept up crumbs. This approach has now become the New York City Department of Health’s official recommendation for pest control. “You don’t need to be out in the country and have compost,” Martin said. “This has made me into an urban environmentalist.” In 2001, using data from animal studies, the E.P.A. banned the sale of the pesticide chlorpyrifos (sold under the name Dursban) for residential and indoor use. Many agricultural uses are still permitted, and farming communities continue to be exposed to the insecticide. Residues on food may affect those who live in urban areas as well. In 2004, the Columbia group published results in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives showing that significant exposure during the prenatal period to chlorpyrifos was associated with an average hundred-and-fifty-gram reduction in birth weight—about the same effect as if the mother had smoked all through pregnancy. Those most highly exposed to the insecticide were twice as likely to be born below the tenth percentile in size for gestational age. The researchers found that children born after 2001 had much lower exposure levels—indicating that the ban was largely effective. For those children who were exposed to the pesticide in the womb, the effects have seemed to persist. The children with the greatest exposure were starting to fall off the developmental curve and displayed signs of attention-deficit problems by the time they were three. By seven, they showed significant deficits in working memory, which is strongly tied to problem-solving, I.Q., and reading comprehension. Another study, published this month in Pediatrics, using a random cross-section of American children, showed that an elevated level of a particular pesticide residue nearly doubled the likelihood that a child would have A.D.H.D. “The size of this deficit is educationally meaningful in the early preschool years,” Virginia Rauh, the leader of Columbia’s research, said. “Such a decline can push whole groups of children into the developmentally delayed category.” First used in Germany, in the nineteen-thirties, bisphenol A has a chemical structure similar to that of estrogen, but was considered too weak to be developed into a contraceptive pill. Recent animal studies have shown that, even at very low levels, BPA can cause changes that may lead to cancer in the prostate gland and in breast tissue. It is also linked to disruption in brain chemistry and, in female rodents, accelerated puberty. Japanese scientists found that high levels of BPA were associated with polycystic ovary syndrome, a leading cause of impaired fertility. Phthalates are also ubiquitous in cosmetics, shampoos, and other personal-care products. They may have effects on older children and adults as well as on neonates. A study at Massachusetts General Hospital found an association of high levels of certain phthalates with lower sperm concentrations and impaired sperm motility; young girls in Puerto Rico who had developed breasts prematurely were more likely to have high levels of phthalates in their blood. Immigrant children in Belgium who exhibited precocious puberty also showed greater exposure to the pesticide DDT, which has estrogenlike effects and has been banned in the U.S., but is still used in Africa to help control malaria. Long-term studies have provided the most compelling evidence that chemicals once considered safe may cause health problems in communities with consistent exposure over many years. Researchers from SUNY Albany, including Lawrence Schell, a biomedical anthropologist, have worked over the past two decades with Native Americans on the Mohawk reservation that borders the St. Lawrence River, once a major shipping thoroughfare, just east of Massena, New York. General Motors built a foundry nearby that made automobile parts, Alcoa had two manufacturing plants for aluminum, and the area was contaminated with PCBs, which were used in the three plants. Several Mohawk girls experienced signs of early puberty, which coincided with higher levels of PCBs in their blood. The Albany researchers also observed that increased levels of PCBs correlated with altered levels of thyroid hormone and lower long-term memory functioning. Similar results have been found in an area of Slovakia near heavy industry. “Folks have complained about reproductive problems,” Schell said, of the residents of the Mohawk reservation. “They talked a lot about rheumatoid arthritis, about lupus, about polycystic ovary syndrome. And, you know, you hear these things and you wonder how much of it is just a heightened sensitivity, but, when you see elevated antibodies that are often a sign of autoimmune disease of one kind or another, it could be the beginning of discovering a biological basis for their complaints about these diseases.” Beginning in 2003, Antonia Calafat, a chemist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Russ Hauser, of the Harvard School of Public Health, set out to evaluate the exposure of premature infants to certain environmental contaminants. The researchers hypothesized that infants treated in the most intensive ways—intravenous feedings and delivery of oxygen by respirators—would receive the most exposure, since chemicals like phthalates and BPA can leach from plastic tubing. They studied forty-one infants from two Boston-area intensive-care units for BPA. Calafat told me, “We saw ten times the amounts of BPA in the neonates that we are seeing in the general population.” In several children, the levels of BPA were more than a hundred times as high as in healthy Americans. “He’s actually my co-counsel, but you may scratch his head.” Calafat, who came to the United States from Spain on a Fulbright scholarship, developed highly accurate tests to detect BPA, phthalates, and other compounds in body fluids like blood and urine. This advance, she explained, “means that you are not simply doing an exposure assessment based on the concentration of the chemicals in the food or in the air or in the soil. You are actually measuring the concentrations in the body.” With this technology, she can study each individual as if he or she were a single ecosystem. Her studies at the Centers for Disease Control show that 92.6 per cent of Americans aged six and older have detectable levels of BPA in their bodies; the levels in children between six and eleven years of age are twice as high as those in older Americans. Critics such as Elizabeth Whelan, of the American Council on Science and Health, a consumer-education group in New York (Whelan says that about a third of its two-million-dollar annual budget comes from industry), think that the case against BPA and phthalates has more in common with those against cyclamates and Alar than with the one against lead. “The fears are irrational,” she said. “People fear what they can’t see and don’t understand. Some environmental activists emotionally manipulate parents, making them feel that the ones they love the most, their children, are in danger.” Whelan argues that the public should focus on proven health issues, such as the dangers of cigarettes and obesity and the need for bicycle helmets and other protective equipment. As for chemicals in plastics, Whelan says, “What the country needs is a national psychiatrist.” To illustrate what Whelan says is a misguided focus on manufactured chemicals, her organization has constructed a dinner menu “filled with natural foods, and you can find a carcinogen or an endocrine-disrupting chemical in every course”—for instance, tofu and soy products are filled with plant-based estrogens that could affect hormonal balance. “Just because you find something in the urine doesn’t mean that it’s a hazard,” Whelan says. “Our understanding of risks and benefits is distorted. BPA helps protect food products from spoiling and causing botulism. Flame retardants save lives, so we don’t burn up on our couch.” Several studies also contradict the conclusion that these chemicals have deleterious effects. The journal Toxicological Sciences recently featured a study from the E.P.A. scientist Earl Gray, a widely respected researcher, which indicated that BPA had no effect on puberty in rats. A study of military conscripts in Sweden found no connection between phthalates and depressed sperm counts, and a recent survey of newborns in New York failed to turn up an increase in a male genital malformation which might be expected if the effects from BPA seen in rodents were comparable to effects in humans. Richard Sharpe, a professor at the University of Edinburgh, and an internationally recognized pioneer on the effects of chemicals in the environment on endocrine disruption, recently wrote in Toxicological Sciences, “Fundamental, repetitive work on bisphenol A has sucked in tens, probably hundreds of millions of dollars from government bodies and industry, which, at a time when research money is thin on the ground, looks increasingly like an investment with a nil return.” With epidemiological studies, like those at Columbia, in which scientists observe people as they live, without a control group, the real-life nature of the project can make it difficult to distinguish between correlation and causation. Unknown factors in the environment or unreported habits might escape the notice of the researchers. Moreover, even sophisticated statistical analysis can sometimes yield specious results. Dr. John Ioannides, an epidemiologist at the University of Ioannina, in Greece, has noted that four of the six most frequently cited epidemiological studies published in leading medical journals between 1990 and 2003 were later refuted. Demonstrating the malleability of data, Peter Austin, a medical statistician at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, in Toronto, has retrospectively analyzed medical records of the more than ten million residents of Ontario. He showed that Sagittarians are thirty-eight per cent more likely to fracture an arm than people of other astrological signs, and Leos are fifteen per cent more likely to suffer a gastrointestinal hemorrhage. (Pisces were more prone to heart failure.) To help strengthen epidemiological analysis, Sir Austin Bradford Hill, a British medical statistician, set out certain criteria in 1965 that indicate cause and effect. Researchers must be sure that exposure to the suspected cause precedes the development of a disease; that there is a high degree of correlation between the two; that findings are replicated in different studies in various settings; that a biological explanation exists that makes the association plausible; and that increased exposure makes development of the disease more likely. When epidemiological studies fulfill most of these criteria, they can be convincing, as when studies demonstrated a link between cigarettes and lung cancer. But, in an evolving field, dealing with chemicals that are part of daily life, the lack of long-term clinical data has made firm conclusions elusive. John Vandenbergh, a biologist who found that exposure to certain chemicals like BPA could accelerate the onset of puberty in mice, served on an expert panel that advised the National Toxicology Program, a part of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, on the risks of exposure to BPA. In 2007, the panel reviewed more than three hundred scientific publications and concluded that “there is some concern” about exposure of fetuses and young children to BPA, given the research from Vandenbergh’s laboratory and others. Vandenbergh is cognizant of the difficulty of extrapolating data from rodents and lower animals to humans. “Why can’t we just figure this out?” he said. “Well, one of the problems is that we would have to take half of the kids in the kindergarten and give them BPA and the other half not. Or expose half of the pregnant women to BPA in the doctor’s office and the other half not. And then we have to wait thirty to fifty years to see what effects this has on their development, and whether they get more prostate cancer or breast cancer. You have to wait at least until puberty to see if there is an effect on sexual maturation. Ethically, you are not going to go and feed people something if you think it harmful, and, second, you have this incredible time span to deal with.” The inadequacy of the current regulatory system contributes greatly to the atmosphere of uncertainty. The Toxic Substances Control Act, passed in 1976, does not require manufacturers to show that chemicals used in their products are safe before they go on the market; rather, the responsibility is placed on federal agencies, as well as on researchers in universities outside the government. The burden of proof is so onerous that bans on toxic chemicals can take years to achieve, and the government is often constrained from sharing information on specific products with the public, because manufacturers claim that such information is confidential. Several agencies split responsibility for oversight, with little coördination: the Food and Drug Administration supervises cosmetics, food, and medications, the Environmental Protection Agency regulates pesticides, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission oversees children’s toys and other merchandise. The European Union, in contrast, now requires manufacturers to prove that their compounds are safe before they are sold. According to the E.P.A., some eighty-two thousand chemicals are registered for use in commerce in the United States, with about seven hundred new chemicals introduced each year. In 1998, the E.P.A. found that, among chemicals produced in quantities of more than a million pounds per year, only seven per cent had undergone the full slate of basic toxicity studies. There is no requirement to label most consumer products for their chemical contents, and no consistent regulation throughout the country. Although the F.D.A. initially concluded that BPA was safe, some states, including Massachusetts and Connecticut, either have banned it or are considering a ban. (In January, the F.D.A. announced that it would conduct further testing.) There has been some movement toward stricter controls: in July, 2008, Congress passed the Product Safety Improvement Act, which banned six phthalates from children’s toys. But so far removal from other products has been voluntary. The President’s Cancer Panel report advised people to reduce exposure with strategies that echo some of what the mothers in Frederica Perera’s study have learned: choose products made with minimal toxic substances, avoid using plastic containers to store liquids, and choose produce grown without pesticides or chemical fertilizers and meat free of antibiotics and hormones. Mike Walls, the vice-president of regulatory affairs at the American Chemistry Council, a trade association that represents manufacturers of industrial chemicals, agrees that new laws are needed to regulate such chemicals. “Science has advanced since 1976, when the last legislation was enacted,” he said. But Walls notes that some eight hundred thousand people are employed in the companies that the A.C.C. represents, and that their products are found in ninety-six per cent of all American manufactured goods. “The United States is the clear leader in chemistry,” Walls said. “We have three times as many new applications for novel compounds as any other country in the world. We want to make good societal decisions but avoid regulations that will increase the burden on industry and stifle innovation.” Academic researchers have found that the enormous financial stakes—the production of BPA is a six-billion-dollar-a-year industry—have prompted extra scrutiny of their results. In 2007, according to a recent article in Nature, a majority of non-industry-supported studies initially deemed sound by the National Toxicology Program on the safety of BPA were dismissed as unsuitable after a representative of the A.C.C. drafted a memo critiquing their methods; experimental protocols often differ from one university lab to another. Researchers are now attempting to create a single standard protocol, and a bill introduced by Representative Louise Slaughter, of New York, would fund a centralized research facility at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Other legislation aims to completely overhaul the 1976 law. “It’s clear that the current system doesn’t work at all,” Ben Dunham, a staffer in the office of Senator Frank Lautenberg, of New Jersey, who crafted the bill now before the Senate, told me. Henry Waxman, of California, and Bobby Rush, of Illinois, have released a companion discussion draft in the House. Lautenberg’s bill seeks to allow the E.P.A. to act quickly on chemicals that it considers dangerous; to give new power to the E.P.A. to establish safety criteria in chemical compounds; to create a database identifying chemicals in industrial products; and to set specific deadlines for approving or banning compounds. The bill also seeks to limit the number of animals used for research. (Millions of animals are estimated to be required to perform the testing mandated under the E.U. law.) How much data would be needed to either restrict use of a chemical or mandate an outright ban is still unclear. Lautenberg’s bill resisted the call of environmental groups to ban certain compounds like BPA immediately. Dr. Gina Solomon, of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said that the Lautenberg bill is “an excellent first step,” but noted several “gaps” in the bill: “There is what people call lack of a hammer, meaning no meaningful penalty for missing a deadline in evaluating a chemical if E.P.A. gets bogged down, and we know from history that it can be easily bogged down.” The language setting a standard for safety is too vague, she added. “You could imagine industry driving a truck through this loophole.”
EXCLUSIVE: Haley Joel Osment has landed a supporting role in Entourage, the feature transfer that Doug Ellin is directing from his HBO series creation for Warner Bros. Some 13 years removed from The Sixth Sense, Osment joins Jeremy Piven, Billy Bob Thornton, Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon and Jerry Ferrara along with the rest of the original TV cast. Ellin and Rob Weiss wrote the screenplay and Mark Wahlberg and Weiss are producing. Osment gets the role as he finishes production on the Kevin Smith-directed A24 Films comedy Tusk, which will be released in the fall. He recently costarred with Will Ferrell, Tobey Maguire, Tim Robbins and Kristen Wiig in the IFC miniseries, The Spoils Of Babylon and can currently be seen in Amazon Studio’s Alpha House with John Goodman. Osment is repped by The Schiff Company and Resolution with attorney Bill Sobel.
Democrats Ponder Health-Care Suicide If Democrats enact something like the health-care bill emerging from the Senate Finance Committee, they may call it a legislative victory and it may keep the campaign donations flowing from the insurance industry, but the Democrats would surely infuriate millions of American voters. Email Printer friendly Indeed, it seems like some Democrats, such as Sens. Max Baucus and Kent Conrad, have lost themselves so much in the inside-Washington reeds of legislating a convoluted compromise acceptable to the insurers, that they are inviting an angry backlash from average Americans. The danger for Democrats is that this industry-friendly legislation would impose new burdens on citizens, including government fines for failing to sign up for a health-insurance plan, without guarantees that the coverage won’t be almost as crappy and expensive as it is now. The bill rejects a public option that would put competitive pressure on private insurers. Plus, key elements of the bill, like the so-called shopping “exchanges,” aren’t to take effect until 2013, meaning that Americans will have watched this messy process unfold for months and then be told that the current system, which has cruelly pushed millions of sick people into bankruptcy, will get four more years to bankrupt more Americans. By contrast, Medicare, the single-payer health system for senior citizens, was signed into law on July 30, 1965, and took effect on July 1, 1966, less than a year later. The Senate Finance Committee bill also is so complicated that few citizens can possibly understand it or how it might affect them. Instead of straightening out the health-insurance maze, the bill makes it trickier to navigate. [To see for yourself, click here.] While dumping the relatively straightforward public option, which President Barack Obama favors and which is in the four other committee-approved health-care bills in Congress, the Finance Committee bill offers “non-profit, member-run” co-ops for individuals and “small group markets.” The co-op notion is a populist-sounding alternative favored by the insurance industry because a co-op’s organizational difficulties and relatively small size would make it easy to compete against, much as small food co-ops can be overwhelmed by the pricing advantages that favor large grocery store chains. The other glaring problem for co-ops is that most Americans, especially small-business people, are extremely busy already. They don’t want to take part in running an insurance company; they simply want to get health insurance at a reasonable price. Nor do most Americans want to puzzle their way through Baucus’s hodge-podge of private insurers, government subsidies, emergency waivers, penalties for non-compliance, etc., etc. If Americans lose a job or fall on hard times, they don’t want to go hat in hand to some government bureaucrat and have to lay out their financial problems to get some special favor. What Americans Want What Americans want is affordable health coverage provided in as simple a package as possible. That was the finding of a New York Times/CBS News poll which discovered widespread confusion about the health proposals taking shape in Congress, but more than 2-1 support for a public option to compete with private insurers -- 65 percent for a public option, 26 percent against and 9 percent no opinion. [NYT, Sept. 25, 2009] After all, one of the attractions of the public option is its relative simplicity and cost-effectiveness. It could piggyback on the existing Medicare bureaucracy and thus get started quickly and cheaply. According to congressional budget analysts, it is the only plan that offers significant cost savings. Cost savings would not only help reduce the federal deficit but they would mean that more Americans would get the health care they need without going broke. In other words, it would save lives, reduce housing foreclosures, and protect families now being ripped apart by brutal financial pressures. Yet, despite this common sense – and broad voter support for the public option – the Senate Finance Committee rejected the idea. Chairman Baucus conceded that the concept was appealing, but he joined other conservative Democrats in voting no, claiming a public option couldn’t clear the 60-vote hurdle to stop a Republican filibuster. So, instead of trying to rally the votes – or using the “reconciliation process” that allows a simple majority to enact legislation having budget implications – Baucus kept on cobbling together a nearly incomprehensible construct of tax credits, income formulas, fees and other mumbo-jumbo. This modified Baucus bill is in line to win final committee approval this week. According to Washington’s “conventional wisdom,” it will then become the vehicle for action by the full Senate, where Democratic leaders have been ambivalent about a public option. Some observers feel the best chance for the public option to survive may be with a trigger mechanism that would permit it in some parts of the country sometime in the future if private industry doesn’t offer enough competition. The trigger idea has been floated by Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, the only Republican on the Finance Committee who has indicated even a faint desire to vote for comprehensive health-care reform. However, the trigger would push even this limited public option to some point after 2013, when the insurance “exchanges” are finally scheduled to open. Yet, if a trigger proposal is needed to win over some votes and beat a filibuster, another approach could be a “reverse trigger,” one that would put the public option in place immediately but set up a trigger that would stop the public option from signing up new clients if private insurers cut rates by 25 percent and scored a 90 percent approval rating from customers. Even then, the "reverse-trigger" public option would stay in place, serving the Americans who had already signed up and ready to resume taking clients if private insurers slide back into their old ways of excessive executive compensation, bloated bureaucracies and huge profits. By moving up the timetable of reform to “as soon as possible” and putting immediate pressure on the insurance industry for real savings – in other words, letting voters see real benefits in 2010, not making them wait until 2013 – the Democrats could show they're on the side of the people and rack up electoral gains in 2010 and 2012. However, if the Democrats insist on trading the common good for the favors of special interests, all the industry campaign donations in the world may not be enough to save them. Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories in the 1980s for the Associated Press and Newsweek. His latest book, Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush, was written with two of his sons, Sam and Nat, and can be ordered at neckdeepbook.com. His two previous books, Secrecy & Privilege: The Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq and Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press & 'Project Truth' are also available there. Or go to Amazon.com. 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Editor's Note: (Dean Obeidallah, a former attorney, is the host of SiriusXM radio's daily program "The Dean Obeidallah Show" and a columnist for The Daily Beast. Follow him @deanofcomedy. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his.) (CNN) To Donald Trump, former sheriff Joe Arpaio is a "patriot" deserving of a pardon while transgender Americans who courageously risk their lives in the military to defend our nation are a "burden" and should be banned from our armed services. Both of these decisions share one thing: Trump is legitimizing discrimination against minorities. Arpaio, who was pardoned by Trump Friday night, is the controversial former Maricopa County, Arizona, sheriff who had a permanent injunction issued against him by a federal judge in 2013 for continuing to racially profile Latino drivers even after being ordered to stop years earlier. The court's order could not be more clear, instructing Arpaio to stop "detaining, holding, or arresting Latino occupants of vehicles in Maricopa County based on a reasonable belief, without more, that such persons were in country without authorization." But the former sheriff, a man Trump praised in 2012 for joining him in peddling the racist birther campaign against President Barack Obama, intentionally ignored the court's order despite admitting that his officers had "violated the constitutional rights of Latinos during saturation patrols" -- a procedure in which officers flood a targeted geographic area. In fact, after the 2013 court ruling, Arpaio proclaimed to a crowd of cheering supporters, "After [the Justice Department] went after me, we arrested 500 more just for spite." Consequently, after a trial last month, Arpaio was found to be in criminal contempt of court for "willfully disobeying the law after a court ordered him to stop singling out drivers based on ethnicity and detaining them without charges." Despite this, President Trump declared on Friday that Arpaio was a "worthy candidate" for this pardon. He couldn't be more wrong. Arpaio is a despicable man who has for years harassed, detained and imprisoned countless Latinos simply because of their ethnicity. Arpaio is neither a "patriot" nor "worthy" of special treatment; he's a criminal and a bigot. Let's be clear, Trump's pardon of Arpaio sends a message to the nation -- including law enforcement -- that profiling people based on their ethnicity and race is okay in Trump's America. And it's also a strong message to the "fine people," as Trump called them, in the white supremacist demonstrations, that people who aren't white deserve less constitutional protections. But Trump wasn't done legitimizing discrimination on Friday -- he did more. He took a big step to legally sanctioning discrimination against the LGBT community by announcing a ban on transgender Americans who want to serve in our military. Transgender men and women currently serving can remain for the time being, but Trump's order would allow them to be discharged at any moment depending on the decision of military leaders. (Trump avoided military service during the Vietnam War because of "temporary" heel spurs that astoundingly were worse in his 20s than today when he's 71 years old.) It was an unsurprising move. Trump first signaled, in a series of tweets, in late July his intention to ban transgender Americans from joining our military and even hinted at the immediate discharge of those now serving. He callously described these brave men and women as a burden, "Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail." In announcing this policy, Trump reiterated his view that transgender Americans in the military would be a burden. In reality, however, a 2016 RAND Corporation study commissioned by the Pentagon found the opposite, noting that 18 countries already allow transgender personnel to openly serve in their military and in "no case did the RAND team find evidence of an effect on operational effectiveness, operational readiness or cohesion." But as we all know, facts don't matter to Trump -- especially when demonizing minorities, be they Muslims, the disabled, Mexicans, etc. This ban by Trump will -- like Arpaio's pardon -- send a clear message that discrimination against a minority group is acceptable in Trump's America. Trump's latest actions prove that the lasting impact of his presidency will likely be less about legislative accomplishments and more about his emboldening of intolerance, discrimination and even hate.
by Professor Joni Lovenduski Who opposes increases in women’s political representation? I can think of at least eight types of opponents. The uninterested who think it does not matter; the complacent, who, if they think about it at all, believe women’s interests are well represented; the traditionalists who believe that politics is about the representation of class interests hence other inequalities are a diversion; the diversity advocates who argue that gender is only one of many identities; their mirror image, the anti-essentialists who think that claims for more women ignore the great differences among women; the optimistic who think it is just a matter of waiting and the dinosaurs who think politics is best left to men. Each of these in different ways contributes to the eighth type, the mistaken who misread or misconstrue data about women in politics. The uninterested simply ignore the issue. They are probably the majority of political commentators and are dangerous because they are part of the reason why sex inequality is so often below the radar of discussion of political events, behaviour, issues, electoral forecasts and so on. When pressed they may opine that it simply does not matter [i]. The complacent, if they argue at all, hold that underrepresentation does not really matter because the UK does well on issues of sex equality. That is not the case. The UK ranking in the World Economic Forum’s Annual Gender Gap Report has fallen steadily since the first report in 2006. The report measures inequalities between women and men in Economic and Political Participation, Health and Education. In 2011 the UK was 16th of 135 countries; in 2006 it was 9th of 110 countries. This is a real fall; the UK has not been pushed down the rankings by new entrants to the list. It is 34th in the rank order of economic participation and 23rd in political participation, rankings that are disguised at the aggregate level by relatively more equality in education and health. The data show that in each case except education where it ranks first, the position of UK women is improving relative to men’s but more slowly than in comparator countries where women’s political participation is higher [ii]. The UK position on other league tables is worse. Using the simple indicator of the per centage of national legislators who are women the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s ranking places the UK at a wretched 54th behind not only the worthy Scandinavian states but also Canada, Mexico, Latvia, the Philippines and Malawi [iii]. The optimistic will have to wait a long time. At the current rate of increase in each party and assuming a normal election cycle, it will be at least 100 years before parity of women is reached in the House of Commons, not a fast track to equality by any reasonable standards. Traditionalists probably operate on the assumption that political inequality is a zero sum game. Often they argue that more women means more middle class women and fewer working class men. This impression almost certainly reflects party candidate selection regimes in which to be successful women aspirants must be more ‘qualified’ than their male opponents. But it is selector stress on particular ‘qualifications’ that squeezes working class aspirants, not prioritisation of women. Class and gender interact. A wealth of social research shows that it is women who bear the brunt of class inequality, that gender and class are so intertwined that treating inequalities of sex simultaneously treats those of class. Some diversity advocates and anti essentialists make similar assumptions, failing to recognise that identities such as race, class, sexuality and disability cross cut each other. They also fail to recognise that with more women representatives there are more opportunities for those who are working class, members of ethnic minorities, disabled etc. Political dinosaurs are not quite extinct. Some thrive in UK politics sometimes as eccentrics who take pride in their exaggerated outdated prejudices. They are useful for equality advocates because they are so easy to discredit as is the sexist behaviour that characterises their condition. Like the smile of the Cheshire cat their influence may be evident even as they fade from view. Their attitudes leave an afterglow that encourages sexist remarks which are then excused as parliamentary humour. While David Cameron is probably not a dinosaur he sometimes behaves like one. Examples include his ‘calm down dear’ remarks to Angela Eagle and his accusation that Nadine Dorries’ interventions took place because she was ‘frustrated’, not exactly hilarious comments for which Cameron apologised. Press dinosaurs are very much in evidence. As recently as April 2011 the Telegraph ran an item entitled ‘whose boobs are these?’ using photos of a woman MP sitting behind Ed Milliband during PMQ [iv]. Finally the mistaken come in various forms. Some argue that women candidates cost votes for parties who select them. Yet UK data on voter preferences for different types of candidates consistently shows that votes do not penalise women candidates [v]. Another common mistake is making unsubstantiated assertions about women’s political preferences implying that they differ from men’s. An example is the widely reported Netmums claim that women were turning to the Tories in 2012, based on a survey only of women, that is with no male comparators [vi]. Contrast this with contemporary evidence that women are turning away from the Tories [vii]. Women may have been turning right, but the evidence was flawed. Often commentators use data and/ or to design research badly to draw unsound conclusions. Common errors are women only samples, badly framed questions and mixed samples that are too small. It is bad science to design and use of social surveys or other studies that examine only women to claim that women are distinctive in some way without systematically comparing them to men. It is bad science to collect evidence from such a small number of respondents that variations within groups are not reflected. The case for more women in parliament more or less mirrors the arguments of its opponents with one exception. Current absolute and relative numbers are low, policy is often unfavourable to women, but concealed by gender blindness, the rate of progress is glacial, traditional roles are no longer sustainable, not least because demography shows they are rarely found. To this we must add the argument from justice. The representation of women in political decision making is vital not because it will necessarily make a difference for women, though it often does, but because justice demands it. Equal representation should be taken for granted, part of the institutional fabric. Women should not have to justify their political presence on any other basis than justice. To do so puts a special burden of representation on women MPs who become subject to scrutiny and pressure that male politicians largely avoid, a point well made by Ruth Fox. Yet as Rosie Campbell shows there are subtle but important differences in men’s and women’s political attitudes that warrant representation. Political parties, not voters are responsible for the male domination of politics. This is sometimes defended by the assertion that men can and do represent women’s interests. While true, it begs the question of which particular version of women’s interest is being represented. Moreover evidence from more balanced legislatures than ours shows that is membership of women increases, so does the sensitivity of male MPs to the range of women’s concerns. So men can act for women but they may be more likely to do so when there are more women around. The debates at the Centre on women’s representation in the UK see the resulting special issue of Political Quarterly here. The full text of this article can be downloaded free here. References [i] Rosie Campbell and Jason Edwards, Men’s voting behaviour: it’s a hunter-gatherer thing apparently! http://www.csbppl.com/blog/ Posted on January 12, 2012.
I thought it might be interesting to pull together a group of Kings that have been shed from the roster in recent years and look at how they are being used by their new teams. To do this I pulled together some key numbers from this season and created a usage chart. First, a quick explanation about what this chart is and how it works. Player usage charts are the brainchild of hockey analyst, Rob Vollman. Basically, the chart is an attempt to see how a player is being used and how they have impacted team puck possession. The main things to note are the circles. Blue circles represent players with a positive impact on puck possession relative to their teammates-- aka Corsi Rel. White circles represent negative Corsi Rel. The bigger the circle the greater the impact whether it be positive or negative. The horizontal (X) axis indicates how often a player starts a shift in the offensive zone as compared to the defensive zone, aka Off. Zone %. The further a player is to the right, the more he is being used either offensively or in a sheltered capacity (i.e. you don't want players you don't trust defensively starting more of their shifts in the defensive end). I've drawn a vertical line at the 50% mark. Players to the right of this line start more shifts in the offensive end as compared to the defensive end. The vertical (Y) axis uses Quality of Competition (aka Corsi Rel QoC). This stat assesses the average possession numbers of a player's opponents. Using it, you can get a pretty good idea about which players a coach is sending out against the opponents' best lines. The higher the number, the harder the competition. OK, now for the chart: (big blue circles = good, big white circles = not so hot) Most of these castoffs have moved on and performed well. While it's easy to moan about what could have been had they found a way to keep a few of these guys, what is really notable here is just how deep the organization has been under Dean Lombardi. Not only has he put together an elite, Stanley Cup winning squad here in L.A., but several of the players he's parted ways with would form a very solid core for another team. .
I was unemployed for a month and a half a few years back. It wasn’t voluntary. I just got laid off and it took me a bit longer than I thought it would to find another job. Thanks, financial crisis of 2008. Anyway, I called it a sabbatical because that sounded fancier than saying I was unemployed, so let’s say the same for Barry Zito. Who, as Jon Heyman reports, has the benefit of some extra free time right now: Barry Zito plans to take some time off, but he isn’t retiring. Curiously, almost nothing was written about Zito this winter, and the reason for that is there’s no evidence he actively sought a job. Just the same, Zito isn’t ready to call it quits, either, according to people in the know. I wonder if he’ll do what I did during my sabbatical: read the entirety of “Y: The Last Man” and have coffee with neighborhood moms while I killed time as the kids were in preschool. It was actually pretty fun, if you set aside all of the crippling anxiety about not being able to feed your family if you can’t find a job eventually. It ended up working out for me. It’ll end up working out for Zito too.
A woman walks past a banner displayed in support of former US spy Edward Snowden in Hong Kong on June 18, 2013 Photo by Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images Edward Snowden has made a change of plans to his travel itinerary—he did not board the Monday morning flight from Moscow to Havana that he was scheduled to be on. The news came this morning when Max Seddon, the Moscow correspondent for the Associated Press, tweeted out the following: Standing next to Edward Snowden's seat on flight to Cuba. He ain't here. pic.twitter.com/NVRH3Pzved — max seddon (@maxseddon) June 24, 2013 This type of switcheroo shouldn’t be too much of a surprise coming from a fugitive on the run from espionage charges. However, Snowden’s absence has also left quite a few journalists who were chasing after him stranded on board a flight to Cuba together. According to the New York Times, “a large number of the passengers were journalists trailing Mr. Snowden on the Russia-to-Cuba leg of his extraordinary odyssey, which began early Sunday when he fled his hideout in Hong Kong. Several journalists carrying American passports were ejected from the aircraft because of visa requirements to visit Cuba.” Look at it this way, at least all those journalist have a 12-hour flight to get to know each other better and concoct more theories about where Snowden is and how he got there. Perhaps the worst part, though, is that the flight is a dry one, so there won’t be any booze to drown the humiliation and frustration—which at this point in their trip must be thick.
The cold blast is in contrast to last year when the first snow in western Siberia came only in the first week of October. Picture: Aleksei Salamatov In Yakutia the snow came earlier - with the first falls on 28-29 August, before the official end of summer. But in western Siberia the first white blanket has now come to the cities of Omsk, Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Kemerovo, and Krasnoyarsk, as well as both Altai Republic and Altai region. Drivers have been warned to take care across this large area. Drivers have been warned to take care across this large area. The cold blast is in contrast to last year when the first snow in western Siberia came only in the first week of October. So far the coldest temperature as the new winter approaches is around minus 5C in Aldan, Neryungi, Aikhal and Verkhoyansk - all in Yakutia region, officially the Sakha Republic. The first white blanket has now come to the cities of Omsk, Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Kemerovo, and Krasnoyarsk, as well as both Altai Republic and Altai region. Thanks from The Siberian Times to the following for these pictures: Typical Omsk, @insta.kargasok, @isaev_dimon86, @surovickiy, Typical Kemerovo, Sibdepo, @anya_mameli, @hodoeshe4ka, @dashikaz, @konstantin_chebotko, Svetlana Kazina, Tania Fokina, Evgeny Glazunov
Newswise — Outside the hospital, use of methadone to treat pain carries a 46 percent increased risk of death when compared to the equally effective but more costly alternative, morphine SR (sustained release). That’s according to a study from Vanderbilt University Medical Center, appearing online this week in JAMA Internal Medicine. The authors note that there were some 4.4 million methadone prescriptions written in the U.S. in 2009 for treatment of pain. They calculate that methadone’s higher risk ratio translates to 72 excess deaths per every 10,000 person-years of treatment — again, compared to morphine SR. “That’s quite high by medical standards. And as far as we know, there’s no clinical benefit to using methadone as opposed to morphine SR, so for that reason these deaths are particularly concerning,” said the study’s first author, Wayne Ray, Ph.D., M.S., professor of Health Policy. “It’s a lot of increased risk for a drug that happens to be cheap, but confers no other benefits.” As a consistent side effect, opioids repress respiration, but methadone is apparently unusual in that the analgesic effect is more short-lived than the respiration effect. “This means that patients may sense the need for more medication even though there is still enough methadone in their bodies to cause respiratory problems, so they essentially inadvertently overdose themselves,” Ray said. Another basis for safety concerns is that methadone is a pro-arrhythmic drug that can trigger lethal ventricular arrhythmias. Citing these concerns, in 2006 the Food and Drug Administration cautioned clinicians concerning methadone use. Subsequently, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientists recommended against using methadone as a first-line treatment for pain. The new study’s authors write that their findings “support recommendations that methadone should not be considered a drug of first choice for non-cancer pain.”Using Tennessee Medicaid records for 1997 through 2009, the team followed 6,014 beneficiaries who took methadone and 32,742 who took morphine SR. People entered and exited follow-up as they started and stopped filling these prescriptions. More than three-fourths of the total prescriptions were for back pain. In all, there were 477 deaths during 28,699 person-years of follow-up. The sole previous study comparing these two drugs produced a nearly opposite result: 44 percent decreased mortality with methadone. “That study included a lot of very sick patients, such as patients with cancer, and this may have skewed their results. Our findings are much more consistent with the existing body of data,” Ray said. To root out potential confounding variables, people in the Vanderbilt study were excluded from follow-up while in the hospital and for 30 days following hospital discharge, and people with life-threatening illnesses or cancer were excluded outright, as were those over age 74 and those in nursing homes. In calculating the risk ratio, the team accounted for some 196 covariates: demographic factors, comorbidity, medications, recent medical care utilization and so on (this information was updated at the time of each medication fill). The authors found that methadone’s excess risk was present in the lower half of the dosing range. “That’s what’s interesting,” Ray said, “because this is consistent with the potential of methadone to accumulate and for patients to inadvertently overdose themselves. Apparently the higher you go with the dose, the less difference there is between methadone and another opioid. That’s what’s particularly concerning in some ways: that a clinician might consider the low dose to be relatively free of overdose risk, but because of methadone’s particular pharmacologic properties that may be incorrect.” Joining Ray for the study were Cecilia Chung, M.D., MPH; Katherine Murray, M.D.; William Cooper, M.D., MPH; C. Michael Stein, M.B.Ch.B; and Kathleen Hall. The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grants HL081707, AR064768).
Among the denizens of the pre-Disney Times Square was a casually dressed man with unruly white hair sitting in a beat-up Dodge Valiant outside a Howard Johnson’s restaurant. He spent his time listening to a police scanner, which emitted a steady, scratchy stream of reports of gang shootings, car accidents or suicide jumpers. Ah, Fun City, 1980s edition. There was so much crime in New York back then that the white-haired man, Andrew Savulich, had his pick of numerous scenes of mayhem he could photograph. It was a more dangerous time to be a New Yorker, but a good time to be a spot news photographer. He often got to crime scenes ahead of the pack, although his photos were a little too strange and quirky for the tabloids. On the rare occasion he sold crime scene photos for $50 or $75 each to newspapers and wire services, editors usually cropped them into more conventional images. So, on slow evenings Mr. Savulich would leave his car and prowl through Times Square and photograph strange moments that unfolded right in front of him. “In the ’80s it was still lusciously seedy and wild,” he said. “It was a great place for street photography.” A selection of his crime and street photos from 1980 to 1995 has been collected in “The City,” published by Steidl. To many of those who know Mr. Savulich and his work, the book is a surprise – not because of the high quality of the photos, but because it happened at all. He is decidedly not a self-promoter. He did have a small show in 1994 at the International Center of Photography in New York, and a couple in France and Belgium. But his odd personal photos were known mainly to a dedicated band of cult followers. After working the streets and selling photos in the early and mid-’80s, Mr. Savulich started getting freelance assignments and worked a midnight shift covering spot news for The New York Post. In 1993, he was hired at The Daily News, where he has worked quietly for the last 22 years. His more bizarre images, the ones his followers lust after, rarely made it into print. “As a freelancer, I almost immediately made the distinction that most photo editors were looking for a certain type of picture,” he said. “But it never really bothered me, because I knew in the 36 frames I was going to get something I liked and hopefully there would be something they’d like.” Photo Four years ago, he read an article about Gerhard Steidl, who is widely known as a demanding publisher of exquisite photos. Mr. Savulich had never heard of him. Still, he sent to the publisher’s German office about 120 copies of black-and-white prints, complete with handwritten captions and return postage. A year passed with no response. One day, Mr. Savulich received a phone call that Mr. Steidl was interested in publishing the book. Many of the photos scream out for an explanation, including the back-cover image of a woman smiling and laughing inside a demolished car (slide 2). “I was working overnight for The New York Post,” Mr. Savulich recalled. “I think she was a passenger, and whoever she was with hit a garbage truck, completely smashing the car up. But nobody was seriously hurt. So I show up. I don’t know if she is giddy because she wasn’t hurt or drunk or not. I shot her through the broken window.” Mr. Savulich was, of course, influenced by Arthur (Weegee) Fellig’s gritty photos of New York. The difference is that Mr. Savulich’s photos were not set up and he has none of Weegee’s flair for obsessive self-promotion. Mr. Savulich also cites Mad magazine and August Sander as his main influences. Mr. Sander worked in a mine before he became a photographer, something Mr. Savulich can relate to, as he took an unlikely path to tabloid photography. He was born in 1949 in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and both of his grandfathers were coal miners, as was his own father, who quit and moved to New Jersey to become an airplane mechanic when Andrew was 2. After receiving an undergraduate degree in landscape architecture from Rutgers University, Mr. Savulich worked in Boston for five years. But he became entranced with photography and set off to New York in 1976 to follow his dream. Mind you, he had no idea how to do that. He worked in construction and drove a taxi while he studied painting and sculpture in a master’s program at Hunter College. Then he heard about police scanners, bought one and started making photos that mixed tabloid and artistic sensibilities. Today the tabloids, like all newspapers, are struggling, and there is much less interest in photographs of car crashes and shootings. But Mr. Savulich still covers breaking news in his distinctive way. “I feel like I’m actually tuned in to the world and I’m witness to things that are going on in my world,” he said. “I’m making a statement, ‘This is what I’m seeing,’ and someone looking at it hopefully might be moved to stop and stare for a second.” Andrew Savulich’s new book, “The City,” can be found here. Follow @JamesEstrin and @nytimesphoto on Twitter. You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram.
At this point, it is well known that the iPhone 8 (or iPhone Pro, or whatever it’s called) will feature a new (5.8-inch) OLED screen. Reports indicate that this display will be exclusively manufactured and supplied by Samsung, as Samsung currently dominates global supply of phone-sized OLED panels. Apple is never happy to depend on just one supplier for a critical iPhone component, not least it’s arch-rival in the tech landscape. According to a new article from ET News (via Digitimes), Apple has bought CVD machines and has setup a research & development line in Taiwan dedicated to OLED screen technology. It aims to ultimately expand the OLED supply chain beyond just Samsung, although it’s unlikely that Apple itself would actually do the raw component manufacturing … Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial There have been many times in the past when Apple invests in research, tooling and equipment to bring new technologies to the mass market. However, Apple has shown that it does not want to be the actual manufacturer, instead licensing or leasing its equipment to Chinese factories like Foxconn or Pegatron. This seems to be what is happening here with the OLED situation. The report says Apple has purchased chemical vapor deposition machines, which are used in the creation of OLED panels. These CVD machines are not widely available and the report says that most of the current output is dominated by one Japanese company, Canon Tokki, which passes on the majority of its capacity to Samsung Display. By buying its own CVD machines, Apple could open the OLED supply chain to more manufacturers by letting them use its own CVD machinery for the production of Apple devices, like iPhones and Apple Watch models. Apple’s research and development into OLED will take some time to spin up and see an effect in the real world. Orders for the iPhone 8 have already been contracted to Samsung exclusively, who is expected to make up at least 160 million OLED iPhone panels over the next two years. By the time the iPhone 9 rolls around, availability of OLED manufacturing should improve. It has been previously reported that Apple is in talks with LG Display regarding OLED production orders. For 2017, Apple is expected to debut a single model of iPhone featuring an OLED screen panel. The other two rumored phones are expected to keep the same LCD panels as the current generation and largely resemble the current iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus Plus in hardware design. Next year, it seems that Apple wants to ship three new OLED iPhone models. To execute that vision, the company will certainly need to see a dramatic improvement in OLED yields which is why it investing in R&D makes so much sense.
Courts have generally upheld laws authorizing compulsory collection of DNA from convicts and ex-convicts under supervised release, on the grounds that criminal acts diminish privacy rights. DNA extraction upon arrest potentially erodes that argument, a recent Congressional study found. “Courts have not fully considered legal implications of recent extensions of DNA-collection to people whom the government has arrested but not tried or convicted,” the report said. Minors are required to provide DNA samples in 35 states upon conviction, and in some states upon arrest. Three juvenile suspects in November filed the only current constitutional challenge against taking DNA at the time of arrest. The judge temporarily stopped DNA collection from the three youths, and the case is continuing. Sixteen states now take DNA from some who have been found guilty of misdemeanors. As more police agencies take DNA for a greater variety of lesser and suspected crimes, civil rights advocates say the government’s power is becoming too broadly applied. “What we object to — and what the Constitution prohibits — is the indiscriminate taking of DNA for things like writing an insufficient funds check, shoplifting, drug convictions,” said Michael Risher, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union . This year, California began taking DNA upon arrest and expects to nearly double the growth rate of its database, to 390,000 profiles a year from 200,000. Photo One of those was Brian Roberts, 29, who was awaiting trial for methamphetamine possession. Inside the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles last month, Mr. Roberts let a sheriff’s deputy swab the inside of his cheek. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Mr. Roberts’s DNA will be translated into a numerical sequence at the F.B.I.’s DNA database, the largest in the world. The system will search for matches between Mr. Roberts’s DNA and other profiles every Monday, from now into the indeterminate future — until one day, perhaps decades hence, Mr. Roberts might leave a drop of blood or semen at some crime scene. Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You will receive emails containing news content , updates and promotions from The New York Times. You may opt-out at any time. You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters. Law enforcement officials say that DNA extraction upon arrest is no different than fingerprinting at routine bookings and that states purge profiles after people are cleared of suspicion. In practice, defense lawyers say this is a laborious process that often involves a court order. (The F.B.I. says it has never received a request to purge a profile from its database.) When DNA is taken in error, expunging a profile can be just as difficult. In Pennsylvania , Ellyn Sapper, a Philadelphia public defender, has spent weeks trying to expunge the profile taken erroneously of a 14-year-old boy guilty of assault and bicycle theft. “I’m going to have to get a judge’s order to make sure that all references to his DNA are gone,” she said. The police say that the potential hazards of genetic surveillance are worth it because it solves crimes and because DNA is more accurate than other physical evidence. “I’ve watched women go from mug-book to mug-book looking for the man who raped her,” said Mitch Morrissey, the Denver district attorney and an advocate for more expansive DNA sampling. “It saves women’s lives.” Photo Mr. Morrissey pointed to Britain , which has fewer privacy protections than the United States and has been taking DNA upon arrest for years. It has a population of 61 million — and 4.5 million DNA profiles. “About 8 percent of the people commit about 70 percent of your crimes, so if you can get the majority of that community, you don’t have to do more than that,” he said. In the United States, 8 percent of the population would be roughly 24 million people. Britain may provide a window into America’s genetic surveillance future: As of March 2008, 857,000 people in the British database, or about one-fifth, have no current criminal record. In December, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Britain violated international law by collecting DNA profiles from innocent people, including children as young as 10. Critics are also disturbed by the demographics of DNA databases. Again Britain is instructive. According to a House of Commons report, 27 percent of black people and 42 percent of black males are genetically registered, compared with 6 percent of white people. As in Britain, expanding genetic sampling in the United States could exacerbate racial disparities in the criminal justice system, according to Hank Greely, a Stanford University Law School professor who studies the intersection of genetics , policing and race. Mr. Greely estimated that African-Americans, who are about 12 percent of the national population, make up 40 percent of the DNA profiles in the federal database, reflective of their prison population. He also expects Latinos, who are about 13 percent of the population and committed 40 percent of last year’s federal offenses — nearly half of them immigration crimes — to dominate DNA databases. Enforcement officials contend that DNA is blind to race. Federal profiles include little more information than the DNA sequence and the referring police agency. Subjects’ names are usually kept by investigators. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Rock Harmon, a former prosecutor for Alameda County, Calif., and an adviser to crime laboratories, said DNA demographics reflected the criminal population. Even if an innocent man’s DNA was included in a genetic database, he said, it would come to nothing without a crime scene sample to match it. “If you haven’t done anything wrong, you have nothing to fear,” he said.
The University of Pittsburgh Campus Bike Map Is Now Live, Online & Mobile! The University of Pittsburgh Department of Parking, Transportation & Services has recently created an online & mobile-friendly interactive campus bike map. This map is accessible at www.bikemap.pitt.edu and provides information about several bicycle amenities on Pitt’s campus, including: Covered Bike Racks Uncovered Bike Racks Bike Lockers Fix It Stations Bike Lanes Bike-Friendly Roads The Parking Services Office Not a student? This tool is also for local commuters and provides an example for other Universities seeking to create a similar resource. Need to find your way to a rack or Fix-It station on campus? Users of the map can get directions through Google from their current location to any bike resource on campus by clicking the Get Directions link. Looking for more information? Call the Parking Services Office at (412) 624-4034 and press 5, or email Commuting@bc.pitt.edu. Sign up for Bike Pittsburgh’s newsletter, The Messenger, to get the latest news on events, bike and pedestrian infrastructure, and fun, delivered straight to your inbox. Twice monthly emails, no spam.
Free speech and enlightenment values are under attack in our universities. In the worthy name of defending the weak and marginalised, many student activists are now adopting the unworthy tactic of seeking to close down open debate. They want to censor people they disagree with. I am their latest victim. This is not quite the Star Chamber, but it is the same intolerant mentality. Student leader Fran Cowling has denounced me as racist and transphobic, even though I’ve supported every anti-racist and pro-transgender campaign during my 49 years of human rights work. Fran is the LGBT+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) Officer of the National Union of Students (NUS). She refused to speak at an LGBT event at Canterbury Christ Church University tonight unless I was dropped from the line-up. This is a variation of the NUS “no-platform” policy; instead of blocking me from speaking, Fran is refusing to share a platform with me . She has every right to do this. But she does not have any right to make false McCarthyite-style smears. When asked to provide evidence of my supposed racism and transphobia, she was not willing to do so. There is none. Privately I tried to get her to withdraw her outrageous, libellous allegations. But she spurned all my attempts to resolve this matter amicably. As a result I have decided to take my case public. Let us deal with the specifics of my case first. Fran Cowling claimed in an email to the university that she was speaking for the NUS and its policies, suggesting that she was acting on behalf of the NUS “membership”, who “believe” me to be racist and transphobic. I challenged the NUS over when and where this decision was taken by the membership and why I was not allowed to defend myself before the vote. They conceded that the membership had never decided against me. In another email to the LGBT event organiser, Fran made the allegation that she has personally witnessed me using racist language. Untrue. I challenged Fran to produce evidence for this claim. She has failed to produce it – because the accusation is baseless. Photo: Geoff Pugh/The Telegraph Fran also said that I signed a letter to The Observer last year supporting the right of feminists to be “openly transphobic” and to “incite violence” against transgender people. The letter I signed did not say this. Written in support of free speech, it did not express any anti-transgender views or condone anti-transgender violence. For decades, I have opposed feminists such as Germaine Greer who reject and disparage transgender people and their human rights. "You do not have to agree with the views that are being silenced to find these tactics illiberal and undemocratic. Universities have a particular responsibility to resist this kind of bullying" Letter to the Observer This sorry, sad saga is symptomatic of the decline of free and open debate on some university campuses. There is a witch-hunting, accusatory atmosphere. Allegations are made without evidence to back them – or worse, they are made citing false, trumped-up evidence. Disappointingly, Fran and the entire NUS leadership have turned down media requests to be interviewed and to debate the issues involved. This looks and feels cowardly. When challenged, they run, hide and denounce from the “safe space” of their laptops. This is the antithesis of the free and open inquiry that is supposed to be the hallmark of university learning and culture. Tonight 6pm: Come to the meeting the NUS LGBT+ Officer is boycotting because I am speaking: RE-RADICALISING QUEERS pic.twitter.com/12du1LlZfl — Peter Tatchell (@PeterTatchell) February 15, 2016 I have been emailing Fran Cowling since 26 Jan, asking for her evidence & offering an amicable solution. She refused & blocked my emails. — Peter Tatchell (@PeterTatchell) February 15, 2016 I don’t see the NUS as the enemy. I support their efforts to defend student rights and back their opposition to tuition fees and education cuts. I just disagree with the way some of them choose to deal with other people’s opinions. Anyone who doesn’t toe the line politically risks being denounced, even over the tiniest disagreement. The race to be more Left-wing and politically correct than anyone else is resulting in an intimidating, excluding atmosphere on campuses. Universal human rights and enlightenment values – including John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty – are often shamefully rubbished as the ideas of Western imperialist white privilege. I am all in favour of protesting against real racists and transphobes. But the most effective way to do this is to expose and counter their bigoted ideas, not censor and ban them. I’ve often debated religious fundamentalists and homophobes. They’ve lost the argument; leaving them weakened and discredited. Bad ideas are best defeated by good ideas. NUS, please take note.
Read story transcript The University of Manitoba's Faculty of Education recently announced a new diversity initiative to make sure more people from indigenous, race or other minority backgrounds would become teachers. But men were not included. Men make up less than 30 per cent of teachers across Canada, and are in the minority especially in elementary schools. Some critics of the University of Manitoba's diversity program are pushing for male teachers to be included; but not all agree, saying men do not have active barriers to prevent them from entering the profession. Guest in this segment: Melanie Janzen , associate dean in undergraduate programs at the University of Manitoba's Faculty of Education. , associate dean in undergraduate programs at the University of Manitoba's Faculty of Education. Douglas Gosse, professor at the Schulich School of Education at Nipissing University. What do you think about the effort to diversify the face of teachers in this country? And how important do you think it is to get more men into the classroom? Send us an email. Find us on Facebook, and on Twitter @TheCurrentCBC. This segment was produced by The Current's Sujata Berry, Ines Colabrese and Kinsey Clarke.
Claudia Escobar is an eccentric Chilean fashion designer or at least that’s what she is demonstrating here with her new creation. It’s swim wear and clothing made from discarded bits of Scottish salmon skin. Her Lycra-trimmed, ultra-mini salmon-skin bikini are durable and elastic (how else?). They are also now part of a luxury clothing line and go for £250 (~ $495). Smells fishy? Who cares? Though it’s a very green solution we’re not sure how many women will buy this salmon-skin bikini for the summer of `08. If you’re the “lucky” guy to undress someone who wears one, we’d definitely like to hear from you. What’s it like, how did you react in front of your mermaid? Claudia Escobar recently returned from a trip to pick up wool from sheep in the Scottish islands. Dare we imagine what her next bikini will look like? You might also enjoy: Man Feeds Tiger, No News. Tiger Feeds On Man, News “House” Made From Umbrellas Eco-Funerals, Are You Green Enough?
The Boston Red Sox haven’t had the type of year they were hoping for off of a World Series win. So to keep spirits high, the Red Sox took to Twitter to get their fans to wish pitcher Clay Buchholz a Happy Birthday. Help us wish happy birthday to Clay Buchholz! #RedSox pic.twitter.com/Lteak9leME — Boston Red Sox (@RedSox) August 14, 2014 Then some frustrated Red Sox fans decided that they weren’t having it. @RedSox Happy Birthday, Clay! I'd give you a birthday hug but don't want you on the DL LOL! — Ryan Simmons (@BSimp603) August 14, 2014 @RedSox happy birthday, now stop sucking so bad. — Matt Cote (@iammattcote) August 14, 2014 Yikes, tough crowd. At least Emma had the right idea. Happy Birthday, Clay. I’ll just leave this here for Red Sox fans to reminisce on the good times.
Amid growing outrage on both sides of the aisle surrounding the United Nations, legislation to get the U.S. government out of the UN and evict the scandal-plagued global body from the United States has been re-introduced in the new Congress. If approved, H.R.193, better known as the “American Sovereignty Restoration Act,” would end U.S. participation in and funding of the widely ridiculed “dictators club” while protecting American sovereignty under the Constitution. Support for the effort is spreading like wildfire. As in past years, the measure to defend the rights and self-government of the American people from escalating UN attacks will undoubtedly face intense opposition from entrenched globalists and the “swamp” establishment. However, analysts and lawmakers believe the bill stands its best ever chance of becoming law this session — especially under the anti-globalist, anti-establishment Trump administration and a Congress that remains incensed at a recent anti-Israel UN Security Council resolution targeting Jews in East Jerusalem and other areas. On the campaign trail, Trump, whose campaign was equated with ISIS by a top UN bureaucrat, lambasted the UN, saying it was “not a friend of freedom” or the United States. He also vowed to “cancel” key UN agreements in office, including the illegitimate “climate” regime concocted in Paris in 2015. “When do you see the United Nations solving problems? They don't. They cause problems,” President-elect Trump declared following the controversial UN vote condemning Israeli settlements. “So, if it lives up to the potential, it's a great thing, and if it doesn't, it's a waste of time and money.” Globalists appear to be taking Trump's rhetoric very seriously. “Global Governance” director Stewart Patrick with the establishment Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), for example, warned recently that the UN was set to get “hammered” in the years ahead by the hostile administration and GOP-controlled Congress. The CFR's Patrick, who responded to the systematic rape of children by UN “peace” troops by demanding more power for the UN, called for the UN to try to dupe Trump into believing that he could use the dictators club to “get things done.” H.R.193 was re-introduced in the 115th Congress on January 3, the first day of the new Congress, by Representative Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) and a coalition of liberty-minded lawmakers. While the full text of the legislation is not yet available online, sources on Capitol Hill confirmed that the bill was the same as H.R. 1205 of the 114th Congress, also known as the American Sovereignty Restoration Act. The new bill is currently going under the header, “To end membership of the United States in the United Nations.” If approved, the legislation would repeal the UN Participation Act of 1945, which authorized U.S. involvement, and shutter the U.S. government’s mission to the outfit. It would also “terminate all membership by the United States in the United Nations, and in any organ, specialized agency, commission, or other formally affiliated body of the United Nations.” That specifically includes UNESCO, which President Ronald Reagan withdrew from, along with the World Health Organization, the UN Environment Program (UNEP), the UN's dictator-controlled “Human Rights Council,” and more. It would end all U.S. involvement in all UN conventions and agreements, too. The proposed law, introduced in numerous Congresses in recent decades, would also end all funding to the UN and all of its agencies — with the estimated savings to taxpayers reaching as high as $10 billion per year, and potentially even more. The legislation prohibits all U.S. military involvement in UN “peacekeeping” schemes, too, creating a ban on U.S. troops serving under UN command. Finally, following generations of espionage and subversion aimed at the United States conducted by hostile foreign regimes under the guise of UN “diplomacy,” the bill would evict the UN and its spy- and dictator-infested headquarters from U.S. soil. It would also ban any use of American government facilities by the global outfit, while stripping UN bureaucrats and dignitaries of the diplomatic immunity that has become synonymous among critics with the total impunity and lawlessness that pervades the organization. In a statement announcing the bill in the last Congress, chief sponsor Representative Rogers explained the reasons why he and many of his constituents in East Alabama wanted to end U.S. government participation in the UN immediately. “The U.N. continues to prove it’s an inefficient bureaucracy and a complete waste of American tax dollars,” the congressman said, echoing widespread concerns about the international outfit expressed across America and worldwide. Beyond just being a waste, it is also a threat to U.S. interests, sovereignty, allies, and liberties, the Alabama Republican warned. “Why should the American taxpayer bankroll an international organization that works against America’s interests around the world?” he asked. “The time is now to restore and protect American sovereignty and get out of the United Nations.” The congressman cited attacks on U.S. liberties as a key motivation for the legislation. “Although the United States makes up almost a quarter of the U.N.’s annual budget, the U.N. has attempted a number of actions that attack our rights as U.S. citizens,” he explained in the statement. “To name a few, these initiatives include actions like the Law of the Sea Treaty, which would subject our country to internationally based environmental mandates, costing American businesses more money, or the U.N.’s work to re-establish an international regulation regime on global warming which would heavily target our fossil fuels.” Indeed, the UN has in recent years become incredibly bold in attacking the rights of Americans, and even the U.S. Constitution that enshrines those unalienable rights. From attacks on free speech and gun rights to assaults on parental rights and even America’s federalist system of limited government, the UN and its member regimes have become increasingly aggressive during the Obama years. It has also attacked U.S. independence like never before, with recently departed UN boss Ban Ki Moon claiming the UN was the “Parliament of Humanity” and that the radical UN Agenda 2030 was the new “Declaration of Interdependence.” Representative Rogers took special aim at a deeply controversial UN treaty infringing on gun rights that has become a lightning rod for bipartisan opposition across America. “The U.N. has also offered a potential Arms Trade Treaty which would threaten our Second Amendment rights and impose regulations on our gun manufacturers, who are already facing regulations and pressure from the Obama Administration,” Rogers explained. That treaty, ATT for short, would purport to require gun registration and eventually strict controls. The ultimate aim is disarming civilians and leaving all weapons in the hands of the UN and “authorized state parties” such as the mass-murdering regimes enslaving North Korea, Zimbabwe, Cuba, China, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Venezuela, and other prominent UN members. The UN’s anti-Israel bias, which some critics on both sides of the aisle have even dubbed systemic anti-Semitism, also attracted criticism from Representative Rogers. “Lastly, the U.N. does not support Israel and voted to grant the Palestinian Authority non-member state permanent observer status,” he argued. “Anyone who is not a friend to our ally Israel is not a friend to the United States.” Following the recent vote on Israeli settlements, even leading globalists and neo-cons in Congress have announced plans to defund the global organization. Representative Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), a cosponsor of the bill, has also outlined a wide array of reasons for the U.S. government to withdraw from the UN in what he termed an “Amexit,” or American exit, after the historic “Brexit” vote in Britain to exit the European Union. “Who would be crazy enough to stay in the United Nations and pay the most for their funding while it’s attended by Third World dictators who are writing rules and regulations that are supposed to bind our country?” asked the liberty-minded lawmaker in a radio interview promoting the legislation last year. He also suggested that support in Congress for reining in the UN is strong and growing stronger. “When it did come to a vote we came just 70 votes short of cutting funding for the United Nations, and 70 votes is not a lot,” he continued. “You know, you flip 35 votes and it’s passed, out of 435. I think there will be more attention paid to it as time goes on, I think we’re going to pick up momentum. This was trending yesterday on Facebook, this issue.” Indeed, polls show Americans are overwhelmingly dissatisfied with the controversial global body, even in the face of an establishment media that generally conceals the truth about the UN. Congressman Massie, one of the leading constitutional conservatives in Congress, called on listeners to help ensure more cosponsors for the bill in the U.S. House of Representatives to move it forward. Other cosponsors on the latest bill include Congressmen Walter Jones (R-N.C.), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), and Jason Smith (R-Mo.). More are expected. Last Congress, establishment operatives on the House Foreign Affairs Committee were able to keep the bill from moving. This time, with momentum growing fast, that may be more difficult. UN estimates suggest that American taxpayers pay as much as $10 billion per year to support the UN system and all of its tentacles, including the scandal-plagued “peacekeeping” forces that have become infamous around the world for raping and sexually exploiting children. That means the United States, which is constantly being demonized and attacked for its freedoms by the dictators club, pays more than some 185 other nations — combined. In exchange, the United States is constantly attacked by the UN for its constitutional protections. Since the American Sovereignty Restoration Act was introduced in the 114th Congress, more than a few political heavyweights have echoed calls for a full U.S. withdrawal. Among them is former Alaska governor and GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who has become increasingly vocal since Brexit in calling for the United States to sever the UN “shackles” binding America. “I called for our next president, Donald Trump, to call for the unshackling of the political bands tying us to the UN,” Palin said in a recent radio interview. “It’s our money funding the lion’s share of the globalist circus. It’s We the People needing to rise up and make this a part of the revolution that we have just so benefited from.” Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.), meanwhile, has also expressed a desire to dismantle the UN during a campaign stop while a leading contender for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination. “I dislike paying for something that two-bit Third World countries with no freedom attack us and complain about the United States,” explained the popular pro-liberty senator, the son of liberty icon and former Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas) who led the charge for an Amexit in Congress during his long career as an undefeated constitutionalist lawmaker. “There’s a lot of reasons why I don’t like the UN, and I think I’d be happy to dissolve it.” In addition to the effort to withdraw from the UN, U.S. lawmakers are also preparing an effort to defund the controversial global institution. “I believe Congress should end U.S. taxpayer funding for the United Nations unless and until the UN reverses this anti-Israel resolution, and I believe there will be considerable support in Congress, I hope in both parties, to do exactly that,” said Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), adding that the push would come “soon, very soon.” Even establishment lawmakers are joining the defunding bandwagon as demands for a U.S. withdrawal become mainstream. Defunding the UN may be a good interim step on the road to full withdrawal, helping to neutralize the dictators club and the havoc it can wreak in the coming months. However, cutting funds for the UN is no substitute for a complete Amexit from the increasingly totalitarian global outfit. For liberty and self-government to survive over the long haul, the UN and its globalist agenda must be stopped. Thankfully, Americans now have the best opportunity in generations to “Get the U.S. out of the UN” and the UN out of the United States. It will take hard work and effort. But setting the globalist establishment back by decades while preserving American freedom and independence is well worth the price. Alex Newman, a foreign correspondent for The New American, is normally based in Europe. Follow him on Twitter @ALEXNEWMAN_JOU. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Related articles: Congressman Mike Rogers Introduces Bill to Get U.S. Out of UN Congress Planning to Defund UN as Critics Seek Full Withdrawal #Brexit to #Amexit: Keep the Momentum Going! After Equating Trump With ISIS, UN Freaks Out Over His Victory Top CFR Globalist Warns UN Will Get “Hammered” by Trump Get the U.S. Out of the UN U.S. Independence Attacked as Never Before by UN Interdependence New UN Chief: Globalist, Socialist, Extremist United Nations Exploits Pseudo-“Human Rights” to Attack U.S. Philippines President Threatens to Withdraw From UN Trump: "Americanism, Not Globalism, Will Be Our Credo” Merry Christmas: UN Declares Arms Trade Treaty to Go Into Effect Dec. 24 The United Nations: On the Brink of Becoming a World Government Sen. Rand Paul Would be “Happy to Dissolve” the UN Bulgarian Communist Is Now “Frontrunner” to Lead UN
You wake up next to your significant other with a feeling in the pit of your stomach. Your anxiety rises as you look over and notice the bed head, bare face and morning breath. You get in the shower to avoid looking at your partner, desperation rising. Your brain races about how you will escape the potentially horrible situation you are in. Are you attracted enough to your significant other? Do you both think the same stuff is funny? How do you know if you love them? Is there another person who is a better match? Should you be in this relationship at all or is it time to finally end it? Relationship OCD (ROCD) is an OCD theme where you experience persistent fear and uncertainty about your relationship. The obsessions demand that something must be wrong and needs to be figured out before the relationship can develop any further. The OCD thoughts and feelings make ROCD sufferers feel as though they are living in denial of the true nature of the relationship. Some people with ROCD are serial breaker-uppers. Others stay in the relationship but suffer for months or years trying desperately to figure out if they should continue on. Still others feel scared they will ‘have to’ break up with the person even though they desperately want to stay with them. The presence of relationship obsessions followed by compulsive behaviors that attempt to solve relationship uncertainties make up the structure of ROCD. Relationship OCD Obsessions Obsessions about potentially being in the wrong relationship Obsessions about having the ‘right’ feelings about significant other Obsessions about the attractiveness of significant other Obsessions about your significant other’s sexual past Obsessions about being attracted to other people Obsessions about having to break up with significant other Obsessions about your significant other being a bad person As in all forms of OCD there is an extreme sense of urgency to resolve uncertainty and lower distress. The resulting panic, anxiety and guilt leads to compulsive behaviors that reinforce relationship obsessions and doubt. Relationship OCD Compulsions Mental analysis of quality of current relationship Mental comparison of current and past relationships Avoid saying “I love you” until certainty is achieved Avoid attending weddings with or meeting family of significant other Avoid cohabitating, getting engaged, married, or becoming otherwise more serious out of fear of ‘having’ to hurt the person Avoid looking at, speaking to, or making eye contact with attractive people Frequently breaking up and then resuming relationship Confessing lack of feelings to significant other Confessing attraction to other people Testing for physical arousal or ‘love feelings’ for partner Reassurance seeking from others about relationships Avoid movies about cheating or loving couples Is there a better match out there for you? Is there a better match out there for you? Probably. There are people out there who are probably funnier and more attractive, and you may have better sexual chemistry with them. But do you plan to go to the ends of the earth and spend your life looking for that perfect person and perhaps never finding them? That is not a good idea if it is a value of yours to meet someone and spend your life with them. In fact, that fantastical person will also have things that don’t perfectly match up with you. We all must select a decent match and decide to accept their downsides rather than picking someone else and accepting their downsides. There is a time where the searching needs to end if we are ever to have a life partner and begin spending our lives with them. While this may sound like selling out or living in denial to the ROCD sufferer, it is the normal process each person experiences when choosing a life partner. What is love? How will you know if you are in love? How you do know if your love is strong enough to continue on in the relationship? There is no blood test to find out. Love is a feeling and not a perpetual state; sometimes we feel it and sometimes we don’t. OCD tends to attach itself to immeasurable and unprovable things. When the distance to the answer is a long and confusing one, OCD has more material to complicate and force certainty-seeking compulsions that is its life force. Relationships will involve both pleasant and unpleasant feelings, and ROCD sufferers will mistake difficult internal experiences as evidence. “That’s just a movie!” OCD loves to use comparisons to make you doubt your relationship and do compulsions to resolve the doubt. You may see a romantic couple in public laughing, one snapshot in time, and believe your relationship is not as connected or exciting. In movies, we are constantly bombarded by the fantasy of true romantic love, relationships, and sexual attraction that don’t actually exist in real life. There is no musical score playing in the background when you walk in New York City holding the hand of your significant other. Before getting engaged to my husband, we were watching a scene from a ridiculous movie, the title which is escaping me. During a proposal scene, the male character got down on one knee, opened his hand, and there was a butterfly. When it flew away the engagement ring was exposed. In the next scene the butterfly was in a cage, somehow captured as her pet and reminder of the engagement. Seeing my reaction to this proposal, my then boyfriend exclaimed, “That’s just a movie! I can’t hold a butterfly in my hand, it would be crushed!” Needless to say, I did not get my butterfly proposal, but I married him anyway. OCD vs. wrong relationship It’s not only one or the other. Many of you may think that if you can know for sure you have OCD then you will know for sure that your significant other is right for you. You may also fear that if you don’t have OCD and have been misdiagnosed, this means you are in denial of being in a relationship you really shouldn’t be in. You may fear extreme consequences such as a life that lacks the relationship you’ve always dreamed of. You may imagine your true soul mate waiting for you to find them as you are all tied up with the wrong person. You wonder if the doubt you feel is a sign you should be paying attention to. You think, “Maybe this doubt means something.” This is why ROCD can be so confusing. You can have ROCD with a good match and ROCD with a not-so-good match. Figuring out if you have OCD is not a way to choose to stay in a relationship. In fact, if you are seeking certainty about the relationship or if you have OCD you are doing a ritual that is reinforcing uncertainty about your relationship. Risk All relationships involve some level of risk. The nature of relationships can be a huge trigger for intrusive OCD thoughts and desperate feelings of uncertainty. Nobody has 100% certainty that it will work out. For example, I have no idea if my husband is packing his bags right now as I type these words. This risk is inherent in everything we do. I am currently on an airplane and I don’t know for sure it won’t crash. I’m taking my chances. Individuals with OCD tend to be risk avoidant, especially when it comes to his or her OCD theme. The OCD brain is more sensitive to uncertainty. This causes the sufferer to attempt to answer the questions about the relationship that others let fade naturally without much attention. In direct attempt to avoid risk and reduce uncertainty, sufferers perform compulsions to make sure bad things don’t happen in regards to the relationship. Just as a person with ‘checking OCD’ would check the stove to be sure the house won’t burn down, those with ROCD check their brains to be certain that they are not making a mistake in their love life. Feelings barometer Feelings come and go. We don’t decide when we feel things; feelings just happen. At some point today you may feel a loving feeling toward your significant other and at some point you may be annoyed by him or her. At some point you may feel like spending time together and at some point you will want to be alone. If we depended on feelings as a decision-maker about whether to be with our partners, we would be breaking up with them multiple times per day. People without OCD are able to shock absorb these shifts in feelings. Those with ROCD feel every minor bump in the road. These normal shifts in feelings towards your partner can all of a sudden feel like your entire life may be on the wrong path. You will feel an urgent need to dissolve the uncertainty so you can take the proper action in the relationship and avoid ruining your entire life and/or your partners. This is just the way OCD feels before it’s treated properly. You are actually not in a different boat than all other people in relationships. Mindfulness and ROCD Mindfulness is having awareness of the current moment and having acceptance of all it offers including distressing ROCD thoughts and feelings. Developing mindfulness skills through formal and informal meditation can help you to observe the ROCD spikes and let them pass without reacting with compulsions. OCD spikes will always go away in time, you don’t have to do anything but watch and wait with openness. In Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), a mindfulness-based therapy for OCD, we teach clients to ground their decisions on their values rather than fluctuating internal experiences. This can be very helpful with ROCD where the sufferer should always have skepticism about his or her intrusive relationship thoughts and feelings. If you value sharing your life with a significant other, focus your actions towards living out that value rather than focusing on the lack of connection you felt at Valentine’s Day dinner. Choose don’t feel Since you are not depending on passing feelings of love to decide whether your person is right for you, what do you use to decide? For one thing, only decide for right now, this exact moment. Unless you plan to have a sit down, at this very moment, to break up with your significant other, choose to be with them for now. Every moment is a choice. You don’t have to worry about what you will decide in 1 year, 3 months or 10 minutes. Right now you are choosing them and all their annoying habits. What day should you break up with them? On the day you break up with them. It will just happen, you won’t have to decide. You won’t be on the fence. Live it out, don’t figure it out. 6 month waiting period How do you know if you have ROCD or if you are making a relationship mistake? You don’t get to have that certainty and if you keep trying to get it, you will reinforce your obsessions and feel even more confused. And none of the rest of us have it either, but your brain tells you to care about that lack of certainty. I often talk my ROCD clients into taking a 6 month hiatus from deciding about his or her relationship. I mean, 6 months won’t ruin your life, right? Every time a thought comes in that you might be making a huge mistake, reply by saying, “Oh well, I’ll figure it out in 6 months.” Decide to just possibly be in the wrong relationship for 6 months and waste just 6 months of your life with your true love waiting for you somewhere else. Six months isn’t too much of a sacrifice. If 6 months seems too long, try one month. The reason why I encourage this moratorium on deciding about the relationship is that this decision involves ceasing mental rituals and reassurance seeking. When you stop doing compulsions you gain clarity and it will feel less important. We only spend time on things that are important and continuing to ruminate about the relationship deems it a problem. In time it will begin to feel less urgent to decide. Trust that the answer will come on its own. You can’t force a decision; the decision will come to you. Perhaps you will no longer feel a decision needs to be made when you stop performing certainty-seeking rituals. At least give yourself the chance and try it to see what happens. Exposure and Response Prevention In Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), clinicians work with clients to do exposures to intrusive thoughts about the relationship and guide them against performing certainty-seeking rituals that reinforce the obsessions. An example of an ERP assignment might be watching a movie about relationships with disastrous outcomes. I have assigned the movies “Match Point,” “Take this Waltz,” “Unfaithful,” “Closer,” and “The One I Love (currently on Netflix),” which all tend to bring out ROCD thoughts and uncertainty. Imaginal exposure scripting is a process where the ROCD sufferer creates a script of his worst fears of the relationship coming true, with all its horrible consequences. The purpose of exposure work is to intentionally produce ROCD thoughts and feelings so that the client can practice experiencing uncertainty without performing compulsions. Over time, the same internal and environmental triggers no longer create the extreme anxiety levels once present because of the habituation process. The sense of urgency to decide can soften and the intrusive thoughts won’t seem to matter quite as much. Wait, watch and experience Since ROCD crosses over with real life more than say, harm or pedophile OCD, sufferers have a tendency to buy into their obsessions. They tend to believe the compulsions are productive and that an answer will be unburied that will end the suffering. Try not to focus on the content of the obsession. If you are excessively worried about any topic and do compulsions in attempts to gain certainty and relieve suffering, you are stuck in the OCD cycle. The problem is not the relationship; the problem is that you are having intrusive and unwanted thoughts and feelings about the relationship. If you get good at experiencing these symptoms, you can more readily take the actions of being present in your relationship. So this article is ending now. And you still don’t know if your significant other is right for you. Good. This is not possible so stop trying. Just enjoy every nice moment and wait for not-so-nice moments to pass. They always will. Stacey Kuhl Wochner, LCSW, LPCC is a psychotherapist in private practice in Los Angeles, CA specializing in the treatment of OCD. Follow her on Facebook.
Kick it Three days remain of the new Sam and Fuzzy book Kickstarter! For those just tuning in, this campaign is your chance to get my latest softcover book, or a brand new three-hardcover collection of the entire "new" Sam and Fuzzy series so far. (IE: All the comics I've made since the ones in the original hardcover omnibus I kickstarted back in 2013.) And it's also our chance to transform your support into cool extras and other bonuses for the project! Our sixth stretch goal -- an extra print in our "Gilded" Bonus Pack -- was conqured over the weekend. And we're already half way to our seventh: adding a bonus chapter of excerpts from Malcolm's conspiracy blog to the book. I am not sure how many cool bonuses and enhancements we'll be able to add before the campaign ends, but I guess we'll soon find out! We're getting a lot of support for this project, which is both tremendously exciting and very touching. Our next comic arrives on Wednesday... the last day of the campaign! (It ends at 7pm pacific time.) See you then, friends! -Sam Logan 5 days left! Our 5th stretch goal was conquered yesterday! That means -- in addition to the luxurious spotgloss, author commentary chapter, bonus e-artbook and stickers that our backers have already funded -- swanky spine ribbon bookmarks have been added to all our new hardcovers, too! And there are still 5 days of the Sam and Fuzzy Kickstarter to go. Yow! In other news, I saw Rogue One last night and enjoyed the heck out of it! I had anticipated an action-heavy film with not-especially compelling characters, but I was really charmed by the core crew and thought the film did a good job of giving each of them a solid (if efficient) arc and several moments to shine. And honestly, it's hard to complain about the emphasis on action when said action is so gorgeously shot. The whole package is a tight piece of work. Easily a top three Star Wars film for me. We return on Monday with a new comic. See you then, friends! -Sam Logan
Media Captivated by My CNN Commentary RUSH: You know, it always amazes me what happens on this program that’s gonna get picked up and smeared — not smeared — broadcast all over everywhere else in the media. And there are two things. Yesterday on this program I offered the opinion that Trump may in fact spell the end of CNN. That he’s driving them crazy to the point that they are imploding. And it’s gotten even worse since we were here yesterday. Now there’s CNN people saying that Trump is putting all journalists at danger from gunfire around the world now. But this Russian story obsession that has nothing to it is driving them nuts and they’re making fools of themselves, and this has been all over the media. They have assembled panels to discuss whether or not this might be the end of CNN! Is Rush right? Could this be? And of course there are people that come along and agree. The other thing that has captivated the Drive-Bys is my comparison of Little Jim Acosta at CNN to my little cat chasing a red laser pointer. That has captivated people. I mean, they’ve written about it; they have spoken about it. It’s just a little analogy. I mean, you have a cat, if you have a cat. It doesn’t matter, kitten or cat — and they never catch on to it, it’s the most amazing thing — grab a red laser pointer and point it near the cat on the floor, on the wall, or on the side of the sofa, and the cat will try to catch it. If you point it right in front of its paws the cat will swat at it trying to catch it. And it never can and never figures it out. It looks at me plaintively like, “What’s going on?” And that’s when I double down on the torment. And I said this is what Jim Acosta reminds me of, what they’re doing to him in the pressroom. They got him crashing into walls. They’ve got him falling off the sofa. And that has been picked up. We got the audio sound bites of this to illustrate. BREAK TRANSCRIPT RUSH: I mentioned at the top of the program that I’m always, even now after all this time, I’m still surprised over what happens on this program that makes it beyond this program. For example, I think this program is chock-full of unique, insightful, intelligent brilliance every day. And we also do some lighthearted, irreverent, and humorous things. And a couple of those have leapt beyond the surly bonds of this program and found their way into the Drive-By Media. One of them is my belief, as stated yesterday, that we could be watching the death throes of CNN. Now, that’s a long shot. I mean, there’s always gonna be a CNN like there’s always gonna be an America, but what’s it gonna be, is the question. The New York Times is a close second and the Washington Post. CNN, wall-to-wall Malaysian airliner, wall-to-wall on just the oddest things, Ferguson, Missouri, they wouldn’t leave that alone, they tried to hype it. It is clear to me that CNN has chosen an objective, and that is to destroy the Trump presidency. There’s no doubt in my mind that’s their objective. They have focused on it since the election, and it’s getting more intense. And with each day the realization that they’re failing is driving ’em nuts. And now they’ve got this reporter, Jim Acosta, who is melting down almost daily here over procedures in the White House pressroom, not turning on the cameras, journalists all over now claiming that Trump is going to get them shot because the way he’s talking about them. Wow. BREAK TRANSCRIPT RUSH: I made mention of Jim Acosta being like a cat with the laser pointer crashing against the wall and the floor, running into sofas, all trying to catch Trump, never able to do it, looking like a fool. These two things made it as discussion items on Fox News and elsewhere. We start with Tucker Carlson last night. He spoke with Mark Steyn, our fill-in host, about me and my comments that Trump may be the person that brings about the end of CNN. And this was part of the conversation. CARLSON: What about the prediction, you’ve heard Rush Limbaugh, who you sit for sometimes, say that they’re going to be a casualty of the Trump administration? STEYN: Yes. I think that’s likely. There are diminishing returns to this which is it’s a Russian investigation with no Russians. The only Russian anyone ever mentions is the ambassador who’s like strolling around lunching all over the District of Columbia. He’s the only sinister Russian in this story. It’s a Russian investigation without any Russians. RUSH: It’s true. And in that Washington Post story last Friday it’s a story about Russian collusion with Trump, and there’s no mention of Trump in the story. So later that night on The Five, which has now been moved to nine so they should call it The Nine. But actually they don’t call it The Five ’cause it was on at five p.m. They call it The Five ’cause there are five different personalities on there. So they played a clip of me on the program yesterday to begin a discussion panel. RUSH ARCHIVE: Could Donald Trump be the end of CNN? What a legacy that would be. I think that’s what the Trump administration is doing with many in the media. They’re like cats. He’s got this little red laser light and he’s just causing them to make fools of themselves and everybody’s laughing at ’em as they’re crashing into walls. RUSH: Jesse Watters is on The Five now at nine o’clock, and he had his two cents to weigh in with. WATTERS: Trump reminds me of Road Runner. So he runs really fast, and then CNN’s Wile E. Coyote. So Wile E. Coyote chases Road Runner over the edge of a cliff and then all of a sudden Wile E. Coyote looks down and there’s nothing underneath. That’s CNN right now. Splat. And they hit the pavement. But Trump has this effect on people. Rush was talking about the laser beam and I’ve said it before that Trump brings out the best in people and the worst in people. Right now he’s bringing out the worst in CNN. RUSH: I like that Wile E. Coyote example. I really like it. In fact, I used to it back in January. RUSH: The Drive-Bys are in panic. You gotta look at ’em as Wile E. Coyote; you gotta look at Trump and his team as the Road Runner. Wile E. Coyote still has no idea what’s happening. They’re trying to continue to destroy Trump in the age-old ways they’ve succeeded. It’s all backfiring on them. RUSH: Now we move to Hannity last night on the Fox News Channel and he had as a guest the recording artist Kaya, Kaya Jones, and of course they’re talking me, the EIB Network. Hannity says, “When you really think about it, Donald Trump is saying fake news, fake news, fake news, and they keep falling right into the trap. I think Rush is right.” JONES: He’s a hundred percent right. It’s messing up actual factual input of what’s going on in the country and what’s going on in the world. I mean, they’re literally using press briefings to drum up fake stories at this point. It’s horrible. RUSH: Very perceptive there on the part of the Kaya Jones, using the press briefing to drum up fake stories. That’s one of the reasons why they’re so mad that the cameras were turned off. The cameras are back on today. Sarah Huckabee Sanders doing the briefing. Right now Steve Mnuchin is at the podium. He’s Treasury, right? Yeah, Treasury secretary announcing some new sanctions on the Norks, on the North Koreans. And the cameras are on. She’s right. CNN and others used the cameras to act out and create fake news.
Sunrise calendar for iPhone users received an email late last night detailing the effects of a cyber attack last week on MongoHQ, the company's database provider. Sunrise CEO Pierre Valade assured users that all of their data and credentials are safe, with the exception of their iCloud calendar data, which could've potentially been compromised. He recommends that users change their iCloud password if they were using Sunrise's recently added iCloud calendar sync feature. A sobering reminder of the risks to using cloud apps like Sunrise or Mailbox to sync your most sensitive data Earlier this week, social media app Buffer was hit by the same hack, since it also uses MongoHQ. Hackers posted spam tweets and posts from customers accounts, since Buffer stored users' Twitter and Facebook log-in tokens in its database, unencrypted. The hacking is a sobering reminder of the risks to using cloud apps like Sunrise or Mailbox to sync your most sensitive data. Apps like Fantastical or iOS Mail, on the other hand, communicate directly with Apple and Google without any middleman to fetch or cache data.
Why The Unemployment Rate Fell toggle caption Source: Commerce Department Economists were surprised by today's drop in the unemployment rate, which went from 9.5 percent in June to 9.4 percent in July. Close watchers of the labor market had expected to see the figure rise to 9.6 or 9.7. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters today that President Obama still expects to see unemployment hit 10 percent this year. So why did the number go down in July? Part of the reason is that employers cut fewer jobs -- by 247,000, against an average of 331,000 for the last three months, including July. Another, and perhaps larger part of the answer is that one key number factored into the rate fell unexpectedly. Unemployment is the number of people out of work as a percentage of the total labor force. The labor force in everyone who's employed or who wants a job. In July, that total labor force fell by 422,000. Sudeep Reddy at the Wall Street Journal's Real Time Economics blog says that the jobless number is down because the overall labor force is shrinking -- people are giving up on looking for jobs, and so BLS doesn't count them as unemployed. Reddy also says that when the economy recovers, more people will likely re-enter the labor force and help push the unemployment rate higher. Or as he explains it: The payroll figures -- jobs lost -- comes from a Labor Department survey of employers. The unemployment rate is measured through a separate survey of households -- asking people whether they have a job, whether they want a job and whether they searched for a job (among other things). If people drop out of the labor force, the unemployment rate can decline because fewer people would be considered jobless. White House economic advisor Christina Romer told Bloomberg TV that the drop in the labor force did have an effect but wasn't the only factor. "It is certainly arithmetically why the number went down," she said on Bloomberg television. "Basically, what we're seeing is stability." High Frequency Economics' Ian Shepherdson sees the drop in total labor force as a correction from temporary spikes in April and May. "Assuming more normal trends over the next few months, the unemployment rate has further to rise," he writes. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the $787 billion stimulus had made for a stronger report than expected. "There's no doubt that the economic recovery plan is having an impact," he told reporters. Everyone's favorite doomsayer, Nouriel Roubini of RGE Monitor, agrees that the unemployment rate fell largely because of people leaving the labor force. He writes that later this year, the job market (and the overall economy) is going to get worse -- a lot worse: All elements of total labor income -- jobs, hours and average hourly wages -- are under pressure which will impact consumption in the coming months. The unemployment rate in late 2009 will be higher than what was assumed for 2010 in the "adverse scenario" of the banks stress test. This will lead to further delinquencies on loans and securities and lower than expected recovery rates. As people who have mortgages lose their jobs, they will have severe difficulties in servicing their mortgages. Calculated Risk takes an extended look at those stress tests the U.S. Treasury administered to the nation's largest banks. The upshot: "Once again, the unemployment rate is already higher than the 'more adverse' scenario." Other Charts: Duration of Unemployment/ Average Hourly Wages/ Average Workweek
RAGING RIVER Quite often, the crust of creative content that climbs its way to the surface to harden and set in the gaze of the public eye is but the thinnest sliver of published lore, riding the precarious tide of molten fiction foundations. Occasionally, it’s fun to bravely bypass the boiling currents and give a glimpse at some of the deeper backgrounds that lie beneath. Take for example the Incineration Cannon known as the River of Light; at first glance you might think you’ve seen all there is to see regarding this resplendent REQ. After all, you’ve scoured your service record and carefully curated your collection, quite content that you’ve covered all of the available details. But like many aspects of the Halo fiction, there is often more than meets the eye. For your enjoyment, we’ve bypassed a few protocols and circumvented some regulations to let you peek past the inner canon curtain… Forerunner weapons are built atom-by-atom in nanofabrication forges of unsurpassed fidelity, following instructions spun into design seeds by skilled pattern-weavers assisted by ancilla. Had their creators wish it, every example of their craft could be perfectly identical down to the smallest detail and fractal core. Such perfection and symmetry of effort appealed to the Forerunners responsible for designing artifacts and edifices that wrapped the ecumene in layers of miraculous machinery that reshaped the galaxy to their whims. But repetition at such a vast scale held no appeal for the Warrior-Servants, those who dedicated their minds, bodies, and lives to the defense of the Forerunner people and its vast realm. When possible, the Warrior-Servants preferred to design and build their own unique panoply in cooperation with their warsworn brothers and sisters, crafting arms and armor as beautiful and inspiring as any sculpture or painting. The highest order of Warrior-Servants, the Prometheans, were particularly renowned for the quality of their master-crafted equipment, and the deadly genius of their pattern-weavers. However, the desperate war against the Flood allowed for no beauty, no elegance, only the music produced by lances of crystalized light and the brilliance of burning mountains of corrupted flesh. No songs were sung by these Warrior-Servants of bravery, of victory, of hopes for a tomorrow. There was no tactical finesse to be wielded against the infection, no favor or promise that could turn the Gravemind from its purpose, no stratagem that could withstand its cold calculation. As millions of dead Forerunner warriors turned into billions, then trillions, the wicked and graceful weapons and armors of the old Forerunner guardians were ground into the dirt, crushed underfoot, and then erased from all memory with the unravelling of the Domain. All that followed were sterile, efficient instruments of death without any beauty. In the desperate fight against the Flood there was only time for survival and duty, not art. Against the chilling sterility of unremembered assemblies however, beacons of exquisite exception were still to be found. The River of Light is one such example, having returned to history after being unearthed in a Promethean cache in a grand factory that had once spun impossible miracles of exotic matter. Its forges had lain cold and abandoned for a hundred thousand years before the Warden Eternal returned with writs of control, dominance, and resurgence. One of the first Incineration Cannons ever made, the River’s core had been built and refined over decades by an unknown Promethean who served with distinction and honor in dozens of containment operations. The cannon's harmonious energies burned uncounted fetid burrows to ash and toppled grand spore towers dedicated to the parasite. In the dead hands of a Knight the River of Light’s true potential could never be unlocked, but the artifact’s heart knows its name and purpose, and hungers to be remembered once more by warriors whose hearts pump with life and limbs move with purpose and intent.
Over the last month or so, we attended a great JavaOne, got back home to enjoy the briefest of breaks before enjoying another full week packed with incredibleness, at Devoxx Belgium. These are the two biggest Java conferences in the world, both within just 3 calendar weeks of each other. Many of us at ZeroTurnaround attended one or both conferences. We sponsored both events as well as presented many sessions, including 7 conference sessions, 2 ignite sessions, 1 nighthacking/vJUG podcast and 2 BoFs – wow, that escalated quickly! Rather than talk about each conference individually, let’s have some fun and compare the two events, looking at what makes each of them stand out as a top tier conference. After all, it’s not often possible for developers to get to even one of these conferences, let alone both of them! So if you had to pick, which would you go for? We’ll look at cost, sessions, speakers, networking, expo, food, location and more! Make it rain! Firstly the cost, and whether we need to ask our boss to give us a bit of money to attend a conference or whether they really do need to make it rain in order for us to attend. Well, it firstly depends on where you’re located, if you’re in the U.S., a domestic flight to California is going to be a lot cheaper than a transatlantic flight of a minimum 11 hours. Similarly, if you’re in Europe, Devoxx is going to be the cheaper flight option. However, when you get there, hotels are a totally different story! Because JavaOne is colocated with Oracle OpenWorld, over 50,000 Oracle fan boys and girls congregate in San Francisco with the sole duty of nabbing all the hotel rooms and talking about how cool Oracle DB is. As a result, the locals are wise to this and increase hotel prices heavily. We’re not joking here, as much as 2 to 3 times the cost and more, meaning you might have a commute for a hotel further away, or share with another person you might not know well who might even use NetBeans. We stayed at the Hilton, which is the conference hotel. It’s very convenient and costly at the same time– we’re talking $400 USD per night and that’s the earlybird price! At Devoxx, many will pick a hotel in Antwerp centre as it’s closer to food and beverage dispensing venues. We stayed at the Radisson Blu which is a popular hotel among Devoxx regulars and only a 15-20 min tram ride from the conference. This ran us about $170 USD per night. Your conference pass will also vary between the two conferences, with JavaOne costing almost 3 times as much as Devoxx at just over $2,000 USD. That’s a significant amount! Sessions – Content is King! Both Devoxx and JavaOne provide amazing sessions. As a speaker it’s probably harder to get into Devoxx as there are many more submissions and fewer slots in comparison to JavaOne. After the conference, sessions are made available on YouTube. Well some of the JavaOne sessions make it and this year they were grouped per room, therefore each video was 10 hours, which is a little tough to digest. Devoxx, on the other hand, was really amazing with video content this year and made them available within 24 hours, typically. Voxxed live was also launched at Devoxx, an interesting live-ish stream from Lucy Carey and Mark Hazel, the Voxxed crew. They took a lot of the great content from Devoxx, streaming a number of sessions live, with some additional exclusive interviews and Devoxx day round ups. If I had to pick, I might say the Devoxx sessions are slightly more hardcore in terms of content, and you’re more likely to find more varied speakers, including those from Google! But it’s hard to pick between them, as we’re really looking at the best content across the circuit at both JavaOne and Devoxx. Keynote wise, JavaOne sucked pretty bad for the opening keynote. It wasn’t overly technical, although that got better when Mark Reinhold and Brian Goetz came out. Sharat Chandler opened it in a very lively and community focused way, but there were little other points that I would mention, which was quite disappointing. The community keynote which was run by the awesome Stephen Chin was extremely entertaining and well thought out (Caveat: I participated in the community keynote). I hope next year Oracle decides to let Stephen lead the main keynote and focus it on developers. Devoxx on the other hand produced a much better keynote with an outstanding session from Professor Lawrence Krauss looking at the origins of life. Kind of puts the last 20 years of Java into a bit of perspective, doesn’t it! Devoxx also had Mark Reinhold give part of the opening keynote, but if you want to hear from more Oracle language designers particularly, you need to be at JavaOne. A few of our engineers attended Devoxx just for the sessions (European based). Bram Inniger, Product Engineer (Java developer), lists his top three sessions below, and we’ve linked to the replays for your convenience. 7 Ways to hack your brain by Dan Allen This was an excellent non-Java talk, essentially on how to change your perspective such that you view writing a document as you would writing source code. Dan goes through 7 “tricks” or rather methods which you can use to achieve this. The main idea is to write in pure ASCII (with simple formatting directives using AsciiDoc), allowing you to do cool stuff like commenting, versioning and intelligently diff-ing your text. This talk actually inspired me to pick up Asciidoctor (a rendering utility to export AsciiDoc text into say HTML) and write my summaries and experiences in it! Great job Dan! Design Patterns in the light of Lambda Expressions by Venkat Subramaniam An awesome (perhaps the best) talk, so we’ll call this joint top with Dan’s! Venkat described how you can revisit some old clunky and verbose patterns, and make them sleeker and neater with lambdas. A prime example of this was the Decorator pattern, which becomes beautiful simply by just introducing lambdas. Finally, Venkat covered some new patterns that previously were only usable in functional languages. The Design of a Reliable and Secure Operating System by Andrew Tanenbaum This was a fantastic talk about the design and direction of Minix. Andrew gave great insight behind the rationale of the system and why it’s so important to be incredibly resilient to failure at a software level. Finally, Andrew also explained the reasoning behind the move towards NetBSD’s userland. Here are some of Bram’s final tips/takeaways from Devoxx: Multiverses with different physics are perhaps real and can be indirectly observed, though never entered. Lambda’s are awesome! JShell is a pretty damn neat way to write and run some small snippets. Use Asciidoc + Vim to write even awesomer texts in a better way. Re-think latency, where it comes from, how it evolves and scales. Operating Systems are better and safer if their kernel is smaller and written robustly. Do not chase the greatest and latest technology, often it pays very well to just fix your current system in the current stack instead of throwing on X new frameworks. Learn Akka, its actor-messaging-based concurrency models looks absolutely fantastic. HTTP2 is really cool and exciting, we should experiment with setting up Jetty and give it a go. Don’t connect anything unsecurely on the net, expecting no-one to find it, cause it will be found and it will be exploited. As I mentioned, we also presented at both JavaOne and Devoxx and you can checkout some of our sessions below: 0. JavaOne – Productive Java Development? You Weak-Minded Fool! by Simon Maple This tongue-in-cheek session takes a look at 10 development tools/projects/products—JIRA, Confluence, Tomcat/TomEE, JRebel, XRebel, Arquillian, JBoss Forge, IntelliJ, Jenkins, and Gradle—explaining what they do and how they “supposedly” help your development practices. 1. JavaOne – Having Fun with Javassist by Anton Arhipov This session goes through examples of how you can apply Javassist to alter applications’ behavior and do all kind of fun stuff with it. Why is it interesting? Because while you’re trying to do unusual things in Java, you learn much more about the language and the platform itself, and learning about Javassist will actually make you a better Java developer. 2. Devoxx – The Java Council by Simon Maple/Martijn Verburg/Mark Reinhold/Trisha Gee The Java Council closed out conference season dressed in full Jedi gear. This is a fun, entertaining and enlightening session where you’ll see blind ignite talks covering 40 years of Java, rockstars on stage playing ‘Just a minute’, interviews with top Java leaders and lighthearted panel discussions. Speakers and Networking There’s a track at every conference which is one of the most important to all attendees, but rarely mentioned too much. It’s called the corridor track. This is the track in which you meet like-minded individuals, network with technical leaders, speakers, engage with the community and perhaps even find your next job! As a speaker, JavaOne is seen to be the home of the Java conference. Many speakers when asked would prefer to go to JavaOne, if they could only pick one conference. It really is the one place in the world where for a week you’ll find the highest profile number of Java speakers within a couple square blocks. There are many parties and events throughout the week where you can chat and mingle with these great people. Also there’s a cafe next to the Hilton, well in the road next to the Hilton which is blocked off for the duration of JavaOne! But that’s a great place to hang out and chat with many of the big names at the conference. Expo halls From a sponsorship point of view, both conferences are fairly expensive, but you’d expect that given they’re the two largest Java conferences in the world! The JavaOne expo hall is large and very busy. You’ll see people from the JavaOne conference as well as Oracle OpenWorld and will hardly have time to catch breath before talking to the next person during the dedicated hours. The Devoxx expo hall is a lot smaller and you’ll get less space for your booth, but you’ll still talk with a great number of people. The excitement is high and it’s a vibrant room. Attendee scanners are far better at JavaOne. Cost wise, JavaOne is a higher cost, but you get a larger space in which to present. My gut feeling leans towards JavaOne as having the better Expo space, but check out this video as a fun entertaining pit lane walk through the Devoxx expo hall! Food, Glorious food! This is where both conferences are left wanting. The JavaOne food is very poor and you’d expect a lot more for the ticket price. There’s a Chipotle a block away so we tended to nip out and get take out instead of the sandwich packs you’re offered at JavaOne. Devoxx is a bit better, but you will get a little bored of soup and baguettes by the end of the week. Ultimately, neither are very good, but at least Devoxx have a sense of humour about it! So which should you choose? Well, whichever you decide to go you, you’ll not be disappointed, but if you want an amazing all around experience, I’d pick JavaOne, if you want a similarly high quality conference, with top speakers at a fraction of the cost, go for Devoxx. If you want bad food, you’ll be fine with either! Let us know which conferences you’ve been to and whether your experience differs from ours, we’d love to hear from you in our comments. Read next:
We Are Not Slaughterers: An Iraqi Village Rejects Islamic Militants Enlarge this image toggle caption Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images The only way for civilians to get to the town of Dhuluiya is by boat across the river Tigris, since the so-called Islamic State blew up the main bridge here and tribesmen battling them commandeered the other. Steering through long reeds, we pull into a little dirt harbor. Here, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, is the home of a branch of the Jubbour tribe. They're a big Sunni group in this agricultural area and they want to tell me how they've halted the advance of the Islamic State. At first glance, the village seems lush. We bump along backstreets — "It's safer," they tell me — past houses with gardens full of pomegranate trees. It's really beautiful here, I say. But the men giving me a ride into town reply that it's not all that beautiful right now, actually. We're about two miles from the front line. The Islamic State fires maybe a dozen mortars a day at the town, and at the little boats chugging across the river. Enlarge this image toggle caption Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images The nearest hospital is behind that front line, so they've converted a school into a makeshift clinic. It's there that I meet senior men from the Jubbour tribe. They crowd into a disused classroom and tell me how the Islamic State blazed down from the north in mid-June. The villages north of here are Sunni, where many feel oppressed by the Shiite-led government. Some allied with the Sunni militants. Others fought, and fell. Until those militants reached Dhuluiya. "Since that time, the fighting started, and everyone from third-grade students to sheikhs took part in it," says Barzan Ahmad, a Jubbouri and a university professor. "Everyone raised their weapons." He says that after the fighting had been going on for two days, the militants proposed negotiations. So a delegation from the Jubbour tribe went to meet an Islamic State leader. He ordered the Jubbouri to join them and to kill 30 members of their tribe — army officers and doctors — as punishment for working with the Shiite-dominated government of former Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, which many Sunnis despised. "They said, 'We came to liberate you from this injustice and oppression caused by Maliki's rule,' " says Ahmed. The Jubbouris were outraged. Sheikh Mawloud Awad Hassoun says the tribe believes in peaceful co-existence. A lot of them are educated — engineers and lawyers. Enlarge this image toggle caption Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images "We don't see ourselves as slaughterers," he says. So the tribe declined the offer to join the extremists and began fighting against them again. In the chaotic hallway of this makeshift hospital, I meet Ahmed Issa, who joined the fight against the extremists — and lost his leg. "They're criminals," he says. "They're killers. If they enter your house, they are going to kill you." The war here is often deeply sectarian. The Shiite-led government recruits Shiite militias. Sunni tribes join with the Islamic State. But here, Shiite fighters from Balad, a town across the river, came to help out. "We've become more than brothers," says Issa. "What hurts them, hurts us, and what hurts us, hurts them." Fighting together, they pushed the militants back. It helped when Iraqi army helicopters hit some Islamic State positions. But they say they need more help from the government. Muaffak Kamel Ali stopped working with an electricity company to fight. "We want military support — we are under pressure here," he says. "They are shelling us from there and advancing toward us." This is something you hear across the country. Over to the west in Anbar, members of a Sunni tribe called Albu Nimr, who have been fighting the Islamic State, say they've lost at least 200 men to the extremists in recent days. They, too, beg the government for weapons. As I say goodbye, the Jubbouris tell me they're hoping for a meeting soon with Iraq's prime minister. That's key, because U.S. officials have said they want the Iraqi government to take the lead in supplying weapons and supplies before American advisers help the tribes. But they hope the help comes soon. Over the weekend, 250 Jubbouris were captured by the Islamic State.
Bridgestone issued their customary press release after the US round of MotoGP at Laguna Seca. The big news in this press release is the fact that Bridgestone is to bring a new hard rear option for the MotoGP riders to use from the Brno round. The hard option rear tire was barely being used this season, with the teams struggling to get it to heat into the harder rear and produce rear grip. Instead, the hard compound has been modified to make it a little more more compliant and user friendly. The full press release appears below: United States MotoGP™ debrief with Masao Azuma Thursday 25 July 2013 Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft & Medium. Rear: Extra-soft (Symmetric), Soft & Medium (Asymmetric) Bridgestone wet tyre compounds available: Soft (Main), Hard (Alternative) Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez scored his third victory of the season at Laguna Seca, taking the chequered flag ahead of LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl and Yamaha Factory Racing’s Valentino Rossi last Sunday. Conditions at Laguna Seca were typical for the California circuit with foggy and cool mornings giving way to sunshine and warmer track temperatures in the afternoon. For Sunday’s race conditions were fine and sunny with a peak track temperature of 50°C. Q&A with Masao Azuma – Chief Engineer, Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development Department Track temperatures in the afternoon sessions were quite higher than in the morning, what effect did this have on tyre evaluation and selection for the race? “Yes the morning sessions on Friday and Saturday were very cool and track temperatures on both days went up significantly in the afternoon – this is quite typical for Laguna Seca. However, although track temperatures were reaching into the 40 degree range on Friday and Saturday afternoon, there was a cool breeze and this meant warm-up performance was still a critical point on these days. This had an effect on front tyre choice with riders using the softer front slick until they felt confident enough in the grip level of the track to move to the harder front slick option. “On Sunday track temperatures were higher again and the breeze wasn’t as strong so none of the riders decided to use the softer front slick as warm-up performance wasn’t so important. The higher track temperatures on Sunday weren’t enough to persuade any of the works riders to use the harder rear slick for the race as barely any of them tried this option on Friday and Saturday, and they were confident in the performance of the softer rear slick even in higher temperatures. On the other hand three CRT riders did select their harder rear option for the race. Among the works riders only Stefan Bradl tried the harder rear slick on Friday and he felt that the greater performance of the softer rear slick offered more of an advantage over the greater durability of the harder rear. We saw last year that the race winner used the harder rear slick, but this year all works riders preferred the softer rear slick and this option worked very well over the race distance.” The two harder rear slick options for Laguna Seca, the soft and medium compound slicks were offered in an asymmetric specification but the CRT-specific extra-soft rear slick was only offered as a symmetric option. Can you explain why? “This year Bridgestone has four different rubber compounds for its slick tyres; extra-soft, soft, medium and hard. We use these four rubber compounds to create over ten different asymmetric rear slicks with different hardness rubber on the left and right shoulders. The naming convention we use for our asymmetric rear slicks is that the harder of the compounds used on an asymmetric slick forms the name of that option. For example, our soft compound asymmetric rear slick features soft rubber compound on the harder shoulder, paired with the extra-soft rubber compound on the softer shoulder. Our extra-soft rear slick is symmetric as we don’t have a softer rubber compound that we can utilise on the softer shoulder, meaning both shoulders make use of our softest and grippiest rubber. The CRT riders really like this option and most of them used this rear tyre during the race.” Currently Bridgestone is providing riders with a greater number of softer rear slicks until a new hard compound rear tyre is developed. When will this new hard compound rear slick be introduced and will this see the normal tyre allocation return? “Early in the season it was evident that a strong preference among the riders for the soft and medium compound rear slicks was occurring and the hard compound rear slick was not being used often. For whatever reason; be it an evolution in bike design or electronic controls, our current hard compound rear slick isn’t popular with riders this year, so we set about developing a new hard rubber compound. Until this change could be properly tested and introduced into the allocation, it was agreed that riders could choose a greater number of softer rear slicks at each race weekend. We are planning to introduce our new hard compound rear slick tyre at the Czech Republic Grand Prix next month and are hopeful that this new tyre will be well received. Bridgestone, Dorna and IRTA have come to an agreement that riders on MSMA machines can select up to eight softer rear tyres from the Czech Republic Grand Prix to last race regardless of the effectiveness of the new hard compound.”
See also this follow up BBC cheek by jowl with ISIS: email to Emily Thornberry MP Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry has retreated from pursuing concerns that BBC licence fee revenue may have been paid to al-Qaeda and ISIS linked jihadi group Ahrar al-Sham. On 19 August I emailed Ms Thornberry observing that BBC reporter Ian Pannell and cameraman Darren Conway had apparently employed Ahrar al-Sham militants as security during the filming of the 2013 Panorama special Saving Syria’s Children. As noted in my recent presentation for Frome Stop War (from 15:18 below), Ahrar al-Sham was co-founded by “one of Osama bin Laden’s most trusted couriers”, Mohamed Bahaiah. Bahaiah, now deceased, is suspected by Spanish investigators of delivering surveillance tapes of the World Trade Centre to al-Qaeda’s senior leadership in Afghanistan in 1998. Less than three weeks before filming on Saving Syria’s Children began Ahrar al-Sham was, along with ISIS and al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra, among “the key fundraisers, organizers, planners, and executors” of attacks in which at least 190 civilians were killed and over 200 mostly women and children were kidnapped. The BBC’s own news reports describe Ahrar al-Sham as a “hardline Islamist” group. On 3 October Thornberry responded stating: Making programmes in a war-zone such as Syria is a very difficult task, but I agree that the BBC must be vigilant to ensure that licence fee payer money is never used to inadvertently fund the members of any Jihadi groups. I hope that the Editor of Panorama will be able to shed further light on this issue and explain what action the BBC has taken to look into this matter and learn lessons for future programmes. However, in her latest reply (reproduced below) Thornberry’s ardour to discover whether BBC license fee payer money was paid to the “hardline Islamist” Ahrar al-Sham has vanished: I was unaware of your longstanding correspondence with the BBC when I first raised your complaint but after reading their response I am confident that they have investigated your complaint extensively and I now consider this matter to be closed. The response referred to by Thornberry, from BBC News Senior Editorial Adviser Jeremy Hayes (also reproduced below), dwells almost entirely on the 2013/14 correspondence between myself and the corporation over the possible fabrication of scenes in the documentary. The fresh observations about Pannell and Conway’s association with the ISIS and al-Qaeda linked Ahrar al-Sham are waved away in the final paragraph: I doubt that the detail supplied by Mr Stuart in his letter to you about the alleged presence in a convoy of a vehicle marked ‘Ahrar al-Sham’ would have a significant bearing on the accuracy of this programme but in any case the BBC is only obliged to consider complaints about its broadcast output within thirty days of transmission unless there are exceptional circumstances. Bearing in mind the considerable resources which have been expended by the BBC in considering and investigating Mr Stuart’s many other allegations about this programme , BBC News will not be examining this claim. That at least one vehicle marked with the Ahrar al-Sham logo formed part of Pannell and Conway’s security convoy is a fact, not an allegation: Further, the issues raised by Thornberry on my behalf were not in this instance in respect of the accuracy of the programme’s content. They were: Despite having asked the Panorama office in October to respond specifically to these three points, one month later the Shadow Foreign Secretary appears mollified by a reply which avoids them all. Embracing Hayes’ obfuscatory conflation of my two separate concerns – that scenes in Saving Syria’s Children may have been staged and that BBC personnel appear to have been ensconced with the “hardline Islamist” Ahrar al-Sham – Thornberry now finds herself “confident” that the BBC has investigated my “complaint” “extensively” and considers “this matter to be closed.” [2] Thankfully there are others who wish to promote, rather than foreclose, enquiry into both strands of concern. In April, multi-award winning Paste magazine, whose “8 million unique monthly visitors” are “hungry for authenticity”, declared Saving Syria’s Children a “sham“. Former UK ambassador Craig Murray has questioned the programme’s production on a number of occasions, while ex-Guardian and Observer journalist Jonathan Cook raised his head a considerable distance above the parapet to state: “It looks suspiciously like one scene in particular, of people with horrific burns, was staged”. Film, television and radio producer Victor Lewis-Smith’s challenge that the BBC make the documentary’s raw footage available led to his tearing up his own BBC contract and pressured Panorama editor Rachel Jupp into publishing a highly disingenuous defence of Saving Syria’s Children on Facebook. [3] Lewis-Smith now plans a cinema documentary on the subject. Another quarter which both the BBC and compliant parliamentarians would do well not to disregard is the Mumsnet community, whose members are presently discussing Saving Syria’s Children in terms including “utterly outrageous, beyond anything seen in Russia, North Korea”, “Definitely FAKE and in parts so badly acted” and “Pretty clear they’ve been caught out here”. Mumsnet poster VivaLeBeaver, departing from topics of prior legitimate concern including “What was that banana medicine I used to have as a kid?” and “What to wear under a cassock if you’re nine !“, pronounced the case for Saving Syria’s Children being a fabrication “worryingly convincing” while Carolinesbeanies asks a question I too have had occasion to ponder: These are damning accusations against the BBC that if untrue, any credible organisation would have obtained injunctions, financial damages and no end of legal apologies to clear their name? So in short, in 4 years, why is Robert Stuart in the heart of London presenting his evidence in October 2017, unhindered by any form of injunction or legal redress? Notes [1] While the points I raised with Thornberry did not directly relate to the accuracy or authenticity of the content of Saving Syria’s Children, in light of the links which clearly existed between Ahrar al-Sham and ISIS in August 2013 the tensely-rendered scene of Pannell and Conway’s passage through an ISIS checkpoint at 10:46 in the programme perhaps acquires a different complexion. [2] For Thornberry to be “unaware” of my “longstanding correspondence with the BBC” is a circumstance I have done my utmost to mitigate since 16 December 2015, when I personally handed both her and Jeremy Corbyn copies of a dossier on Saving Syria’s Children. Since 20 January 2016 I have included Thornberry’s parliamentary email address on my circulation list for updates on the topic and between then and 10 July this year have blind copied her into 24 such emails. The next email I sent to Thornberry, on 17 August, was in the capacity of a constituent seeking advocacy and began the exchange outlined above. [3] For instance, Jupp’s statement in part reads: A handful of people have raised questions about the programme’s authenticity, including RT in 2014. The BBC complained to Ofcom about the RT report, and Ofcom found that RT had indeed breached rule 2.2 of the Ofcom code – which states that “Factual programmes of items or portrayals of factual matters must not materially mislead the audience.” Ofcom’s finding clearly states that it “has not undertaken an assessment of the accuracy and/or impartiality of the BBC Programmes in reaching this Decision” and that “it was not possible or appropriate for Ofcom to attempt to prove or disprove the allegations made [by RT] about the BBC in the Programme”. I had pointed this out in an email to Jupp prior to the publication of her statement. Commenting on Jupp’s statement, Patrick Henningsen of 21st Century Wire observes: “A handful of people have raised questions…” so is that meant to downplay any wrong doing? How many unruly plebs would be a significant number for the BBC to take an inquiry seriously? My previous related correspondence with Emily Thornberry is here, here and here. The appended images referred to by the ECU below can be viewed here. My full correspondence with the BBC over Saving Syria’s Children is here. Advertisements Share this: Twitter Facebook Google Print Email LinkedIn Pocket Pinterest Tumblr Reddit Like this: Like Loading...
What are you even doing reading this, Godzilla is out!! Well, since you’re here, enjoy the page. We get a glimpse at full Imperial armor on this page, and it was a ton of fun to draw. It’s more or less designed for Blassnaught sensibilities and combat traits, but it’s modular enough for Hauke and Gaur. In fact, I’d say the Gaur wear it particularly well. Those guys look like freakin’ walls. Also of note is I actually got to draw a Mantoid from the rear, so we can see the carapace that covers the wings. All sorts of firsts on this page. Also in the area of firsts I posted the first page of the Facebook story on the Cosmic Dash Facebook page. I’ll share it here as well, but make sure you go check it out! Future installments will only be available there. Like and share, and enjoy “Slaves to No One“. It is visually inspired by the works of Hellboy‘s Mike Mignola, and has an intersection with a plot that I’ve started earlier in the comic.
A tour described as a "half-music, half-literary" event is about to hit 13 cities and First Nations communities. The New Constellations tour will feature music acts, spoken word, as well as mentorship workshops geared toward Indigenous youth. The tour is bringing together both Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists and organizers say audiences should expect an experience they haven't seen before. "Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists rarely perform or create together, so this is an amazing opportunity to see what happens when they do," said Jarrett Martineau. "With where we are in this country's history, that collaboration is more important than ever," he said. Jarrett Martineau is the co-founder of the record label RPM, which is co-organizing the tour. (Melody Lau/CBC) Martineau, who is Cree/Dene, is the co-founder of contemporary Indigenous record label RPM Records. RPM Records has joined forces with The Basement Revue, a live event series that combined artists from different disciplines, to put together the tour. The tour will feature music by artists like A Tribe Called Red, Feist, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson and rocker Sam Roberts, and non-musical sets by writers like Billy-Ray Belcourt and Naomi Klein. It will also feature a mentorship program which will connect Indigenous people from all ages with some of the acts. Online, they can submit music and be mentored by established artists in the music industry. The tour also plans to host workshops in six communities where Indigenous youth will have the opportunity to learn about things like songwriting and music production. Applications for the mentorship program close Nov. 13. Writer and musician Leanne Betasamosake Simpson hopes to help Indigenous youth work on their writing skills at workshops along the tour path. (Red Works Photography) Reciprocity One of the core artists on the tour will be Simpson, a Michi Saagigig Nishnaabeg musician and writer. With her band, she will be performing her first album f(l)ight, which was released last year through RPM Records. Simpson said she is grateful to have had Indigenous artists mentor her throughout her career. "I wouldn't be here if people hadn't done that for me," she said. "I think that's a really beautiful part of our community and I'm really honoured to be a part of that." The gift of reciprocity is something that she plans on sharing with Indigenous youth while on tour. During the workshops, she will be helping to develop their writing skills — including poetry, fiction and nonfiction. "We have a responsibility to hold up those emerging writers, to make sure that we are out in the community sharing our skills and nurturing that next generation," said Simpson. Teaching the next generation Craig Edes and Travis Hebert are the hip-hop duo known as Mob Bounce. The duo has been rapping together since 2010 and is also signed to RPM Records. Mob Bounce will be performing on the tour and mentoring Indigenous youth who are interested in learning how to make music. Over the last couple of years, Hebert and Edes have been travelling to First Nations to offer similar mentorship programs. Hebert, who is Cree-Métis, said the group holds workshops to help Indigenous youth "realize their power and potential, through words alone." "We had a few mentors throughout our lives, but to have specific mentors around music, Indigeneity, culture, that was kind of absent," said Hebert. "So we're really trying to be available to the next generation. I believe it all starts from connecting with the young people and being there for them when those things are missing." Mob Bounce's first LP will be available in 2018. The New Constellations tour kicks off Nov. 23 in Saskatoon.
Canada Soccer Women’s U-17 National EXCEL (NEX) Program has invited 26 players into its second last camp of 2017, as efforts ramp up ahead of a competitive 2018 beginning with the 2018 CONCACAF Women's U-17 Championship in Nicaragua 19-29 April, which will determine qualification for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Uruguay 2018 running 13 November to 1 December 2018. The NEX camp will take place in Burnaby, BC from 28 September to 5 October. “This is an incredibly critical time for the development of these players and the group, as we look ahead to major competitions next year and their progression up through the overall system. Our strategy of centralising our most promising NEX talent into our REX Super Centres is now underway, so it’s really exciting to see the strides made by players since we were last together collectively.” said Bev Priestman, Canada Soccer National EXCEL Director 14-20. “We have a fantastic tournament experience from the China series to draw from as we continue to build upon the Women’s EXCEL curriculum and playing model but the staff will also work hard one-on-one with players off the field to provide clear focus areas between now and the next camp to keep pushing players to reach new levels.” Canada Soccer’s Women’s U-17 National EXCEL Program has already held camps in May and June and competed in a four nations tournament in China in 2017, providing several critical touchpoints for technical staff to work with the players. “The group now understands the demands of international tournament football and with the CONCACAF Championship around the corner, we have our eye on ensuring this group qualifies in order to provide these individuals with the best learning platform of all, a FIFA tournament,” said Priestman. “These sorts of experiences are exactly what is needed to support the development of our players as they aim to progress towards the Women’s National Team and the top level of women’s football.” Canada won the CONCACAF Women's U-17 Championship in 2010, placed second in 2012 and 2013, and third in 2008 and 2016. Three teams from the CONCACAF region will qualify from the 2018 CONCACAF Women's U-17 Championship Nicaragua for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Uruguay 2018. Canada has qualified for every FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup since the tournaments inception in 2008, and has reached the quarterfinals three times, in 2008, 2012, and 2014. With the CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship and FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup also taking place in 2018, the Canada Soccer NEX Program is moving into high gear to prepare players for the international stage. “We know next year will be a big one for all youth players in the system, so we’ve been putting in the work to prepare them throughout 2017 which has included tournaments and multiple development camps, some of which have included John Herdman (Canada Soccer’s Women’s Program Director and National Team Head Coach), which I think signifies the alignment and the investment in the overall system with 2019, 2020 and beyond in mind,” added Priestman. Canada Soccer’s EXCEL System has already produced eight Women’s National Team players, and Olympic bronze medalists, in Kadeisha Buchanan, Ashley Lawrence, Jessie Fleming, Rebecca Quinn, Janine Beckie, Shelina Zadorsky, Deanne Rose, and Gabrielle Carle, three of whom are still eligible for youth competition. Additionally, 2018 youth eligible EXCEL players Hannah Taylor, Jordyn Huitema, Sarah Stratigakis, Ashley Cathro have all been called up to Canada Soccer’s Women’s National Team in 2017, giving them additional experiences to draw from as they head into 2018. Over the last four years the quality of experience for young, talented, Canadian female players has improved, inspiring them to reach greater heights, while at the same time providing them with the tools to meet the demands and rigors of the ever-improving international women’s game. Attracting and helping to retain more talented players to soccer, the EXCEL Program is widening and strengthening the talent base in Canada and creating more opportunities for Canada to excel in future Olympics and FIFA Women’s World Cups. Canada Soccer Women’s National EXCEL Program brings together the best with the best at the national youth level. Operating across the U-14 to U-20 age groups, the program is designed to deliver an aligned talent structure and system that progresses more top players to Canada’s Women’s National Team. Canada Soccer NEX U-17 Camp Roster (By Name, Year Born, Club and Province) Oluwateniola (Teni) Akindoju, 2001, Vancouver Whitecaps FC Girls Elite REX Super Centre (Soccer Nova Scotia REX Program / Dunbrack Soccer Club), NS Jayde Riviere, 2001, Vancouver Whitecaps FC Girls Elite REX Super Centre (Markham Soccer Club OPDL), ON Aaliyah Scott, 2001, Vancouver Whitecaps FC Girls Elite REX Super Centre (Markham Soccer Club OPDL), ON Maya Antoine, 2001, Vancouver Whitecaps FC Girls Elite REX Super Centre (Vaughan Soccer Club OPDL), ON Maya Ladhani, 2002, Vancouver Whitecaps FC Girls Elite REX Super Centre (Vaughan Soccer Club OPDL), ON Andersen Williams, 2002, Vancouver Whitecaps FC Girls Elite REX Super Centre (Alberta REX South / Calgary South West United), AB/ BC Caitlin Shaw, 2001, Vancouver Whitecaps FC Girls Elite REX Super Centre, BC Alyson Hay, 2001, Vancouver Whitecaps FC Girls Elite REX Super Centre, BC Mya Jones, 2001, Alberta REX South / Calgary Foothills, AB Maliah De Rosario, 2001, Markham Soccer Club OPDL, ON Serita Thurton, 2002, Markham Soccer Club OPDL, ON Anna Karpenko, 2002, Vaughan Soccer Club OPDL, ON Olivia Scott, 2001, Aurora Youth Soccer Club OPDL, ON Kaila Novak, 2002, FC London Academy, ON Jade Rose, 2003, Unionville SC OPDL, ON Isabella Hanisch, 2002, Ottawa South United Club OPDL, ON Ariel Young, 2001, Ottawa Fury, ON Olivia Cooke, 2001, West Ottawa SC OPDL, ON Sophie Guilmette, 2001, Quebec REX Super Centre/ Lakeshore SC, QC Lara Kazandjian, 2002, Quebec REX Super Centre/ Lakeshore SC, QC Jessica De Fillippo, 2001, Quebec REX Super Centre / Lakeshore SC, QC Wayny-Natasha Balata Nguenign, 2001, Quebec REX Super Centre / Lakeshore SC, QC Julianne Vallerand, 2001, Quebec REX Super Centre/ Varennes, QC Leonie Portelance, 2001, Quebec REX Super Centre/ Varennes, QC Elisabeth Tsé, 2002, Quebec REX Super Centre / Phénix des Rivières de Quebec, QC Latifah Abdu, 2001, Lakeshore SC, QC *Denotes club prior to BC REX Super Centre Residency.
A new star on the rise in Japan has us doing a double-take: No, it’s not Sailor Moon, it’s Ladybeard, the cross-dressing Australian wrestler with his own band! Rick Magarey, 32, first rose to fame in Hong Kong’s underground pro-wrestling circuit, gaining considerable attention for brawling in girly negligees and bikinis. Despite (or because of) his beefy body, Ladybeard gained a cult following. In 2013, he headed to Japan and became a sensation with teen girls. Eventually, Magarey united with J-pop upstarts Rie Kaneko and Rei Kuromiya to form the pop-metal supergroup Ladybaby. Facebook Their first single, “Nippon Manju” (“Japan Bun),” has received more than a million views on YouTube. Ladybeard seems incredibly genuine, although his interviews are as surreal as his style. In a sit-down with Forbes, he described himself as “a 5-year-old Japanese girl… with the appearance of an older Australian man.” And that body doesn’t come easy. “I train everyday,” he says. “Weights, every day. Cardio, pretty much every day. At the moment I’m trying to get bigger because the fans say they want me to. So there’s also tons of food when I’m not dancing.” His hulking frame has made shopping tricky “When I was smaller I could occasionally find something on the rack,” he confesses. “But now, its tailor made all the way. I don’t want to risk stepping into the ring to be wearing the same thing as my opponent!” We know what you’re wondering—is he single? When asked about his love life, Ladybeard responded: “Well, I’m a 5-year-old girl, so romance doesn’t really apply to me yet.” h/t: Kotaku
Image copyright JIM GODBY Image caption Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took a selfie with 13-year-old Alexander Godby. A Canadian family on holiday stumbled upon a shirtless Prime Minister Justin Trudeau while hiking in Quebec's Gatineau Park. The Godby family spotted Mr Trudeau last week as the prime minister and his family emerged from a cave. After some hesitation, the Godbys struck up conversation with the Trudeaus and a selfie was taken. "It was just like, 'Wow, that's crazy! We just met the PM,'" Jim Godby of Peterborough told the Toronto Star. The Trudeaus had been exploring the Lusk Cave, a marble cavern with a waist-high stream running through it. The famous cave is in the centre of the vast national park, which is about 50km northwest of Ottawa. "When you step out your front door, you never know what adventures await," Mr Godby later wrote in a Facebook post about the encounter.
This page may contain affiliate links. Any commissions earned will help my website to remain free forever. (Full disclosure). Following on from the success of my keto brownies, I have managed to make keto blueberry cheesecake squares, with vanilla. These really are incredibly light and tasty to eat and simply quick to make. It is all made in the one bowl, using the stick blender. You see my recipes really are as simple as I can make them. The flavour which really makes these amazing, is the addition of the vanilla. It has a lovely subtle sweet taste, but feel free to add more if you really like vanilla to make a punch. Keto Blueberry Cheesecake Squares – with vanilla So many readers are asking me for nut free recipes due to allergies, or restrictions in school lunch boxes. This keto blueberry cheesecake square is nut free, grain free, gluten free, wheat free, no added sugar (the only sugar is from the berries and cream cheese) and incredibly low carb. When I bake the cheesecake it browns on the top which I don’t think looks attractive, so to serve I turn it upside down, hence the picture looks like there is a base to this recipe, but in fact it is the browned cooked top of the cheesecake. Add frozen berries just before baking, if you mix them in with the recipe, your cheesecake will turn blue/purple. Simply drop the blueberries in one by one after you have poured the cheesecake mixture into the prepared baking dish. They will sink to the bottom which is brilliant as you serve the keto blueberry cheesecake upside down. UPDATE :: Please ensure you use a stick blender or similar to really emulsify the ingredients together. I mention this in the recipe but it needs mentioning again because this is the most important aspect of this recipe. The ingredients will split if not emulsified. Also please add sweetener of choice to your taste. And with all my recipes, taste before baking. Your sweet tooth will be different to everyone else depending on how long you have been sugar free. Enjoy 🙂 3.74 from 130 votes Print Keto Blueberry Cheesecake Squares Remember to emulsify these ingredients well using a stick blender AND adjust sweetener to YOUR taste. Add plenty of vanilla, and then some more. This will guarantee these won't taste 'eggy'. Prep Time 10 minutes Cook Time 20 minutes Total Time 30 minutes Servings 9 Calories 220 kcal Ingredients 150 g butter or coconut oil melted salted, plus a pinch of salt if using coconut oil 6 eggs - medium 120 g cream cheese cut into cubes 2 tsp vanilla 4 tbsp granulated sweetener of choice or more, to your taste 1/2 tsp baking powder 50 g frozen blueberries Metric grams - US measurements Instructions Place all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Mix together using a stick blender with the blade attachment until smooth. Pour into a lined square 8 inch/ 20cm dish. Gently drop the frozen blueberries evenly throughout the cheesecake mixture. They will sink to the bottom as it cooks. Bake at 160C/320F for 20-30 minutes until cooked in the centre. Allow to cool then cut into 9 squares. Serve each square upside down. Recipe Notes Remember to add sweetener to YOUR taste and the level of sweetness YOU like. The longer we eliminate sugar, the less sweet taste we require which is why sweetness is so personal and I give a measurement as a guide only. To guarantee this doesn't taste 'eggy' add plenty of vanilla. Nutrition Facts Keto Blueberry Cheesecake Squares Amount Per Serving Calories 220 Calories from Fat 194 % Daily Value* Total Fat 21.5g 33% Total Carbohydrates 2.5g 1% Dietary Fiber 0.4g 2% Sugars 2g Protein 4.8g 10% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Connie Zhou for IBM IBM Connie Zhou for IBM Sebastian Anthony Connie Zhou for IBM IBM will build and sell commercial 50-qubit universal quantum computers, dubbed IBM Q, "in the next few years." No word on pricing just yet, but I wouldn't expect much change from $15 million—the cost of a non-universal D-Wave quantum computer. In other news, IBM has also opened up an API ( sample code available on Github ) that gives developers easier access to the five-qubit quantum computer currently connected to the IBM cloud. Later in the year IBM will release a full SDK, further simplifying the process of building quantum software. You can't actually do much useful computation with five qubits, mind you, but fortunately IBM also has news there: the company's quantum simulator can now simulate up to 20 qubits. The idea is that developers should start thinking about potential 20-qubit quantum scenarios now, so they're ready to be deployed when IBM builds the actual hardware. Speaking of hardware, it seems IBM has accelerated its universal quantum computing roadmap somewhat. In May last year IBM said it would like to build a 50-qubit computer "in the next decade." Now we're down to "the next few years." IBM has also fleshed out its quantum computing roadmap a little, providing some guidance on how it will actually build a universal 50-qubit computer: IBM’s roadmap to scale to practical quantum computers is based on a holistic approach to advancing all parts of the system. IBM will leverage its deep expertise in superconducting qubits, complex high performance system integration, and scalable nanofabrication processes from the semiconductor industry to help advance the quantum mechanical capabilities. Despite the aggressive roadmap, however, there is no evidence that any scaling has, in fact, occurred. Recal the original publication, which involved nine computational qubits, and a total of 1000 qubits. Now IBM wants their quantum computer to be fully interconnected, so 50 computational qubits requires 1,225 connections. Each link seems to require 48 qubits for control, so 58,800 qubits. This is quite a jump for 1000 qubits on a board. Comparing to D-Wave, which also produces boards with around 1000 qubits, they always end up with one or two non-functional qubits. In this case, it is most likely that a non-functional qubit will be in the connection between two computational qubits, rendering not one, but two nodes useless. We'll be a lot more confident in IBM's scaling when we see actual papers with increasing numbers of computational qubits. Other than D-Wave, IBM doesn't have much competition in the quantum computing space—and as we've explained in the past, both companies appear to be approaching quantum computing quite differently. IBM has set its sights on building a true universal quantum computer, which can be used to solve any quantum algorithm under the sun. D-Wave seems more focused on scaling up the number of qubits and ensuring its system can integrate easily with classical computers, but not ensuring its qubits are actually qubits. BlueFors BlueFors BlueFors While exact pricing, availability, and specs are still a long way off, it's fairly safe to assume that IBM's quantum computers will be about the same price as a D-Wave (~$15 million) or perhaps a little dearer. Both systems are fundamentally the same thing: a fancy chip inside a box that contains a multi-stage dilution refrigerator from a company like BlueFors. Dilution refrigerators take about 24 hours to cool down, but they can then keep the chip at close-to-absolute-zero (~5mK, -273.145°C)—a prerequisite for current quantum computing chips—almost indefinitely. And finally, a random factoid: the photo on the right shows me standing on a ladder next to one of IBM's dilution refrigerators at IBM Research headquarters in upstate New York back in 2013. Additional reporting by Chris Lee Did you know that Ars Technica now has a weekly newsletter? It contains all of the week's top stories, plus info about upcoming meetups and other events. Sign up now. Listing image by IBM
KARACHI (CNN) — Plumbing new depths in the battle for television ratings, abandoned babies are being given out as prizes on a controversial prime-time game show in Pakistan. TV host Aamir Liaquat Hussain presented baby girls to two unsuspecting couples during his show, which is broadcast live for seven hours a day during the month of Ramadan. “I was really shocked at first. I couldn’t believe we were being given this baby girl,” said Suriya Bilqees, now a mother of a two-week old. “I was extremely happy.” Another baby, a boy, is due to be given to another couple at some point in the coming days. The show’s host has been described as a religious scholar, TV megastar and even a sex symbol. His heady mix of religion and entertainment is often followed by controversy. “At Christmas there’s Santa Claus to give everyone gifts, it’s important for Christians. For us Ramadan is a really special time so it’s really important to make people happy and reward them,” said Hussain. His show — Aman Ramazan — has been dubbed Pakistan’s version of The Price Is Right, with members of the 500-strong audience receiving prizes in exchange for answering questions on the Quran. The giveaway bonanza includes motorbikes, microwave ovens, washing machines and fridges. He also cooks while men sing Islamic hymns and discusses religion with children in a garden full of rabbits, snakes and goats. The baby girls given away on the show were found by an NGO, the Chhipa Welfare Association, which says it receives up to 15 abandoned babies a month. “Our team finds babies abandoned on the street, in garbage bins — some of them dead, others mauled by animals. So why not ensure the baby is kept alive and gets a good home?” said Ramzan Chhipa, who runs the organization. “We didn’t just give the baby away. We have our own vetting procedure. This couple was already registered with us and had four or five sessions with us.” But, the couple didn’t know they would be handed a newborn when they were invited to take part in the show and paperwork was not processed before the live broadcast. Adoption is not officially recognized in Pakistan and there is no adoption law. The couple will have to apply for guardianship at a family court. Some viewers praised the show’s baby giveaway but others declared it a publicity stunt. “Pakistan wake up,” Shamim Mahmood wrote on the NGO’s Facebook page. “Babies are not trophies to be handed to just anyone.” Hussain says it isn’t a gimmick to win ratings during the Islamic holy month. He believes his show is unifying a fractured nation, plagued by sectarian violence, religious intolerance and terrorism. “These are the disenfranchised babies that grow up to be street kids and used for suicide bombing attacks. We have tried to show an alternative,” he said. “Telling people to take these kids off the rubbish on the streets, raise them and make them a responsible citizen, not to destroy society through terrorism,” he said. The show has proved extremely popular, breaking ratings records and may be extended beyond its Ramadan run. He is also planning another program where the audience will be from the minority Hindu, Sikh and Christian communities. “We’ve created a symbol of peace and love, that’s our show’s theme — to spread love. I’m setting an example. Giving a childless couple an abandoned child,” Hussain said.
Will Hill was a football oddity last season as a Pro Bowl-level player flying under the radar in the nation's media capital. Having expended time and energy attempting to turn Hill's suspension-ravaged career around, the New York Giants waived the safety on Monday. The organization decided Hill was out of chances after three strikes against the NFL's drug policy. Much like Daryl Washington's ban was a crushing blow to the Arizona Cardinals, Hill's dismissal will cut deep into Perry Fewell's defense. As we pointed out in Monday's edition of the Around The League Podcast, the Giants opened the 2013 season 0-4 while surrendering a whopping 36.5 points per game with Hill under suspension. After Hill returned to the starting lineup in Week 5, the record improved to 7-5 behind an improved defense, allowing a more reasonable 19.5 points per game. From the beginning of October through the end of the season, Hill earned a higher Pro Football Focus grade than any safety in the league. At a time of the year when optimism is typically riding high, Hill isn't the only player facing tribulations. Let's take a spin around the league: 1. Knowshon Moreno is off to a rough start in Miami. Noticeably out of shape, Moreno continues to work primarily with the second-team offense while Lamar Miller handles the bulk of the first-team reps. 2. It's not all bad news with the Dolphins. Mike Wallace believes new coordinator Bill Lazor's offense is "so much better" than Mike Sherman's last season. Defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle is predicting that a bulked-up Dion Jordan is "going to explode this season." It's so far, so good on the Koa Mili experiment at middle linebacker. 3. Seahawks pass rusher Bruce Irvin expects to return for training camp after undergoing hip surgery on Monday. 4. Titans linebacker Akeem Ayers is still recovering from offseason surgery to repair damage to the patella tendon in both knees. 5. Raiders cornerback D.J. Hayden was sporting a walking boot on his right foot after rolling his ankle last week. Coach Dennis Allen downplayed the injury, saying he doesn't expect it to be anything serious. 6. Jaguars second-round rookie wide receiver Allen Robinson will be sidelined for a few weeks with a hamstring injury. 7. Jeremy Maclin gave the Eagles a scare when he took a hard fall and stayed down for a moment in Monday's practice, but he ended up none the worse for the wear. Maclin reportedly looked "very smooth" and "explosive" coming in and out of his breaks prior to the tumble. 8. Texans coach Bill O'Brien told reporters Monday that linebacker Brian Cushing is expected to return from his broken fibula and torn LCL by training camp. 9. As it turns out, the Patriots were indeed the mystery team that hosted free agent Jermichael Finley on Friday. If he signs in New England, the Pats would have two Comeback Player of the Year candidates at tight end. 10. With Sean Lee out, the Cowboys opened Monday's practice with Justin Durant in the middle and Kyle Wilber at strong-side linebacker. Wilber will get competition from DeVonte Holloman and freshly signed fourth-round rookie Anthony Hitchens. 11. A week after raving about Michael Floyd's play at OTAs, Carson Palmer predicted the third-year wide receiver will "shock some people" with a breakout season. 12. The Saints brought back veteran center Jonathan Goodwin. The Steelers reportedly remain interested in re-signing free agent defensive end Brett Keisel for the veteran minimum salary. The latest "Around The League Podcast" picks their favorites for Comeback Player of the Year and takes listener calls.
After George, the two-year-old Basset Hound from West Yorkshire, England got so tangled in a phone cord that he began choking, the frantic pup somehow managed to alert authorities by dialing 999 -- the British equivalent to 911, the Sun reports. Concerned by the heavy breathing on the other end, the emergency operator dispatched police to the home. Since George's owners, Steve Brown and his daughter Lydia, weren't home, their neighbor let the police into the house, where George was choking on the living room floor. "He was absolutely terrified and could not free himself," Walker told the Sun. "I knew I had to get him free quickly so I just ripped the wire out. Incredibly you could see where his paw print was on the phone to ring 999 -- he literally saved his own life." Last year, 15-year-old Patches saved his own life by singing "happy birthday," the Daily Mail reports. Up until then, the pooch was reportedly on death row after accidentally ending up at the pound. In a joyous turn of events, a dog foster carer looking for him called the establishment, and as a test to see if the pup was indeed Patches, and not a stray, started singing the song. When Patches started howling along, he was sent back to be reunited with his family. Two years ago, Max, a chocolate Lab from Macungie, Pa. saved his own life after his owner, Donna Gardner, accidentally locked him in her car in 90-degree heat.To get his owner's attention, Max laid on the horn -- much to Donna's surprise. "I'm thinking 'Who is blowing the horn out there,'" Donna told NBC Philadelphia. "I went out on the porch this time and there is Max sitting in the front seat of my car. Well, obviously it was him that blew the horn."
The SCOPE (Social Connectivity: Online Perceptions and Experiences) project aims to create a space for young people to discuss their own experiences with technology, sex and relationships in a safe and informed way, and to access resources relating to cyber safety, cyber bullying, the legalities surrounding sexting for minors, and other tech-related topics. We are currently recruiting 15-29 year olds for this study. Part one: Content development for the website and social media page We are recruiting young people to participate in one-on-one interviews (most likely via online chat) to discuss what is wanted out of a social media page and website, mainly around the topics that are of most interest to young people. This will involve a 45-60 minute interview with a researcher at a time most convenient. Participants will be reimbursed. Part two: Submission of a feature story for the website Young people also have the opportunity to submit their own feature story to our website. This can be a positive or negative personal reflection of technology, relationships or cyber safety. This story will be presented anonymously and participants will be reimbursed. Participants can be involved in both aspects of the study if they wish and will be reimbursed for both. If you are interested in participating in this study, please email scope@burnet.edu.au or call Alyce Vella on (03) 8506 2395.
Nineteen-year-old Pullman, Washington, resident Andrew Cain took his own life on Saturday. Now his sister, Alise Smith, is asking for an apology from the local police department who allegedly cyber-bullied the young man just days beore his death. Cain was reportedly wanted for controlled substance charges and failure to appear in court. According to local media, a Latah County, Idaho, Sheriff's Office deputy assigned to Cain's case posted a photo of the teenager on the Sheriff's Office Facebook page, along with this message: “We have decided that Andrew Cain is no longer the Wanted Person of the Week… he is the Wanted Person of the Month of June. Congratulations!" [[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”full”,”fid”:”527743″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”365″,”style”:”width: 273px; height: 365px;”,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”273″}}]] Smith, Cain's sister, says the officer also harassed the teenager with private Facebook messages. Meanwhile, false rumors about Cain began circulating across social media, all sparked by the Sheriff's Office initial posts. "It all exploded into people sharing it and rumors starting about other things that Andrew had done, crimes that he has never committed," Smith told KLEW, "And people started harassing him." SPONSORED Smith says Cain texted her earlier in the week, saying he felt like putting a bullet in his head. "The text came along with a screen shot of a private Facebook conversation from Sergeant Doug Andersen to Andrew saying that if he turned himself in, he would give him a copy of the wanted poster, basically teasing him," she said. According to KLEW, Smith stressed that she is not blaming the Latoh County Sheriff's Office for Cain's suicide, but "believes the Facebook activity was belittling and she hopes it doesn't happen to anyone else." Latah County Sheriff Wayne Rausch told KLEW that Facebooking wanted posters has helped procure arrests, but understands that this particular post was inappropriate. "It has never been my policy to include editorializing in media releases pertaining to the location and apprehension of persons wanted by the court," Rausch said in statement. According to the KLEW, he apologied to Smith personally. "That he felt necessary to end his life over facing consequences is tragic," Rausch said in a statement Smith told the Associated Press she grasps the usefulness of posting wanted posters to Facebook, but felt the "congratulations" comment and the private messages were an 'abuse of power.'
Not that we do not enjoy the view of the back walls in Tropicana Field, but how sweet would that view look as you watch the Rays play? For the last three years, there has been a lot more said than done regarding a potential new home for the Tampa Bay Rays as ownership, politicians, and members of the business community walk the fine line of political correctness and emotional understanding of the dynamics of the bay-area. Those parties have, for the most part, remained publicly silent and have allowed national pundits to fill the space with repetitive talking points about the club's attendance woes and how baseball cannot work in our market while sitting in ivory towers found in Bristol, Manhattan, Los Angeles, and places in between. As Michael J. Fox's character Lewis Rothschild said in The American President, "People want leadership...and in the absence of genuine leadership, they'll listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They want leadership. They're so thirsty for it they'll crawl through the desert toward a mirage (such as a baseball stadium in Las Vegas), and when they discover there's no water, they'll drink the sand." In the absence of leadership on this much-needed discussion regarding the Rays stadium, we present our proposal for both the location and design for the next home of the Tampa Bay Rays. If that view is not familiar to you, it is a view of downtown Tampa while standing in Julian B. Lane Waterfront park near the University of Tampa. Why that location? It capitalizes on the Riverwalk plans for the area It capitalizes on the population density of the area It is public land rather than private land The Oakland Tribune wrote a piece in 2002 that examined economic growth in communities as it related to new ballpark construction. In it, they found that, "if a ballpark is part of a larger economic revival effort, it can spur or quicken the pace of other commercial development and housing." Tampa has already seen some of this happening in Channelside and is hoping to continue the area's expansion along the riverfront area.The master plan for the Riverwalk offers many exciting improvements to a central part of the bay-area community that will further help make it a place people want to come to throughout the year. We believe that the addition of a baseball stadium would further enhance the appeal of the area as well as strategically take advantage of its population density. Ballparks in Denver and San Diego followed this model when their new parks were being planned and the areas around both parks have expanded and flourished as a result. The downtown San Diego area was revitalized when Petco Park was built as it saw many new residential buildings as well as restaurants and shops built up around it as they team ceased playing in Jack Murphy Stadium which was far from downtown and isolated to interstates rather than the public transportation options available to Padres fans today. Petco was constructed in the East Village neighborhood of San Diego, an area that did not have a great reputation prior to the stadium construction. Within three years of Petco's opening, $4.3B in residential and commercial development including 8,300 residential units, 1,100 hotel rooms, and 3,600 parking spaces was either planned, underway, or completed within the East Village area. Likewise, Denver has seen its "LoDo" area grow in much the same way once the Rockies moved off the location off I-25 on the fringes of the downtown area and become a vital part of the downtown entertainment for Denver-area citizens. Between 1993 and 1996, Denver witnessed the number of restaurants in the area increase by 140 percent and approximately 3,000 new housing units were developed between 1995 and 2002. An additional 5,700 residential housing units were planned and the 0.1 percent sales tax that was implemented to help pay off the 20-year bonds that paid for the stadium generated enough money that the bonds were paid off in under ten years. The construction of Tropicana Field alone was proof that the "build it and they will come" model alone is not enough to draw baseball fans into the park on a nightly basis. If anything, it is proof that parks need to be close to population centers or methods of transportation in order to be successful. The ABC Coalition published data in its study in early 2010 using data from the 2000 Census from other similar sized markets as well as different areas of Pinellas County. The data that compared Tampa Bay to other similar baseball communities was rather startling. The study found that as of 2000, just 19 percent of the area's population lived within a thirty minute drive of Tropicana Field. That 30 minute drive assumes a regular volume of traffic and not the utopia that exists on area roads at 3:30 in the morning when one can make it from Tropicana Field to Ybor City with ease. To further the visualization of what this looks like, staff writer Jason Hanselman constructed this image that shows the land areas that fall within five and ten miles of Tropicana Field. Nearly half of the population within a five mile radius breathes through gills while most of population within ten miles of Tropicana Field does the same. Much was made of how many fans attended the three games in Milwaukee earlier this week when the Rays played there but the 2000 census data shows how unfair that kind of comparison is. Despite the fact the Milwaukee population is much smaller, nearly four times more people live within 30 minutes of Miller Park. However, if we put a stadium in the proposed spot, notice how the data changes. Again, that data represents the 2000 Census data and does not reflect the housing boom that downtown Tampa experienced this past decade which still shows an 85 percent occupancy rate as recently as last month. Shifting the stadium location to our proposed point changes the five/ten mile range factor to this: The map now included much more landmass than the current location allows for and gets the stadium close to major area traffic arteries such as I-75, I-275, the Crosstown Expressway, as well as US-92. This location also moves 21 miles closer to the Orlando market, which is currently the 19th largest television market in the country. Combining the sizes of the Tampa/St. Pete television market (13th) and the Orlando area market would give the area one of the eight largest television markets in the country and the kind of data necessary to get a regional sports network project up and running as franchises such as New York, Boston, and Texas currently enjoy. Admittedly, traffic in the area is already problematic during rush hour, but infrastructure changes tend to follow stadium construction in the area so we cannot assume the roads and situations that exist today will be there in our proposed five-year model. As for how the area can handle a stadium, consider the current land use, parking, and transportation factors in the area. LAND USE PARKING TRANSPORTATION OPTIONS The proposed location currently lacks parking options adjacent to the property, but offers plentiful parking options within the immediate area affords several avenues for fans to use to get to the area and move within the proposed area to get to the ballpark, even by boat for those that can afford the use of personal watercrafts or should the two sides of the bay work together to use ferries to move fans from the piers in St. Petersburg over the water to the riverfront area. The land itself is owned by the city and thus the sale price is a bit easier to negotiate. Consider that Orlando had public land after the closure of the Naval Training Center in Orlando a number of years ago and negotiated an extremely favorable sales price to a developer that built the thriving Baldwin Park community near downtown Orlando that is one of the most desirable areas in Orlando for potential residents. We are not real estate developers, city planners, or lawyers, but we are concerned fans that are worried that continual non-action on this issue will lead to the Rays ceasing to exist in the are. Some of us grew up with the Rays while others adopted the team after moving into the area or becoming disenfranchised with other teams. We are frustrated with the lack of action on this issue by all parties and wish to see the leadership in the bay area as well as Rays' ownership to work together on this for the common good of the area population. If the parties involved can come to a common understanding on where to build a stadium, then they can begin the discussions on how to pay for it and what type of stadium can be built. Coming to a consensus on a stadium location would be the first concrete action for the parties involved since the failed attempt at building the sailpark on the current site of Al Lang Field. If this, and the pending physical stadium proposal on Monday push the public discussion on this issue forward, it will have been worth the time and effort put into it as well as the critiques some are certain to express.
A coalition of angry conservative Catholics is attempting to exert pressure on church officials in New Jersey and force them to side with a teacher who was suspended from her job at Somerville, New Jersey’s Immaculata High School. According to MyCentralJersey.com, Patricia Jannuzzi was placed on administrative leave after she posted a string of inflammatory, anti-LGBT comments to her personal Facebook page. The Catholic group — called the Lepanto Institute — have taken out radio attack ads against Bishop Paul Bootkoski of Metuchen, New Jersey, accusing the clergyman of siding with liberals against the teacher, who said that same-sex marriage is part of a plot to “reengineer western civ into a slow extinction.” On March 8, Jannuzzi wrote on Facebook, “We need healthy families with a mother and a father for the sake of the children and humanity!!!!!” The statement was part of a rant against same-sex marriage in which the teacher said that the LGBT “agenda” is “one minute they argue they were born this way and it is not a choice to get 14th Amendment rights equal protection…bologna…which was carved for permanent characteristics, unchangeable characteristics such as race or disability…but once they in [sic] the 14th Amendment they will argue everyone should be able to choose being they [sic] gay or lesbian lifestyle…in other words they want to reengineer western civ into a slow extinction.” A former student of Jannuzzi’s published the rant on Twitter, which went viral when it was retweeted by actress Susan Sarandon. Jannuzzi was suspended by the school on March 13. In another post, Jannuzzi asserted that “homosexual behavior is a choice…sometimes violently taught.” She wrote about one lesbian relationship, “Between this and many Egyptian men being beheaded…when will the evil stop[?]” She fretted that same-sex marriage is “weakening” the U.S. to the point that ISIS and other Islamic groups will be able to subjugate the population. “A dictatorship of non fertile marriage mandated by secular materialists making our country so weak we cannot fight the dictatorship of Militant Islam,” she lamented. “God help us!” School officials, Jannuzzi’s parish pastor and Bishop Bootkoski have all backed away from Jannuzzi’s rantings, calling them indefensible and “disturbing.” Lepanto’s ad will air during Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity’s shows on Tuesday and urge listeners to “Call Bishop Bootkoski now” and “ask him whose side he’s on: Catholics who defend our faith or Hollywood liberals who mock it.” Jannuzzi and her family have set up a fundraising page in an effort to raise $100,000, saying that the teacher has been stripped of her salary and benefits. Bootkoski said, however, that Jannuzzi is on paid administrative leave and will continue to receive her salary at least through the end of her contract with Immaculata High School in August of 2015. A spokeswoman for the bishop’s office said, “decisions for all teaching positions for the 2015-2016 academic year are made later in the spring.” She continued, “We are baffled and disappointed that there has been a website soliciting funds that is filled with misinformation.” Watch a video of the attack ad, embedded below:
Advertisement 16 September 2011—The long-promised arrival of practical quantum computers—machines that exploit the laws of quantum mechanics to solve complex problems much faster than conventional computers do—seems a step closer, thanks to two recent advances by physicists. In the first development, reported in the 2 September issue of Nature by a group led by Serge Haroche of the École Normale Supérieure and the Collège de France in Paris, the researchers created a real-time feedback mechanism for a quantum computer. Control mechanisms, such as feedback loops, are central to the operation of large conventional computers. In the second advance, reported the same week in Science by a group led by Matteo Mariantoni and John Martinis of the University of California, Santa Barbara, scientists created a quantum central processing unit (CPU) with memory. The rudimentary device is the first quantum computer based on the common von Neumann processor-memory architecture that conventional computers use. Dick Slusher, director of the Quantum Institute at the Georgia Institute of Technology, in Atlanta, and other experts unanimously praised the work of both groups. However, Slusher says that ”for quantum computing to be fault tolerant—a condition required to scale up to true applications like factoring useful coding keys—the error levels must be much lower than achieved so far.” Quantum computing is an emerging field that has witnessed considerable advances in recent years, including progress toward silicon devices. However, it has proved difficult to create a practical quantum computer that would rival the processing abilities of a conventional machine. Part of the difficulty lies in the fragility of quantum states, which break down (or ”decohere,” in the parlance of quantum mechanics) rather quickly. So far, only rudimentary quantum computers with a handful of ”qubits” (quantum bits) have been built. (In May, D-Wave Systems sold Lockheed Martin a special type of computer that relies on a ”quantum annealing” processor, but many quantum computing experts remain skeptical that it is a true quantum computer.) As they seek to create larger quantum systems, scientists have tried to incorporate some of the same systems-engineering concepts that are used in conventional computers, but the equivalent quantum systems have proved elusive—until now. ”These machines are very fragile,” says Haroche. ”The coupling to their environment causes decoherence, which destroys the quantum features required to achieve their tasks. Correcting the effects of decoherence is thus a very important aspect of quantum information. One possibility is to control the quantum machine by quantum feedback.” Yet therein lies a challenge: In the quantum world, the mere act of observing photons or atoms perturbs their motion and changes their positions and velocities—and therefore the value the qubit holds. So for quantum feedback to work, one must be able to observe the system by performing ”weak measurements,” perturbing it only minimally, and the computer must take the perturbation into account before applying the correction. Haroche and his colleagues use a small collection of atoms as a kind of quantum sensor to overcome this challenge. They pass atoms through a microwave cavity that contains the qubits as photons. The atoms obtain a detectable signal—a shift in their phase. This technique provides information about the state of the photons, but it does so by performing only a weak measurement and does not lead to a total collapse of the light’s quantum nature. Measuring changes in the final state of atoms that sequentially pass through the light field provides a signal that can be used to control the light. ”The work is a very impressive demonstration experiment showing that the many techniques developed in the systems engineering community can be translated to the quantum regime—if one is clever enough,” says Michael Biercuk, a quantum physicist at the University of Sydney, in Australia. The challenge of translating a classical system, in this case the common von Neumann processor-memory architecture, into a quantum system also motivated the second team of researchers. To build a quantum CPU and RAM, the UC Santa Barbara group used two superconducting Josephson junctions—two pieces of superconducting metal separated by a thin insulating layer—as qubits. They connected the qubits using a bus made of a superconducting microwave resonator. Each qubit also had a separate resonator that acted as RAM. With the help of microwave pulses, the qubits could influence one another’s state in a way that performed calculations, and the results could be stored in the quantum RAM. They tested their CPU by allowing it to solve a few quantum algorithms, including the equivalent of the Fourier transform. The demonstration could quickly lead to a larger-scale quantum processor based on superconducting circuits, according to the UC Santa Barbara team. The most complex algorithms performed so far have used a quantum computing system based on trapped ions, but Biercuk says the superconducting system is quickly catching up, and that’s ”extremely exciting.” While no one expects a quantum computer to rival a conventional computer in the very near future, experts were pleased with these recent developments. Raymond Laflamme, executive director of the Institute for Quantum Computing at the University of Waterloo, in Canada, said both experiments had ”very strong results,” and that they ”demonstrate an increasing amount of control of quantum processors.” About the Author Saswato R. Das, a New York City–based writer, contributes frequently to IEEE Spectrum. For one assignment, Das got the last interview with famed science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke before he died in 2008.
Okay, this was my baby going into May's Cyber City Con in San Antonio.I made this idea a few years ago when I kept seeing a theme with all the prints purchased at the big local convention. Artists kept mashing two different universes together. Crossovers that you wouldn't think would work visually, worked. I thought that if people wanted the same kind of art of their favorite fandoms, they would buy that directly from that company: Spider Man from Marvel, Batman from DC, etc.Then I asked myself, "What about your art is special enough that people would want to buy it?"The answer is complicated, and I'm still struggling with it, but I believe it starts with the inception. The idea of what you are drawing. That's the foundation, right? From there... you just build up.So okay. The idea. Those other artists have some pretty popular ideas. What's an idea that you like that's unique enough to put your own spin on it. That's when I thought to crossover the original MMPR Red Ranger and the Dinobot Grimlock. That sounded like buttloads of fun. What a team! I sketched out something quickly and started to like it. Unfortunately, I kept it untouched in my Work In Progress folder waaaaaaaay too long.(Side story: I struggle with another concept: am I not learned enough to work on a drawing to make it into a print and should I put it aside once I learn enough OR should I decide to push myself to work on that drawing no matter what. I've see things come to fruition BOTH ways. Still working on that.)Earlier this year, I began working on it. I guess the right time had come because the voice of Grimlock, Greg Berger, was going to be appearing at the inaugural Cyber City Con downtown in my hometown. I was hyped for this one. I had been logging mad hours into the Fall of Cybertron game's multiplayer. I bought the Dinobot DLC skins to rep Grimlock and Swoop when I play. That game is my baby. I play the Scientist class, the flying types of the game, ID: Seraphimon83. Come play with me!I guess the right opportunity came around. I had fun working on this. My goal was to get both Grimlock (Greg Berger) and the Red Ranger (Austin St. John) to sign it.... and I'm halfway there. I gave one copy to Mr. Berger and signed it, and he gave me a copy and signed it himself!I love what I do. This one is definitely going on my wall with a proper frame someday... once I ask Austin St. John to sign it too.TLDR:Memories! Nostalgia! Crossovers! Art adventures!
“My husband and I were just volunteering that day,” said Marla James, Sky High Holistic volunteer, as she recalls the controversial Santa Ana dispensary raid that took place on May 26, 2015. With the existing video surveillance of the police eating edibles and making abusive comments about James, a disabled activist who uses a wheelchair, during the invasion, Sky High Holistic has now filed both state and federal lawsuits against the city of Santa Ana, with James as the plaintiff. According to the LA Times, the lawsuit accuses Santa Ana police of excessive force. “They came in looking like something out of a war movie,” James said. “Just from that experience alone, I developed PTSD.” she said. The suit also claims that Santa Ana Mayor, Miguel Pulido, has taken bribes and provided favorable treatment for lottery-winning collectives. Because Sky High Holistic didn’t participate in the lottery, James explains, the Mayor retaliated against it by directing police officers to raid the collective. (The city says that Sky High and other dispensaries that were operating before last year’s lottery took place are doing so in violation of a city ban on pot clubs). What happened last May, in James’s view, was a complete and utter stomping of her constitutional rights. “I had asked [the officers] to show me a search warrant for breaking down our door and coming in with guns drawn a couple of times,” she said. “They never did.” After the police escorted everyone in the collective outside, they demanded that James sign a ticket. But when James, who is legally blind, expressed to the officer that she can’t read, a female cop allegedly responded, “Well you made it outside in your wheelchair,” and proceeded to force James to sign the ticket. “It was the first time in my entire life that I felt really handicapped,” James said. It was shortly after the cop forced James to sign the ticket that the cops went back into the collective and were caught on camera eating marijuana chocolate and making comments about wanting to kick James, who is an amputee and only mobile via wheelchair. “I’m looking forward to sharing that with the judge,” she said. Not surprisingly, the city of Santa Ana and Sky High Holistic have maintained a tumultuous relationship since the infamous raid last May. The collective was raided once more last October, for example, ultimately forcing the facility to shut down, although the dispensary is now operating again. The first evidentiary hearing in the case takes place on January 28 at the Santa Ana Courthouse.
The last thing cheese-lovers need is a health expert to justify their obsession. In their eyes, a stiff, smelly block of fromage needs no defense. Yet for the waistline conscious, more cajoling may be needed to convince them they can be eating cheese for good health. That cheese can be a dieter’s friend will come as a surprise to many. It has a reputation as a fatty, sodium-filled indulgence, and there’s no denying that it’s rich in both; just an ounce (about a slice) of cheddar cheese will run you 9 grams of fat and 180 mg of sodium. It’s also high in saturated fat and cholesterol. For a long time, these stats made cheese an automatic nutritional no-no. “We used to assess whether a food is good or bad for your health simply by looking at a label and reading some of the basic information,” says Arne Astrup, head of the department of nutrition, exercise and sports at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. (Astrup has received accepted grants from dairy foundations and companies, yet says the research he conducts is “not biased due to industry influence.”) Recent research, from Astrup and others, is showing that the thousands of molecules that make up cheese are working in ways that make the food beneficial to health. Some of these attributes are obvious but others less so. Here’s what new research pinpoints as some of the nutritional perks of cheese. TIME Health Newsletter Get the latest health and science news, plus: burning questions and expert tips. View Sample Sign Up Now It’s high in protein, calcium and hard-to-get B12. Cheese contains almost as much protein as it does fat, which the body uses to build cell structures and stay full. It also contains plenty of bone-building calcium—200 mg per ounce in cheddar cheese, or about 20% of a person’s recommended daily amount—and is one of the few foods to naturally contain vitamin D. Cheese, too, has vitamin B12, which helps red blood cells form properly and neurological function. It may help your heart. One such study (funded in part by a dairy group, which is typical with cheese research) finds that not only is cheese not bad for the heart, it may even be beneficial. A 2016 paper published in the Journal of the American Heart Association found that eating a little more than an ounce of cheese daily was linked to about a 3% lower risk of stroke. A daily serving of cheese has also been linked to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, and eating cheese moderately has been found to predict a longer life. Cheese has even been shown to lower levels of bad LDL cholesterol compared to butter. It doesn’t increase high blood pressure risk. What’s more, its high sodium content may not be so bad after all. Salty as it is, cheese wasn’t linked to hypertension in another analysis of studies. Scientists are still trying to figure out exactly how this can be. “There’s a lot of magic in the food matrix of cheese, and the other components and ingredients in cheese are far more important than the saturated fat and sodium,” says Astrup. Calcium seems to play a protective role by binding some of the fatty acids in cheese so that they can’t be digested, he says. It’s full of good bacteria. The bacteria in cheese—which is a fermented food—might also be beneficial. Some evidence suggests that eating cheese favorably changes the microbiota, the concentration of bugs in the gut, which in turn may be improving metabolism. It contains a particularly great fatty acid. Gökhan Hotamisligil, professor of genetics and metabolism at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, believes that the reason cheese can be so high in nutritional baddies without having detrimental health effects is that nutrition categories are too broad. “The general view about fat is very crude,” he says. “We say fatty acids, but there are thousands of fatty acids, and they cannot all be conducting the same biology.” In 2008, Hotamisligil and his team were searching for the most unique lipids they could find when they stumbled upon palmitoleate. “It turns out that this is really a wonderful fatty acid,” he says. It’s generated by the body in small amounts, but it’s found most abundantly in full-fat dairy products—especially cheese. Palmitoleate neutralizes the damage caused by saturated fatty acids, acts like insulin by getting excess sugar out of the blood and is anti-inflammatory, Hotamisligil says. Together, these properties can help protect against excessive lipids and type-2 diabetes, he says. This may help explain why full-fat dairy products, like cheese, haven’t been shown to be nutritional bogeymen. “From an evolutionary perspective, the survival of mammalians depended on drinking milk,” says Hotamisligil. The lipid palmitoleate might exist in order to counter the fattiness of milk so that it doesn’t cause harmful effects, he says. A study in September found that when palmitoleate was fed to mice with extremely high cholesterol and a good chance of developing cardiovascular disease, it reduced inflammation and helped prevent heart disease. More research is needed to unwrap the mysteries of cheese. But the good news for cheese-philes today is that eating it moderately seems to be just fine for most people. “Now I eat my cheese without feeling guilty,” says Hotamisligil—and so can you. Write to Mandy Oaklander at mandy.oaklander@time.com.
It's time we stood up to protect the soul of the British game I have some outstanding memories from my career playing in European competitions. Obviously there is the dramatic win in the Champions League final against Bayern Munich in 1999 and some epic contests with Juventus in the Nineties. But some of the most impressionable moments for me were as a youngster. I remember coming on at Galatasaray for 13 minutes as an 18-year-old, walking into what I would still regard as the most hostile environment I have ever played in. And then experiencing what I would call the dark arts of European football when a tunnel brawl was initiated by the police afterwards. I remember making my debut as a 17-year-old against Torpedo Moscow at home, then travelling away to Moscow as a substitute, watching Manchester United lose in a penalty shoot-out. I also recall being on the bench in the Nou Camp as Barcelona’s Hristo Stoichkov and Romario ripped through United, winning 4-0. Nicky Butt played that night and Paul Scholes came on. Tough lesson: Gary Neville watched from the sidelines as Romario and Barcelona tore Manchester United apart in 1994, but was able to learn from he experience, winning the Champions League five years later alongside brother Phil (below left) and other graduates of United's academy Looking back, I realise now how lucky I was. Firstly, I was at a club who have always valued the importance of bringing players through the youth system. Also, I was the beneficiary of some rules that at the time seemed restrictive. Then, you were only allowed to play four foreigners in European matches and, for football purposes, Scots, Irish and Welsh players counted as foreign. So in Barcelona, Peter Schmeichel sat in the stands, and maybe I would never have had those important formative experiences if it hadn’t been for those rules. European law means those limits would be impossible now. And free movement in the European Union means that the issue faced by British footballers are replicated across different industries. But I look at how our game is developing, with managers having shorter and shorter timespans to prove themselves and with more and more owners, coaches, scouts coming in from abroad, and I do think it is time that we stood up to protect the soul of the English game. I’ve always been a defender of our globalised Premier League. Foreign owners have invested huge sums to bring top stars from abroad and that has driven standards higher. Foreign coaches have brought new ideas and helped us to develop. But there has to be some balance in the equation. Frank Arnesen, who was the sporting director at Chelsea and responsible for bringing through young players between 2005-2010, was interviewed last week and said: ‘At Chelsea we had fantastic talent, we built up marvellous players, but they needed to be given a chance, and they never were. Managers in England are going out and buying players and it is difficult for them because, if they lose two or three games, they’re gone.’ No chance: Frank Arnesen argued that British talent was never given the opportunity to develop on these shores due to the influx of foreign players And though he was someone who seemed to have a preference for non-British players at youth level, there is also an essential truth in what he says. Josh McEachran is a young Englishman who came through Arnesen’s system and is now on loan at Middlesbrough. As he said this week: ‘I was playing at 17 and was progressing, but then I stalled a little bit. A lot of it was down to opportunity really. ‘There were a lot of things happening at Chelsea with managers, and when you’re a young player you need to get the trust of a manager for him to play you.’ Stalled: Josh McEachran (right) made his Champions League debut against Marseille as a 17-year-old, but has seen his progress stunted I’ve always argued that young English players should have to compete with the best talents from Europe and that the cream will rise to the top. I still think that’s true. Players like Ryan Giggs, David Beckham and Paul Scholes would have stood out in any environment. But what about players like me? Players like my brother, Phil, or Nicky Butt. No one is telling me that Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea have not had players in that bracket of talent in the past few years. I’m not even talking about the obvious talents but players with a good level of ability and a great attitude who need nurturing and a pathway to the first team so they can grow into good players who can make big contributions to the national team. Take the current Barcelona team. Leo Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta would have come through any system. But what about Pedro and Sergio Busquets? Or Gerard Pique, who was bought from Manchester United after having started at Barcelona? Then and now: Gerard Pique (left) began at Barcelona, joined Manchester United and rejoined the Catalan giants (below left) Native talent Percentage of native players at some of Europe’s top clubs this season Barcelona 68.2 per cent 22 players used, 15 Spanish Juventus 63.0 per cent 27 players used, 17 Italian Manchester United 52.0 per cent 25 players used, 13 British Bayern Munich 45.4 per cent 22 players used, 10 German Those players are only considered world class now because Pep Guardiola believed in them, took them from Barca’s feeder team and gave them games. A few years ago I would often hear how Jonny Evans wasn’t good enough to be a Manchester United player, that Tom Cleverley and Danny Welbeck weren’t going to make it. But think back to how they played against Real Madrid. That doesn’t come about overnight but is the result of a manager and club prepared to invest time in them. Of course, teams like United will always also spend millions of pounds on the best foreign players. My point is that you need both. A club without a home-grown core will ultimately lack heart. But how many clubs are willing to take that long-term view on young British players? There’s no way a manager at Chelsea can because in reality he can only focus on the next six months as he knows the sack may be coming. We will see what happens at Manchester City this summer, where Txiki Begiristain is intending to build from the academy, as he did at Barcelona. Blueprint: Txiki Begiristain (right) has been charged with rejuvenating Manchester City's academy after joining the club from Barcelona alongside chief executive Ferran Soriano Arsene Wenger may have taken risks on young players in the past but most of them have been brought in from abroad. You might be seeing a more home-grown generation coming through now in Jack Wilshere, Carl Jenkinson, Aaron Ramsey, Theo Walcott and Kieran Gibbs but that is a new development, and only Gibbs and Wilshere have been at the club since being schoolboys. Maybe Wenger has been hit hard by the departures of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri. He said recently that it would be easier to persuade a player like Wilshere, who has been at the club almost all of his life, to stay when at the age of 23 or 24 they are considering other options. The best clubs always have a core of players at the club that set the tone for the dressing room and establish standards for the long term. Usually they are home-grown or at least from the same country as the club they play for. At Chelsea, they haven’t brought through their youngsters but John Terry, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole have been vital to their stability. Think of AC Milan in the Nineties. They had superstar Dutch imports in Frank Rijkaard, Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten. But the heart of the club was Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Costacurta, Franco Baresi and Demetrio Albertini. There are exceptions, such as the Arsenal Invincibles of 2003-04, but I would argue that is not the rule. Home made: While the all-conquering AC Milan had the likes of Ruud Gullit (second left), Frank Rijkaard (Second right) and Marco van Basten (right), their success was underpinned by Italian talent such as Demetrio Albertini (left) Look at the leaders in the major leagues around Europe. Barcelona have used 22 players and 15 or 68 per cent are Spanish, Juventus have used 27 players and 63 per cent are Italian, United have used 25 players and 52 per cent are British, while Bayern Munich have used 25 players and 45.4 per cent are German. Surely the penny must be dropping that the path to long-term success requires a core of players developed within the club that provides stability? Maybe the introduction of UEFA and the Premier League’s Financial Fair Play rules will demonstrate to clubs that you cannot always be spending £35million on a player to fill a gap. The Premier League’s insistence on leaving eight slots free in 25-man squads for home-grown players is a step in the right direction because British football needs to do all it can with the law to encourage its own. The boy done good: Danny Welbeck, in action against Reading, was given the chance to climb the ranks at Old Trafford And maybe clubs will recognise that building a British core to their team is in their interest because they will see how fragile a club it can be with players who don’t have long-term ties. Maybe we are witnessing a return to clubs based on more organic values.
“Under promise and over deliver,” is what Ryan Dancey, the CEO of Goblin Works, is looking to do with his studio’s upcoming project Pathfinder Online. Last Monday Ryan joined me for a live interview on our MMORPG.com stream channel to tell us more about Pathfinder Online. advertisement advertisement For those of you not familiar with Pathfinder, it is a pen and paper RPG under the Open Game License. It is essentially a derivative of third edition D&D. Pathfinder Online was a Kickstarter initiative by Goblin Works to make a sandbox MMO based upon the Pathfinder IP. It was successfully funded once for a tech demo and then a second time to actually make the game. It was one of the first successful Kickstarters that eclipsed 1 million USD. Since then we have seen the successful Kickstarters for other MMOs such as Camelot Unchained and Shroud of the Avatar. The following is some of the questions Ryan answered during the interview. Ryan’s answers have been modified for brevity but the spirit of his answers has been unaltered. If you like what you read, I highly encourage you to watch or just listen to the interview in its entirety for in depth answers to some pointed questions. MMORPG: Goblin Work’s most recent blog post had a breakout of how much money you have spent developing the game and where the money has gone. This is not information that a developer normally shares with the fans of its games. What is transparency and how important is it to you? Ryan Dancey: We have a unique circumstance having raised so much money on Kickstarter. We provide them (the backers) with information as we would provide a stakeholder. Transparency helps hold us accountable. This helps us make good decisions. It helps us keep ourselves honest. MMORPG: Where are you at in the development in the game? Ryan Dancey: When we finished the Kickstarter we figured we had about 18 months before we got to the minimal viable product. At that point players will be able to make a character and run around and fight monsters and collect resources. The most basic features will be available. We divided our timeline into 7 quarters. We are 4 quarters of the way through that. We finished our 4th quarter milestone the second week of January. We are currently in Q5. This is really an important milestone. At the end of Q4 we have enough of the tool systems built and now we are starting to make more informed decisions on what we can have done before we begin early enrollment. Q5 will be done in March and will take us into the alpha test. During the alpha test we will concentrate on the fundamental parts of the game and ensure they are working as intended. So the client and the server should interact accordingly. We will make sure the game systems work as intended. We will work on art asset integration. Q6 milestone will take us up to early enrollment. By the end of Q5 we should have a 90% confidence that the things we will be working on in Q6 will be the things we have in early enrollment. This will help shape the communities expectations of what will be available for early enrollment. Q7 Milestone will be largely in response to feedback from Q6 and early enrollment. This is a very non-traditional way of releasing an MMO. This is not a finished product. This is not what you will pay 60 bucks for in a box in the store. This is a unique opportunity for a person to see how we make an MMO and participate. This is called crowd forging. The trade-off is that you start off with game with a minimal set of features. The upside is that you will have a greater impact on the way the game gets developed. We are not trying to get a million people to play pathfinder online the month it releases. We are going to be very happy if we have a few thousand people playing it. We have a lot of expectation management to work on. MMORPG: Speaking of managing expectations, Pathfinder is a Pen and Paper game and won’t translate to a MMO 1 for 1. What kind of changes have you had to make to the core rule set of Pathfinder to make the game possible as a MMO? Ryan Dancey: Pathfinder Online is a super-set of the types of characters you would play on the tabletop game. In the pen and paper game you get to play the adventuring characters. In pathfinder online you’ll get to play those and crafters. We will have interactions in the game that you won’t have in the pen and paper game. For people that are interested in the heroic adventuring mode there are things that will not translate into the online game. The biggest difference is the pen and paper game is not time bound. There is no relationship between real time and game time. You can look up obscure rules, plot strategy, argue with the game master, or go have a piece of paper. Mechanics in the online game have to deal with players making choices that are mechanically interesting and relatively simple to make decisions about. Players get all the information they need in a relatively well packaged experience in near real time. Combat in a table top game might take 4 hours to play. In the online game that same session will take 2 minutes. There are big things that have to be changed. There are also some licensing issues that prevent some Pathfinder things from being used verbatim but the things you are familiar with in the table top should be intuitive in the game. We have to make a game that is meaningfully Pathfinder without being a direct copy. MMORPG: What’s behind the hex and why is it important? Ryan Dancey: One of the design objectives is that we wanted to have a single server that is a seamless world. We want to have as many people as possible in a shared world. We want to have one really big world. In making that design goal work we have to create a huge amount of territory. In a more traditional MMO you would have zones that were carefully crafted and replicated across all the servers. Early on in the development we came up with the idea of thinking logically about the games territory as if it was hexes in an old fashioned map. We could then figure out how much it would cost us to make a single hex and then estimate out how much it would cost us to make a bunch of hexes. We also don’t have to make them all at the start. We can add more hexes over time as the game grows.
A staff member of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee said the panel has been receiving "dozens and dozens" of calls from current and former employees and customers reporting supposedly suspicious equipment behavior, chiefly involving Huawei. "I don't think the companies should expect our attention to stop," the staff member said, adding that the panel would follow up on new leads. In a report issued on Monday after an 11-month investigation, the House committee warned US industry that Beijing could use equipment made by the two companies to spy on certain communications and threaten vital systems through computerized links. It urged network providers to seek other vendors. The report also advised officials to to block any future business tie-ups involving Huawei or ZTE and US companies. Huawei, the world's second-largest maker of routers and other telecom gear, and ZTE, the fifth-largest, both rejected the allegations. China's Commerce Ministry said the US committee had "made groundless accusations against China." Adding to Huawei's problems, Canada indicated on Tuesday that it would exclude Huawei from firms allowed to build a secure Canadian government communications network, citing possible security risks. In March, Australia barred Huawei from seeking contracts for the country's National Broadband Network due to cyber security concerns. By contrast, the European Commission has delayed a trade case against the two Chinese telecom equipment makers, easing tensions between the European Union and its second-biggest trading partner. The US panel's 52-page report did not present concrete evidence that the companies' equipment had been used for espionage, but a classified annex provides "significantly more information adding to the committee's concerns," it said. Current and former US intelligence officials said Huawei and ZTE, both based in Shenzhen in southern China, pose potential national security threats, but there did not appear to be a consensus about whether security breaches involving their equipment had been confirmed. One former US official said there were "smoking guns" that justified suspicions about Huawei, noting that the defense industry was a primary target. Another former senior US intelligence official said the threat of illegal eavesdropping may be more theoretical than actual. On Monday, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers referred to alleged instances of "beaconing" of information to China, though he did not name any specific users of Huawei's equipment that had been affected. In Britain, the Chinese firm's gear sits at the core of BT's national phone network and is being used to build 4G mobile broadband networks.
jQuery Distance Calculator Plugin makes it easy to calculate distance between 2 or more addresses with the help of Google Maps API. Good thing is, you can also add as many addresses as You want to calculate the distance of a whole route. The distance values you get are in Miles. You can also change it to get as Kilometers. This plugin acts as a helper code for Google Map’s Direction Services API so that you don’t have to struggle understanding the API code. Just like any standard jQuery plugins, this plugin is very easy to integrate. All you need is the Source and Destination addresses. Below are the steps to integrate this plugin : Step-1 : Include required JS files in your <head> tag. Do not include jQuery if you already have included. Also please note that Google Maps API is also included. <script src="//code.jquery.com/jquery-1.11.3.min.js"></script> <script src="//code.jquery.com/jquery-migrate-1.2.1.min.js"></script> <script src="https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js?sensor=false" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="jquery.distancecalculator.js"></script> 1 2 3 4 5 <script src = "//code.jquery.com/jquery-1.11.3.min.js" > </script> <script src = "//code.jquery.com/jquery-migrate-1.2.1.min.js" > </script> <script src = "https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js?sensor=false" type = "text/javascript" > </script> <script src = "jquery.distancecalculator.js" > </script> Step-2: Create a result container if You want to display the distance value. <div id="result"></div> 1 <div id = "result" > </div> or Step-2: Create a input textbox element if You want to store the distance value in it. <input type="textbox" id="result" value="" /> 1 <input type = "textbox" id = "result" value = "" /> Step-3: Add a Button on which we will write a “click” event and in that event we will get the total distance value. <button type="button" id="calculate">Calculate</button> 1 <button type = "button" id = "calculate" > Calculate </button> Step-4: Apply the Plugin code to the element You created. Put this code before closing </head> tag or before closing </body> tag depending on where You have included Your javascripts on your website. <script type="text/javascript"> $(document).ready(function() { $("#calculate").click(function(event) { event.preventDefault(); $("#result").distancecalculator({ start_address: "Amalsad", end_address: "Surat", waypoints: ['Navsari, Gujarat, India', 'Sachin, Gujarat, India', 'Bhestan, Gujarat, India'], units: "mile", travel_mode: "DRIVING", }); }); }); </script> 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 <script type = "text/javascript" > $ ( document ) . ready ( function ( ) { $ ( "#calculate" ) . click ( function ( event ) { event . preventDefault ( ) ; $ ( "#result" ) . distancecalculator ( { start_address : "Amalsad" , end_address : "Surat" , waypoints : [ 'Navsari, Gujarat, India' , 'Sachin, Gujarat, India' , 'Bhestan, Gujarat, India' ] , units : "mile" , travel_mode : "DRIVING" , } ) ; } ) ; } ) ; </script> Here “#result” is the container element where the distance needs to be displayed or the textbox element in which the distance value needs to be stored. Below are the list of options supported by this plugin : start_address – the address from where the journey starts end_address – the address to where the journey ends waypoints – the addresses which comes in the journey between start_address and end_address units – the units in which you want the distance value. Supported units : mile (default), kilometer travel_mode – in which travel mode the journey is going to be. This is based on the travel modes provided by Google Maps Api. Supported travel modes : DRIVING (default), BICYCLING, TRANSIT, WALKING result_container_type – this defines whether you want to store the result into a “div” container or into the textbox as value. Supported container types : container (default), textbox This plugin has been fully tested on all latest browsers. View Demo \| Download Feel free to leave your comments and suggestions on github.
A year ago, Javier Pastore was a forgotten player. The Argentine was a nonexistent part of Laurent Blanc’s preferred 4-3-3 formation, and the winter arrival of Yohan Cabaye into a midfield already packed with talent seemed to spell the end of El Flaco‘s time with Paris Saint-Germain. And yet, a year after the worst season of his career, Pastore has almost inexplicably turned things around. After going three-years without an international cap (2011-2014), Pastore has now started every game for Argentina at the Copa America and is thriving as the team’s central playmaker. Where previously Lionel Messi found the creative burden on his shoulders, Pastore has slotted in beautifully, making Argentina finally capable of exploiting the space created by the Barcelona maestro. [gfycat data_id=”RedFewAcouchi”] First unearthed as an international talent by Diego Maradona and then frozen out of the team by former Argentina manager Alejandro Sabella, Pastore’s present international success is a first for him, but it comes as expected after a coming-of-age at club level. PSG are coming off an unprecedented domestic quadruple, the most successful season in French history, and much of that is thanks to El Flaco’s creativity in midfield. Sitting just behind Lucas Moura and Ezequiel Lavezzi in the goalscorer list and comfortably atop the assist charts, Pastore has secured his place in PSG’s first team. Whether deployed in midfield or on the wing, Pastore drifts just behind the attackers into his natural #10 position. Recording two assists on the opening day of the Ligue 1 season, the team’s confidence in Pastore grew as the season progressed. His creativity in the midfield was a godsend in league play, particularly against physical teams, where he was frequently sought out as the main option. His defense-splitting passes solved many of his team’s problems breaking down compact defenses. [gfycat data_id=”OfficialSoggyKestrel”] And it has not gone unnoticed. Shortlisted for Player of the Season, in the Ligue 1 best XI, and now plying his trade under Argentina manager Tata Martino at the Copa America, Pastore’s full career 360 has earned him a pay raise, a contract extension, and the admiration of the Parc. He’s a joy to watch, and as Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s time comes to an end, Qatar Sports Investments’ first star has the opportunity to become a legend for the club.
Spending almost £40m on him smacks of real desperation to make a big signing. It’s as if they said, ‘The season is slipping away. We must show our fans that we mean business’. But I don’t understand it. For one thing, he plays in Wayne Rooney’s position. To me that just suggests Rooney is leaving in the summer. I suppose if that happens this becomes a good signing because United will have a ready-made replacement bedded in. But until then the jury’s out. I think he’s a great player, but he’s not what United need at all. They are crying out for a world-class central midfielder who is going to dictate and run a game – and they have bought a luxury player instead. There is a reason Mata is not playing for Chelsea. Jose Mourinho doesn’t think he plays quick enough or does enough hard work. It’s almost as if Jose is sending United a message – and it’s quite a disrespectful one if you ask me. ‘The Special One’ is saying, ‘We’re not worried about you. You are not a threat to us’. And at the same time, he’s saying to Mata, ‘Go then. You can’t hurt me there’. Look at it this way. Chelsea can afford to sell to Manchester United, but Manchester United can’t afford sell to Chelsea. That shows how big the gulf between them has become. This is the biggest transfer since Mesut Ozil went to Arsenal, but the similarities end there. Ozil suited Arsenal. He could step in and play straight away in his best position. He fits there. With Mata, I just don’t see it. It’s more like when Manchester City paid big money for James Milner and then thought, ‘Hang on, where are we actually going to play him?’ Mata can’t play on the wing in a four-man midfield – he doesn’t track back and do enough defensively for that role. You could push Rooney out wide and play Mata behind Robin van Persie in a 4-4-1-1. But Rooney doesn’t want to play there. If United get a world-class midfielder in this window, they could change their shape to accommodate Mata and play a 4-3-3. But then Adnan Januzaj has to sit out – and he’s been their best player. I just think it causes them a problem.

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