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Ashley Cole is aware of the skepticism surrounding his move to the LA Galaxy. As a 35-year-old who hasn't logged a competitive match since March and once compared playing in MLS to relaxing on the beach, he comes to the league with his fair share of doubters.
With the Galaxy confirming the signing of Cole on Wednesday, the former England left back has addressed the perception that he's headed to MLS to coast through his career's final chapter.
"Hopefully the LA fans will warm up to me," Cole told LAGalaxy.com. "I know that it won't be easy at the start, of course, but if I can just prove to them that I'm not here for a holiday, I'm here to work, I'm here to win things.
"I know that I’m 35, I’m not 21 anymore, so I have to understand that my body is not how it was years ago. I stay fit as much I can. I train as hard as I can, and I hope that I can bring trophies to the team. I hope to do that. In terms of proving people wrong, I've done that my entire career. I've always wanted to prove to people that I can play."
Cole, who joined the Galaxy after parting ways with Serie A side Roma, said in July 2014 that he turned down offers from MLS because he was "not ready to relax on a beach yet." Now he joins a Galaxy team poised to rely on him as an integral part of a revamped defensive unit, which also has added Belgian defender Jelle Van Damme and goalkeeper Dan Kennedy.
"I know that I have a lot to prove. I know that people have doubts about me because of my age and because I haven't played in a long time," Cole said. "It's a motivation and it drives me to prove people wrong, and to remind myself that I can still play at a top level." |
CU Boulder has joined forces with universities and space agencies from around the world in an international effort to design and build small satellites as a way to train future scientists and engineers.
The project, known as the International Satellite Program in Research and Education (INSPIRE), so far involves seven nations— the U.S., France, Taiwan, Japan, India, Singapore and Oman—says Project Manager Amal Chandran of CU Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP), who is leading the effort.
The aim of INSPIRE is to establish a long-term academic program for developing a constellation of small satellites and a global network of ground stations, Chandran explains.
“We are training students to build flight hardware, conduct mission operations and analyze scientific data,” he says. “We see INSPIRE as a path for science and engineering students at participating institutions across the world to earn PhDs while working on multi-year space missions.”
INSPIRE partners include the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology and the Indian Space Research Organization, National Central University and the National Space Organization in Taiwan, the University of Versailles in France, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, Sultan Qaboos University in Oman and the Kyushu Institute of Technology in Japan.
The INSPIRE leadership also is developing a three-year course curriculum on spacecraft design and space systems engineering, as well as a Master of Science degree in space technology, sciences, entrepreneurship, policy and law, Chandran says.
A recent INSPIRE meeting at LASP followed the kickoff meeting held last year in Taiwan, which resulted in a project to design and build a small “CubeSat” satellite to study the ionosphere—an electrically charged region in the upper atmosphere that can influence space weather.
The satellite and instrument consist of a series of three connected, cube-shaped objects—each about the size of a Rubik’s Cube and which together weigh about 8 pounds—built jointly by LASP, the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology and the National Central University in Taiwan. The instrument is slated to launch as a secondary payload on an Indian Space Research Organization launch vehicle in 2019. LASP is building the spacecraft to house the instrument package.
The INSPIRE project has received continuing support from LASP Director Daniel Baker and LASP Senior Advisor Mike McGrath, says Chandran.
CU Boulder’s LASP is an internationally known space research facility that has designed and built instruments that have visited every planet in the solar system, controls four NASA satellites from campus, and has designed and built multi-million-dollar instrument suites for a number of NASA missions. |
“The state of the plant is still quite precarious,” Mr. Kan said. “We’re working hard to make sure it doesn’t get worse. We have to ensure there’s no further deterioration.”
In a new sign of the contamination problem, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said Saturday a sample of seawater taken Friday from a monitoring station at the plant showed the level of iodine 131 at 50 becquerels per cubic centimeter — 1,250 times the legal limit.
Drinking a half liter of that water would be equivalent to getting a 1 millisievert dose, the agency said, roughly the amount a person gets in one year from natural sources.
Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy-director general at the safety agency, said that he expected the iodine to dilute rapidly, minimizing the effect on wildlife, and pointed out that fishing had been suspended in the area after the quake and tsunami.
Photo
One sign of possible deterioration in the plant itself came at Reactor No. 3. Workers who were trying to connect an electrical cable to a pump in a turbine building next to the reactor were injured when they stepped into water that was found to be significantly more radioactive than normal. On Friday, officials and experts offered conflicting explanations of what had gone wrong — but all pointed to greater damage to the reactor’s systems and more contamination there than officials had indicated earlier.
Two workers were exposed to radiation and burned when water poured over their boots and down around their feet and ankles, officials said. A third worker was wearing higher boots and did not suffer the same exposure.
Like the injured workers, many of those risking their lives are subcontractors of Tokyo Electric Power, who are paid a small daily wage for hours of work in dangerous conditions. In some cases they are poorly equipped and trained for their task.
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On Saturday, workers were focused on trying to restore the lighting to Reactor No. 2’s central control room, an important step toward restoring the unit’s cooling system. They were also preparing to pump fresh water on the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 units, after days of spraying with saltwater.
The National Institute of Radiological Sciences said that the radioactivity of the water that the three injured workers had stepped into was 10,000 times the level normally seen in coolant water at the plant. It said that the amount of radiation the workers were thought to have been exposed to in the water was two to six sieverts.
Even two sieverts is eight times the new 250-millisievert annual exposure limit set for workers at Daiichi in the days after the disaster; the previous limit was 100. Tokyo Electric officials said that water with an equally high radiation level had been found in the Reactor No. 1 building, The Associated Press reported.
Skin exposures of two to six sieverts will cause severe burns, according to Dr. David J. Brenner, director of the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia University . But if those doses reach the whole body and not just the skin “you’re at a very high risk of dying,” he said.
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At a dose of four sieverts, half of the people exposed will die, Dr. Brenner said. But he said that from the information that had been provided, it was not clear whether the dose to the workers reached their skin only, or penetrated their bodies.
Concerns about Reactor No. 3 have surfaced before. Japanese officials said nine days ago that the reactor vessel might have been damaged.
Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy director general of the Japan Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, mentioned damage to the reactor vessel on Friday as a possible explanation of how water in the adjacent containment building had become so radioactive.
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Michael Friedlander, a former nuclear power plant operator in the United States , said that the presence of radioactive cobalt and molybdenum in water samples taken from the basement of the turbine building raised the possibility of corrosion as a cause.
Both materials typically occur not because of fission, but because of routine corrosion in a reactor and its associated piping over the course of many years of use, he said.
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The aggressive use of salt water to cool the reactor and its storage pool for spent fuel may mean that more of these highly radioactive corrosion materials will be dislodged and contaminate the area in the days to come, posing further hazards to repair workers, Mr. Friedlander added.
The contamination of the water in the basement of the turbine building poses a real challenge for efforts to bring crucial cooling pumps and other equipment back into use.
One other major worry about Reactor No. 3 is the mox, or mixed oxide, fuel it uses. It is an especially dangerous blend of reprocessed fuel and can be more radioactive when melted than the pure uranium fuel used in other reactors, experts say.
The news on Friday and the discovery this week of a radioactive isotope in the water supplies of Tokyo and neighboring prefectures punctured the mood of optimism with which the week began, leaving a sense that the battle to fix the damaged plant will be a long one.
No one is being ordered to evacuate the second zone around the plant, officials said, and people may choose to remain, but many have already left of their own accord, tiring of the anxiety and tedium of remaining cooped up as the nuclear crisis simmers just a few miles away. Many are said to be virtual prisoners, with no access to shopping and immobilized by a lack of gasoline.
“What we’ve been finding is that in that area life has become quite difficult,” Noriyuki Shikata, deputy cabinet secretary for Mr. Kan, said in a telephone interview. “People don’t want to go into the zone to make deliveries.”
Mr. Shikata said the question of where those who chose to leave would go was still under consideration. The effort to move people comes at a time when there are already hundreds of thousands of Japanese displaced by the quake and tsunami.
The National Police Agency said Friday that the official death toll from the March 11 quake and tsunami had passed 10,000, with nearly 17,500 listed as missing.
There was some good news. Levels of the radioactive isotope found in Tokyo’s water supply fell Friday for a second day, officials said, dropping to 51 becquerels per liter, well below the country’s stringent maximum for infants. |
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Email You are free to share this article under the Attribution 4.0 International license. University Monash University
Treating human health and society as part of an ecosystem could help us overcome problems like the antibiotic crisis and the obesity epidemic, according to new research.
The living world is by nature a collaborative enterprise rather than a competitive one, says Professor Mark Wahlqvist of Monash University.
“It is unhelpful to look at ourselves as discrete species as the interconnectedness of all things, animate and inanimate, becomes more apparent,” he says.
In research published in the Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Wahlqvist says awareness is growing of the ecosystem-dependent nature of human health.
“The problem now faced is that ecosystems have been plundered in such an anthropocentric fashion that their sustainability is precarious and our health with it,” he says.
Calling for a re-evaluation of many ecosystems, from the home, school, and work-place to health care, communication, transport, and recreation, Wahlqvist says we had become accustomed to blaming disease and dysfunction on one factor, or a small set of factors.
Such views had contributed to the rise of medications such as antibiotics, as well as their probable imminent failure.
“We confront multiple-resistant microorganisms in farm animals and ourselves that no currently available antibiotic can eradicate, not least because of their misuse as growth promotants in livestock for human consumption,” he says.
“Better ecosystem management is likely to be one of the few solutions available to this crisis.”
Wahlqvist also says more integrative approaches to health-care practice were required.
He addresses seemingly simple measures, such as eating a varied and home-cooked diet that is largely derived from plants; walking 30 to 40 minutes a day; keeping a garden; and ensuring access to a natural environment.
These efforts can go a long way towards ensuring general human health and longevity plus environmental sustainability.
“A sense of ourselves as ecological creatures is needed, planning as families and communities to reduce environmental pressure, and maintain and renew ecosystems,” he says.
“A whole global movement is needed to provide hope for future generations.”
Source: Monash University |
Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint.(Photo By Chris Maddaloni/CQ-Roll Call)
In what was almost certainly an unprecedented press call, top fiscal conservatives from Americans for Tax Reform, the Cato Institute, the Kemp Foundation and the American Action Network took what had once been the premier conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation, to the woodshed for its immigration report that sees trillions in cost and no benefits from immigration reform.
With a more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger tone, Josh Culling of ATR said that while Heritage was a “treasured ally,” its work was a rehash of a flawed 2007 study that ignored all the benefits of immigration reform. Cato’s Alex Nowrasteh was even more outspoken saying “how disappointed” he was that Heritage abandoned conservative dynamic scoring (i.e. the impact a piece of legislation’s impact on the economy). He accused Heritage of not following years of their own work, which has striven to look at the impact on behavior of changes resulting from reforming the tax code and other innovations. “They ignored GDP, they ignored productivity,” he said in reeling off the list of items in the Gang of 8 legislation left out of Heritage. Cato’s study, which did use dynamic scoring, found that immigration reform would add $1.5 trillion in growth over ten years while forcing out 11 million immigrants (the Heritage solution) would lower GDP by $2.6 trillion over ten years.
The prize for candor, though, went to American Action Forum’s Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who stated flatly, “It really misleads.” Without dynamic scoring, H1-B visas, a guest worker program, and the other economic pluses from immigration reform and with a load of ludicrous assumptions (e.g. everyone would qualify for government benefits and take them) Heritage, he said, “gets a really big number.” He continued in describing the Heritage view of immigrants, “There is no American dream. They start in poverty. They end in poverty. Their kids are in poverty.”
Most compelling was Jimmy Kemp, son of the late congressman Jack Kemp, who (in a gravelly voice that sounded a little like his dad’s) was damning. “My dad was a significant supporter of immigration reform.” Objecting strenuously to the idea that immigration reform weakens the economy by adding workers, he exclaimed, “People are not a drain on society.” Saying it was “surprising they took a static approach,” he said bluntly, “You can’t lead from a place of fear.”
Why are these conservative heavyweights so exercised? It is not merely about immigration. Mario Lopez from the Hispanic Leadership Fund said, “There is a reason why dynamic scoring is important. In a word, it’s capitalism.” Citing former Heritage chief Ed Feulner and Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman he bemoaned Heritage for setting a bad precedent and succumbing to a view that more people mean only costs, poverty, government benefits and higher unemployment.
In response to my question as to whether Heritage’s rejection of dynamic scoring would hurt the conservative movement over the long haul, Cullings said, “It’s a concern. Heritage ceded the superiority of dynamic scoring. CBO is basically to the right of Heritage. It is a worry.”
Interestingly, none of the callers had heard directly from Heritage after “pre-rebuttals” warning against its false methodology. Holtz- Eakin said bluntly, “[Heritage Foundation President Jim] DeMint communicates with me through press conferences.”
And that really is the rub of it. These are longtime allies of Heritage and promoters of free market capitalism who are witnessing the intellectual bastardization of a once great institution to adopt a cause that is inherently unconservative, namely opposition to immigration. (As Lopez said, if shrinking population was the answer, Japan and Europe would be in hog heaven, not economic decline.) Fiscal, pro-growth conservatives are concerned (as they should be) that the movement may turn reactionary, rejecting not just dynamic scoring but faith in a dynamic economy and society.
As an aside, the American Enterprise Institute, which did not take part in the call, has also put out a critical analysis, saying Heritage missed the boat: “The problem here is not offering legal status to a population that largely has been working hard, paying taxes, and contributing to the economy. The problem is the growth of government programs, the perverse incentive effects that those programs create, and the failures of our education system.”
However the debate turns out, one hopes that real scholars at Heritage and its supporters reject the slovenly work in the Heritage report and reaffirm the conservative message that more workers create more wealth, higher incomes and upward mobility. For if they do not, then virtually all their criticism of the Obama administration has been wrong and free markets (for labor and goods) are a cruel farce.
UPDATE: And now even the author of Heritage’s 2006 study is stepping forward to bash the report released today. ” Unless they expect readers to believe all this household income (a) generates no productive work (e.g., makes product, mows lawns, nurses the sick, and starts businesses that hire other Americans) and (b) is 100% remitted abroad, consuming nothing in the U.S. macro economy, then the report is misleading.” Like the other fiscal conservatives today, he argues, “The net effect of this Special Report does real damage to the cause of dynamic analysis. For more than a decade, Heritage has called on CBO to add dynamic analysis to its tax reform studies.” |
People mislead themselves all day long. We tell ourselves we’re smarter and better looking than our friends, that our political party can do no wrong, that we’re too busy to help a colleague. In 1976, in the foreword to Richard Dawkins’s The Selfish Gene, the biologist Robert Trivers floated a novel explanation for such self-serving biases: We dupe ourselves in order to deceive others, creating social advantage. Now after four decades Trivers and his colleagues have published the first research supporting his idea.
Psychologists have identified several ways of fooling ourselves: biased information-gathering, biased reasoning and biased recollections. The new work, forthcoming in the Journal of Economic Psychology, focuses on the first—the way we seek information that supports what we want to believe and avoid that which does not.
In one experiment Trivers and his team asked 306 online participants to write a persuasive speech about a fictional man named Mark. They were told they would receive a bonus depending on how effective it was. Some were told to present Mark as likable, others were instructed to depict him as unlikable, the remaining subjects were directed to convey whatever impression they formed. To gather information about Mark, the participants watched a series of short videos, which they could stop observing at any intermission. For some viewers, most of the early videos presented Mark in a good light (recycling, returning a wallet), and they grew gradually darker (catcalling, punching a friend). For others, the videos went from dark to light.
When incentivized to present Mark as likable, people who watched the likable videos first stopped watching sooner than those who saw unlikable videos first. The former did not wait for a complete picture as long as they got the information they needed to convince themselves, and others, of Mark’s goodness. In turn, their own opinions about Mark were more positive, which led their essays about his good nature to be more convincing, as rated by other participants. (A complementary process occurred for those paid to present Mark as bad.) “What’s so interesting is that we seem to intuitively understand that if we can get ourselves to believe something first, we’ll be more effective at getting others to believe it,” says William von Hippel, a psychologist at The University of Queensland, who co-authored the study. “So we process information in a biased fashion, we convince ourselves, and we convince others. The beauty is, those are the steps Trivers outlined—and they all lined up in one study.”
In real life you are not being paid to talk about Mark but you may be selling a used car or debating a tax policy or arguing for a promotion—cases in which you benefit not from gaining and presenting an accurate picture of reality but from convincing someone of a particular point of view.
One of the most common types of self-deception is self-enhancement. Psychologists have traditionally argued we evolved to overestimate our good qualities because it makes us feel good. But feeling good on its own has no bearing on survival or reproduction. Another assertion is self-enhancement boosts motivation, leading to greater accomplishment. But if motivation were the goal, then we would have just evolved to be more motivated, without the costs of reality distortion.
Trivers argues that a glowing self-view makes others see us in the same light, leading to mating and cooperative opportunities. Supporting this argument, Cameron Anderson, a psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley, showed in 2012 that overconfident people are seen as more competent and have higher social status. “I believe there is a good possibility that self-deception evolved for the purpose of other-deception,” Anderson says.
In another study, forthcoming in Social Psychological and Personality Science, von Hippel and collaborators tested all three arguments together, in a longitudinal fashion. Does overconfidence in one’s self increase mental health? Motivation? Popularity?
Tracking almost 1,000 Australian high school boys for two years, the researchers found that over time, overconfidence about one’s athleticism and intelligence predicted neither better mental health nor better athletic or academic performance. Yet athletic overconfidence did predict greater popularity over time, supporting the idea that self-deception begets social advantage. (Intellectual self-enhancement may not have boosted popularity, the authors suggest, because among the teenage boys, smarts may have mattered less than sports.)
Why did it take so long for experimental evidence for Trivers’ idea to emerge? In part, he says, because he is a theorist and did not test it until he met von Hippel. Other experimental psychologists didn’t test it because the theory was not well known in psychology, von Hippel and Anderson say. Further, they suggest, most psychologists saw self-esteem or motivation as reason enough for self-enhancement to evolve.
Hugo Mercier, a researcher at the Institute for Cognitive Sciences in France who was not involved in the new studies, is familiar with the theory but questions it. He believes that in the long run overconfidence may backfire. He and others also debate whether motivated biases can strictly be called self-deception. “The whole concept is misleading,” he says. It’s not as though there is one part of us deliberately fooling another part of us that is the “self.” Trivers, von Hippel and Anderson of course disagree with Mercier on self-deception’s functionality and terminology.
Von Hippel offers two pieces of wisdom regarding self-deception: “My Machiavellian advice is this is a tool that works,” he says. “If you need to convince somebody of something, if your career or social success depends on persuasion, then the first person who needs to be [convinced] is yourself.” On the defensive side, he says, whenever anyone tries to convince you of something, think about what might be motivating that person. Even if he is not lying to you, he may be deceiving both you and himself. |
outscar Profile Joined September 2014 1495 Posts Last Edited: 2018-04-09 00:17:30 #1
by outscar
(for both campaigns) (2.2GB)
(1GB) Download for SC/BW Multiplayer Only (works with iCCup) (500mb) Download Single + Multiplayer (for both campaigns) (2.2GB) Download original WAV files (for playing on your own) (1GB)
+ Show Spoiler [Instructions] + Instructions:
1. Backup the existing MPQ files in your starcraft folder to somewhere else (Broodat.mpq, StarCraft.mpq, StarDat.mpq).
2. Extract the 3 new MPQ files into your starcraft folder.
3. Turn on your subwoofer or wear your best headphones! Time to kick some ass with remastered tracks!
Hell, it's about time!
Merry Christmas SCBW community! This is my present for fans and an event for celebratating 17 year anniversary of best RTS and game alive - StarCraft BroodWar. I'm announcing you the greatest edition of StarCraft: BroodWar - The Soundtrack Remastered Edition. I may call this a game patch (how about 1.17?), not a mod because I didn't change anything but only updated music. I suggest for everyone to use this version of game if they really want to enjoy listening some badass clear and improved tracks.
Blizzard made remastered BroodWar soundtracks for SC II. Who listened to them knows that they got really improved quality sounds compared to original:
Just look at this masterpiece!
I patched these tracks into game. Now you'll hear them while playing without running any music player.
I really respect composers of remastered tracks but guys who compiled them really ruined some tracks. One of terran track got screwed equalizers and some protoss tracks were with so much cracks and clicks, I discovered them by listening every second of track on full volume with high quality headphones. So I needed to fix them by expert sound program, and it wasn't really easy work because of listening every millisecond, I mean I did a lot to give you the best sounding. Now every track looks cooler than ever! Also I replaced briefing room themes with high quality musics from original StarCraft OST and cutted/added/mixed them to achieve right duration. Files are about 2 GB, because I didn't compress wav files to prevent any quality loss and SCBW reads only wav files, so you can't replace with ogg, mp3 or any other type of format (about compressing issues read below posts).
Never die BroodWar!
Cheers!
Changes list:
+ Show Spoiler +
- Title screen changed: added Remastered Soundtrack text; half of Infested Kerrigan picture modified with Human Kerrigan.
- Title music replaced with high quality music.
- Mineral & command click button sound changed with improved SC II sound (it is hard to discover the difference).
- Original Terran soundtracks replaced with remastered soundtracks.
- Original Protoss soundtracks replaced with remastered soundtracks.
- Original Zerg soundtracks replaced with remastered soundtracks.
- Expansion Terran soundtracks replaced with remastered soundtracks.
- Expansion Protoss soundtracks replaced with remastered soundtracks.
- Expansion Zerg soundtracks replaced with remastered soundtracks.
- Original briefing room music for every race replaced with high quality tracks. Hell, it's about time!Merry Christmas SCBW community! This is my present for fans and an event for celebratating 17 year anniversary of best RTS and game alive - StarCraft BroodWar. I'm announcing you the greatest edition of StarCraft: BroodWar - The Soundtrack Remastered Edition. I may call this a game patch (how about 1.17?), not a mod because I didn't change anything but only updated music. I suggest for everyone to use this version of game if they really want to enjoy listening some badass clear and improved tracks.Blizzard made remastered BroodWar soundtracks for SC II. Who listened to them knows that they got really improved quality sounds compared to original:Just look at this masterpiece!I patched these tracks into game. Now you'll hear them while playing without running any music player.I really respect composers of remastered tracks but guys who compiled them really ruined some tracks. One of terran track got screwed equalizers and some protoss tracks were with so much cracks and clicks, I discovered them by listening every second of track on full volume with high quality headphones. So I needed to fix them by expert sound program, and it wasn't really easy work because of listening every millisecond, I mean I did a lot to give you the best sounding.Also I replaced briefing room themes with high quality musics from original StarCraft OST and cutted/added/mixed them to achieve right duration. Files are about 2 GB, because I didn't compress wav files to prevent any quality loss and SCBW reads only wav files, so you can't replace with ogg, mp3 or any other type of format (about compressing issues read below posts).Never die BroodWar!Cheers!Changes list: sunbeams are never made like me...
endy Profile Blog Joined May 2009 Switzerland 8905 Posts #2 Downloading, thanks and merry Christmas! ॐ
DarkNetHunter Profile Joined October 2012 1224 Posts #3 Awesome work outscar!
Is there any chance you can upload the .wavs directly as I prefer using an external player for my music and would love to hear these though!
Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself.
GGzerG Profile Blog Joined January 2010 United States 9295 Posts #4 NICEEEE will be using this when I get home from work!! Thanks ! AKA: TelecoM[WHITE] Protoss fighting
outscar Profile Joined September 2014 1495 Posts #5 On December 21 2014 04:07 DarkNetHunter wrote:
Awesome work outscar!
Is there any chance you can upload the .wavs directly as I prefer using an external player for my music and would love to hear these though!
Sure, done!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4dhr1m6z4424a7b/SCBW_Remastered_wavs.zip?dl=0
Sure, done! sunbeams are never made like me...
muho-94 Profile Joined September 2014 23 Posts #6 Holy f*ck!
The last thing we needed was a patch and you did it!
Players will be in ecstasy!
SSL should use it if they play default musics during the match.
Awesome!!!
BUMP this!
rotta Profile Joined December 2011 5413 Posts #7 Awesome, especially the Terran tracks deserve this as they rank among the finest video game tunes in my book. don't wall off against random
outscar Profile Joined September 2014 1495 Posts Last Edited: 2014-12-20 23:45:57 #8
Title screen now looks exactly this:
Oh, I see O(S)SL thread overshadowed my thread :D. Anyways, who downloaded? What you think about this? Share your thoughts.Title screen now looks exactly this: sunbeams are never made like me...
13Julia Profile Joined November 2004 Canada 231 Posts #9 Hi, Mca64 wanted me to ask you "what's the source format and where did you get it?", please reply here if possible.
DarkNetHunter Profile Joined October 2012 1224 Posts #10 On December 21 2014 07:00 outscar wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 21 2014 04:07 DarkNetHunter wrote:
Awesome work outscar!
Is there any chance you can upload the .wavs directly as I prefer using an external player for my music and would love to hear these though!
Sure, done!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4dhr1m6z4424a7b/SCBW_Remastered_wavs.zip?dl=0
Sure, done!
Thanks dling it! , will comment on the whole work tomorrow or so
Thanks dling it! , will comment on the whole work tomorrow or so Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself.
Mutisk Profile Joined April 2013 Sweden 41 Posts #11 ... and SCBW reads only wav files, so you can't replace with ogg, mp3 or any other type of format.
It's less common knowledge, but .WAV files can contain compressed audio (at least on windows). Depending on whether the same framework is used in BW it could perhaps be possible?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_legacy_audio_components#Audio_Compression_Manager It's less common knowledge, but .WAV files can contain compressed audio (at least on windows). Depending on whether the same framework is used in BW it could perhaps be possible?
Cele Profile Blog Joined December 2008 Germany 3524 Posts #12 nice work, thx man! Broodwar for life!
xboi209 Profile Blog Joined June 2011 United States 1173 Posts #13 I haven't downloaded it myself yet but 2GB is quite huge. Have you changed the wav files from stereo to mono? http://www.reddit.com/r/broodwar/
outscar Profile Joined September 2014 1495 Posts Last Edited: 2014-12-21 05:25:48 #14 On December 21 2014 09:31 13Julia wrote:
Hi, Mca64 wanted me to ask you "what's the source format and where did you get it?", please reply here if possible.
I digged them from SCII update file, can't remember which, just opened mpq files from "Update" folder with MPQEditor and extracted "ogg" files. You can download them from there:
Then I edited them through cutting, adding, mixing, equalizing, removing clicks, cracks and etc. and saved as wav file. Then opened BW mpq files and replaced them. If he wants to add them to launcher, I suggest not using these which are in above link but mine because mine are edited. Just tell me and I will convert wav to ogg and size will be reduced.
On December 21 2014 09:49 Mutisk wrote:
It's less common knowledge, but .WAV files can contain compressed audio (at least on windows). Depending on whether the same framework is used in BW it could perhaps be possible?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_legacy_audio_components#Audio_Compression_Manager It's less common knowledge, but .WAV files can contain compressed audio (at least on windows). Depending on whether the same framework is used in BW it could perhaps be possible?
Editing is done by Sound Forge Pro 11. I didn't compressed them because there were some troubles that SC refused to play and after compress there was quality loss, even if you can discover it by listening attentively with headphones. Default old BW soundtracks use 22050 Hz that's why their size is less, but if you compress remastered tracks into this hertz they will sound really catastrophic bad! And also there is ADPCM which is modern of PCM codec by Microsoft which can compress well without lack of quality, but BW refuses to run this type of codec in game. So there is nothing you can do.
I digged them from SCII update file, can't remember which, just opened mpq files from "Update" folder with MPQEditor and extracted "ogg" files. You can download them from there: http://www.mediafire.com/download/bkz31a3knbvhcz5/BW Music.zip Then I edited them through cutting, adding, mixing, equalizing, removing clicks, cracks and etc. and saved as wav file. Then opened BW mpq files and replaced them.Editing is done by Sound Forge Pro 11. I didn't compressed them because there were some troubles that SC refused to play and after compress there was quality loss, even if you can discover it by listening attentively with headphones. Default old BW soundtracks use 22050 Hz that's why their size is less, but if you compress remastered tracks into this hertz they will sound really catastrophic bad! And also there is ADPCM which is modern of PCM codec by Microsoft which can compress well without lack of quality, but BW refuses to run this type of codec in game. So there is nothing you can do. On December 21 2014 12:34 xboi209 wrote:
I haven't downloaded it myself yet but 2GB is quite huge. Have you changed the wav files from stereo to mono?
No, it is stereo, 1411 kbps, 44100 Hz. (Also, saving with 48000 Hz makes quality loss, weird). Default old tracks were 705 kpbs, 22050 Hz, that's why default sizes are smaller.
If somebody thinks that he can compress it without quality lack - go through, do it. Just show it how to do and I'll reduce the size. And size is big because default 4 mpq weigh approx. 1GB. So +1GB are my wav files additionally. And soon will be 2015 - I don't think that 2GB should be problem for modern network. My maps folder is 10 GB lol. SCII weighs so much more than that. No, it is stereo, 1411 kbps, 44100 Hz. (Also, saving with 48000 Hz makes quality loss, weird). Default old tracks were 705 kpbs, 22050 Hz, that's why default sizes are smaller.If somebody thinks that he can compress it without quality lack - go through, do it. Just show it how to do and I'll reduce the size. And size is big because default 4 mpq weigh approx. 1GB. So +1GB are my wav files additionally. And soon will be 2015 - I don't think that 2GB should be problem for modern network. My maps folder is 10 GB lol. SCII weighs so much more than that. sunbeams are never made like me...
flashimba Profile Joined May 2011 215 Posts #15
By the way, I compared the wav files with
However, I believe the CD would have the better quality music since it hasn't been through additional edits. You can compress the wav files to FLAC without quality loss.By the way, I compared the wav files with http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/games/music/sc.html and could not tell a difference.However, I believe the CD would have the better quality music since it hasn't been through additional edits. https://bwstreams.appspot.com
outscar Profile Joined September 2014 1495 Posts Last Edited: 2014-12-22 09:08:07 #16 On December 21 2014 13:03 flashimba wrote:
You can compress the wav files to FLAC without quality loss.
By the way, I compared the wav files with
However, I believe the CD would have the better quality music since it hasn't been through additional edits. You can compress the wav files to FLAC without quality loss.By the way, I compared the wav files with http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/games/music/sc.html and could not tell a difference.However, I believe the CD would have the better quality music since it hasn't been through additional edits.
You mean to convert? FLAC is even bigger than wav, I guess. FLAC reduces size about 40%. But I wrote that game reads only wav.
This is OST CD and released at 2007. Of course it is improved if you compare with 1998 default tracks which you hear when playing without my patch. I copied from OST only title music, and briefing room themes from there, and it doesn't got expansion musics, you can't see 4th track for every race. Others were extract from SCII HOTS update. Remastering is done at 2013.
Here what it was:
You mean to convert?FLAC reduces size about 40%. But I wrote that game reads only wav.This is OST CD and released at 2007. Of course it is improved if you compare with 1998 default tracks which you hear when playing without my patch. I copied from OST only title music, and briefing room themes from there, and it doesn't got expansion musics, you can't see 4th track for every race. Others were extract from SCII HOTS update. Remastering is done at 2013.Here what it was:
And here is remastered:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWT1-ah6XZQ
If you all really want me to compress anyway, I'll do it, but not now. Now is a time to get drunk before Christmas passes :D.
EDIT:
No, I won't do it, because it is impossible to compress them without losing quality. Default old BW soundtracks use 22050 Hz that's why their size is less, but if you compress remastered tracks into this hertz they will sound really catastrophic bad! And also there is ADPCM which is modern of PCM codec by Microsoft which can compress well without lack of quality, but BW refuses to run this type of codec in game. So there is nothing you can do. And here is remastered:Now is a time to get drunk before Christmas passes :D.EDIT:No, I won't do it, because it is impossible to compress them without losing quality. Default old BW soundtracks use 22050 Hz that's why their size is less, but if you compress remastered tracks into this hertz they will sound really catastrophic bad! And also there is ADPCM which is modern of PCM codec by Microsoft which can compress well without lack of quality, but BW refuses to run this type of codec in game. So there is nothing you can do. sunbeams are never made like me...
xboi209 Profile Blog Joined June 2011 United States 1173 Posts #17 Well StarCraft doesn't support stereo sound so you can cut the file size in half by converting the sounds to mono. http://www.reddit.com/r/broodwar/
outscar Profile Joined September 2014 1495 Posts Last Edited: 2014-12-21 04:41:30 #18 On December 21 2014 13:28 xboi209 wrote:
Well StarCraft doesn't support stereo sound so you can cut the file size in half by converting the sounds to mono.
What are you talking about? I worked with every default wav file which I extracted and they were stereo in graph. And when I'm playing ingame with remastered tracks I hear exact same stereo quality which you can hear in winamp, foobar or etc. If you convert them to mono you know what will happen? Sound will turn into sh*t. That's true man. What are you talking about? I worked with everywav file which I extracted and they were stereo in graph. And when I'm playing ingame withI hear exact same stereo quality which you can hear in winamp, foobar or etc. If you convert them to mono you know what will happen? Sound will turn into sh*t. That's true man. sunbeams are never made like me...
JieXian Profile Blog Joined August 2008 Malaysia 4190 Posts Last Edited: 2014-12-21 11:08:07 #19
So the source is from sc2? They have the same tracks? I didn't know that
On December 21 2014 13:21 outscar wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 21 2014 13:03 flashimba wrote:
You can compress the wav files to FLAC without quality loss.
By the way, I compared the wav files with
However, I believe the CD would have the better quality music since it hasn't been through additional edits. You can compress the wav files to FLAC without quality loss.By the way, I compared the wav files with http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/games/music/sc.html and could not tell a difference.However, I believe the CD would have the better quality music since it hasn't been through additional edits.
You mean to convert? FLAC is even bigger than wav, I guess. And I wrote that game reads only wav.
This is OST CD and released at 2007. Of course it is improved if you compare with 1998 default tracks which you hear when playing without my patch. I copied from OST only title music, and briefing room themes from there, and it doesn't got expansion musics, you can't see 4th track for every race. Others were extract from SCII HOTS update. Remastering is done at 2013.
Here what it was:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mzfnUIdzq4
And here is remastered:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWT1-ah6XZQ
If you all really want me to compress anyway, I'll do it, but not now. Now is a time to get drunk before Christmas passes :D.
EDIT:
No, I won't do it, because it is impossible to compress them without losing quality. Default old BW soundtracks use 22050 Hz that's why their size is less, but if you compress remastered tracks into this hertz they will sound really catastrophic bad! And also there is ADPCM which is modern of PCM codec by Microsoft which can compress well without lack of quality, but BW refuses to run this type of codec in game. So there is nothing you can do. You mean to convert? FLAC is even bigger than wav, I guess. And I wrote that game reads only wav.This is OST CD and released at 2007. Of course it is improved if you compare with 1998 default tracks which you hear when playing without my patch. I copied from OST only title music, and briefing room themes from there, and it doesn't got expansion musics, you can't see 4th track for every race. Others were extract from SCII HOTS update. Remastering is done at 2013.Here what it was:And here is remastered:Now is a time to get drunk before Christmas passes :D.EDIT:No, I won't do it, because it is impossible to compress them without losing quality. Default old BW soundtracks use 22050 Hz that's why their size is less, but if you compress remastered tracks into this hertz they will sound really catastrophic bad! And also there is ADPCM which is modern of PCM codec by Microsoft which can compress well without lack of quality, but BW refuses to run this type of codec in game. So there is nothing you can do.
Just to correct you, FLAC is a lossless compression format, so of course the file size will be smaller. However, like you said, BW doesn't support it.
I don't get why people are complaining about the file sizes if they want a high quality remastered version....
If they really need to save 500MB do badly I guess compressing it to ~700kbps would still be fine right? nice! Great work! I really appreciate this.So the source is from sc2? They have the same tracks? I didn't know thatJust to correct you, FLAC is a lossless compression format, so of course the file size will be smaller. However, like you said, BW doesn't support it.I don't get why people are complaining about the file sizes if they want a high quality remastered version....If they really need to save 500MB do badly I guess compressing it to ~700kbps would still be fine right? Please send me a PM of any song you like that I most probably never heard of! I am looking for poeple to chat about writing and producing music | http://www.youtube.com/c/JeiShian |
iFU.pauline Profile Joined September 2009 1213 Posts #20 That's cool, though you could have converted them in .flac and be able to tag them with a much smaller file. But its ok we aren't gonna complain. sound's great. time to copy replace
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The LBRY beta app is now available for Windows! This has been the #1 request from users since our launch in July. Now the future of digital content distribution is available on the world’s most popular desktop operating system.
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0:05 – Discover: LBRY’s home content discovery screen. Content on the left is featured and updated by LBRY. Content on the right comes directly from community bids.
LBRY’s home content discovery screen. Content on the left is featured and updated by LBRY. Content on the right comes directly from community bids. 0:11 – Streaming a video.
0:31 – My Files: Browse the content you have downloaded or published to LBRY.
Browse the content you have downloaded or published to LBRY. 0:44 – My Wallet: Check your LBRY credits (LBC) balance, view your transaction history, send LBC to others, and copy your wallet address to receive LBC from others.
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Not on LBRY yet? Get an invite here. Know some great public domain content to share? Have high-quality scans? Email reilly@lbry.iofor a trip to the front of the line. |
Among the possibilities is a big-budget feature that would finish off the hit HBO series.
Could Daenerys Targaryen's dragons be heading to a multiplex?
Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin says the prospect is being actively discussed.
"It all depends on how long the main series runs," Martin told The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday following the season-four premiere of the hit HBO series in New York. "Do we run for seven years? Do we run for eight? Do we run for 10? The books get bigger and bigger (in scope). It might need a feature to tie things up, something with a feature budget, like $100 million for two hours. Those dragons get real big, you know."
PHOTOS: 'Game of Thrones' Stars Invade New York for Season 4 Premiere
The best-selling author said another big-screen possibility being considered is one based on Tales of Dunk and Egg, a series of three prequel novellas Martin penned that revolve around a group of characters, including Ser Duncan the Tall, who lived in the mythical Westeros 90 years before the events depicted in his book series A Song of Ice and Fire, which serves as the basis for Game of Thrones.
"They could be the basis for [a film]," Martin added at the post-premiere bash held at the Museum of Natural History, where a suspended giant whale cast a shadow over the crowd not unlike one of Martin's dragons. "I have written these three stories, and I have about a dozen more."
Martin says the prequel characters are the direct ancestors of some of Game of Thrones' players, but he wouldn't reveal how they relate.
Warner Bros. would be the natural fit for a studio partner. Warners released the two films based on the long-running HBO series Sex and the City and is behind the upcoming big-screen adaptation of Entourage. The studio also knows how to market a dragon tale, with its The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug having earned nearly $1 billion worldwide.
PHOTOS: 15 New Photos From 'Game of Thrones' Season 4
The New York Philharmonic performed the show's theme song before the Lincoln Center screening of the first episode of the new season.
Screenwriter Will Reiser (50/50) was among a group of both fans and industryites waiting patiently to take a turn in a simulator that offered the virtual experience of ascending the series' famed fortified wall.
"The difference between a New York premiere and an L.A. premiere is in New York, you have the New York Philharmonic, but in L.A., we'd have Kanye and Kim singing the theme," quipped Reiser.
Email: Tatiana.Siegel@THR.com
Twitter: @TatianaSiegel27 |
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WWE issued the following today after Glenn Beck recently ripped the company and Linda McMahon for the Zeb Colter character (which you can watch above):
WWE INVITES GLENN BECK TO GET RAW
STAMFORD, Conn., February 22, 2013 WWE has extended an invitation to talk show host and political commentator, Glenn Beck to appear live this Monday on Raw, in response to a segment that aired on TheBlaze TV yesterday. In the segment, Beck references WWE as "stupid wrestling people," when criticizing a recent WWE storyline involving WWE characters Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio, Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter. WWE is giving Beck the opportunity to address our 14 million weekly viewers and our global fan base, as he believes we are offending our "conservative" fans with this storyline.
Similar to other television shows and feature films, WWE is in the entertainment business, creating fictional characters that serve as protagonists or antagonists. To create compelling and relevant content for our audience, it is important to incorporate current events into our storylines. WWE is creating a rivalry centered on a topical subject that has varying points of view. This storyline was developed to build the Mexican American character Del Rio into a hero given WWE's large Latino base, which represents 20 percent of our audience. |
Katie Rich might not spend much time in the unemployment line.
Rich, who was indefinitely suspended from “Saturday Night Live” after making a joke about First Son Barron Trump, has been offered a job by “Community” creator Dan Harmon.
Harmon extended the offer via Twitter, following news that Rich had been put on ice at “SNL,” after she tweeted that Barron Trump, 10, would become America’s “first homeschool shooter.”
Also Read: White House 'Fully Expects' the Press to Leave Barron Trump Alone
“I’m sure Katie Rich will have better offers but I’ll start bidding, will fly her to LA first class and give her what my studio pays me,” Harmon tweeted on Monday.
Harmon, currently working on the Adult Swim animated series “Rick and Morty,” also noted that he would “tolerate all jokes,” in response to a since-deleted Tweet.
“Yes I would. I would tolerate all jokes. I do tolerate all jokes. And so do you. Because we have not lost our motherf–king god damn minds,” Harmon wrote.
Also Read: Monica Lewinsky Defends 'SNL' Writer Katie Rich Suspended Over Barron Trump Tweet
Asked if he was aware of Rich’s joke about Barron Trump, Harmon wisecracked back, “Sure, knock knock, who’s there, a yummy child, I don’t care. Now you want her fired AND you don’t want her to work somewhere else?”
Rich created a furor with her tweet, published on the same day that Donald Trump was inaugurated as president. Shortly afterward, she was suspended indefinitely.
Rich deleted and apologized for the tweet.
Also Read: Monica Lewinsky Jumps to Defense of Barron Trump
Since then, Rich has received criticism as well as support. Earlier this week, the social-media campaign #KeepKatieRich emerged,. Among the supporters: “Frequency” actor Lenny Jacobson, who wrote, “Our @POTUS tweets worse things ever 30 minutes..maybe we hold him to a higher standard than a writer for a comedy show.”
TheWrap has reached out to Harmon’s representatives for comment on whether he and Rich have spoken since he made the offer.
I’m sure Katie Rich will have better offers but I’ll start bidding, will fly her to LA first class and give her what my studio pays me – Dan Harmon (@danharmon) January 23, 2017
Sure, knock knock, who’s there, a yummy child, I don’t care. Now you want her fired AND you don’t want her to work somewhere else? https://t.co/Tw8FfJgWij – Dan Harmon (@danharmon) January 24, 2017 |
When Borussia Dortmund became the fifth different team to win the Bundesliga in eight seasons back in 2011, the league was widely proclaimed as the most open and competitive in Europe.
Three years on, many German fans are stifling the yawns as Bayern Munich run away with the title for the second year in a row with the other 17 teams floundering in their wake.
Bayern have dropped only four points all season, have won their last 14 league games and have a 19-point lead.
Even more worryingly for the other teams, Bayern are set to get stronger at the expense of bitter rivals Borussia Dortmund.
Between 1969 and 1977, only Borussia Moenchengladbach (five times) and Bayern (four) won the title.
The period between 2004 and 2011 was something of an exception as Werder Bremen, Bayern, VfB Stuttgart, VfL Wolfsburg and Dortmund all won the title.
... |
The federal health minister says "the world is going to be looking to Canada to make sure we do the job well" when it comes to legalizing and regulating marijuana.
In an interview with CBC News, Jane Philpott said the government will look abroad for best practices, but said she doesn't see a perfect model anywhere.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau campaigned on the legalization and regulation of marijuana for recreational use, and has mandated Philpott, along with Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale and Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, to create a federal-provincial-territorial process to accomplish that.
Philpott said the government will create a task force to consult with legal authorities, public safety officials and Health Canada scientists, who already have a role in regulating products with health risks such as tobacco.
Scientists in her department have already started to brief her on the topic, she said.
Philpott, a family doctor, has four children, including one who is a teenager. She said she tries to have open conversations with all of them about a range of health issues, including marijuana.
Those conversations have convinced her the current system of prohibition and criminalization is not working.
"I think if any of your viewers, if they ask their teenage children, they can verify for them that [marijuana] is far too accessible. And obviously there's issues around safety and concentrations that are available in certain products are very dangerous," Philpott said.
"Often the products are not pure, and that's something that's a serious health concern for us."
Philpott said it is too early to speculate on what kind of restrictions will be placed around the sale of marijuana, such as an age limit — but she said her government is committed to keeping it away from teenagers.
"It's extremely important to me as a young parent and as a [health-care] provider to make sure we keep marijuana out of the hands of kids and young people, whose brains are developing. And at the moment, unfortunately, it's extremely accessible," she said.
Pot in corner stores?
The Opposition Conservatives did not respond to a request for comment Friday on what they want to see in the government's legislation.
But during the election campaign, the Conservatives were critical of the Liberal plan, telling voters it would lead to marijuana being sold in corner stores, where teenagers could get their hands on it easily.
Jason <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/kenney?src=hash">#kenney</a> also says <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/trudeau?src=hash">#trudeau</a> wants marijuana sold in convenience stores. <a href="http://t.co/NR6AoFANxi">pic.twitter.com/NR6AoFANxi</a> —@CBCChrisBrown
Trudeau said he didn't think corner stores would be the best place to sell marijuana, suggesting staff weren't always rigorous enough in checking ID.
(The industry association that represents convenience stores noted at the time it hasn't advocated for the right to sell marijuana, though it wasn't happy with Trudeau's characterization of its members' handling of age-restricted products.)
Philpott said most health-care providers are not opposed to the Liberal Party's plan on marijuana.
"I would say they are cautious about this, as I am. We need to be cautious about it," she said. "But I think most thoughtful Canadians recognize that the current system isn't working and they're looking to us to make sure we make a wise decision."
The Canadian Medical Association declined to comment, saying only "we acknowledge the complexity of the issue and the varying perspectives." |
Microsoft has announced it will establish a set of "transparency centres" around the world, at which government clients can rifle through its source code to satisfy themselves it contains no back doors.
Announced last week at the Munich Security Conference, Microsoft's veep for security Matt Thomlinson said the centres “...will offer government customers an increased ability to review our source code” and advance “our long-standing program that provides government customers with the ability to review our source code, reassure themselves of its integrity and confirm there are no back doors.”
Just how many transparency centres will be created, or where they will be, is not disclosed. Redmond doesn't seem to be in a hurry to build them: Thomlinson's announcement says “It is my hope to open the Brussels Transparency Center by the end of this year.”
One by the end of the year? Take that, NSA and other oppressors of liberty.
Whatever the scale of the effort, the announcement continues a pattern of Microsoft activities pointing out that its software doesn't leak so much as a bit in the direction of anyone you wouldn't want to see that bit.
Just what level of access to source code is not, however, explained. Last December, Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith wrote that the company believes in giving government customers “an appropriate ability to review our source code, reassure themselves of its integrity, and confirm there are no back doors.” Is that appropriate to customers? Or appropriate to Microsoft inasmuch it will allow comfort without compromising code declared commercial-in-confidence but which could conceal something interesting?
Yes, that observation is a tad cynical. But also, surely, is announcing a network of “Transparency centres” by revealing the existence of just one and giving that facility a far-from-taxing aspirational opening date eleven months from now. And what's with the name, “Transparency centres”? Orwell himself didn't do much better with the Ministry of Truth.
Thomlinson also floated another idea at the conference, namely a “'G20 + 20' group – 20 governments and 20 global information and communications technology firms – to draft a set of principles for acceptable behavior in cyberspace.” That body, he said, could help to rebuild trust in technology that has been so badly disturbed by recent revelations. ® |
We get it. It's too easy to tease certain Republicans for being, to put it politely, intellectually disengaged -- even though it's too often irresistible to go there. Whenever we hear from Sarah Palin, Louie Gohmert, James Inhofe, Jason Chaffetz or Steve King, it’s always good for a series of Facebook memes and SNL sketches.
But then the sobering realization sets in: these are elected members of perhaps most prestigious governing body in the world.
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Let this sink in for a moment: each of these dolts is chosen by voters to be one of 535 elites who are tasked with authoring and voting on legislation that impacts the entire country and beyond. Think about that. Louie Gohmert, who once said the "wall of separation" between church and state is "a one way wall," whatever the hell that means, gets to vote on laws that could potentially and irreversibly alter the course of your life.
Our only possible defense against being utterly confounded and horrified by the power granted to men and women who have no business wielding such power, is to laugh at their flaming stupidity. Otherwise, it'd be way too easy lapse into inextricable despair and, in some cases, moron-induced alcoholism.
In spite of the rapid dumbing-down of the GOP (see also Mr. Trump), they continue to churn out more dummies.
Enter Kevin McCarthy. The Bakersfield, California Republican is the most likely conservative white-guy to ascend into John Boehner's post as Speaker of the House. And he shouldn't have been allowed anywhere near Congress, much less a leadership post.
By now, we're all aware of McCarthy's admission that the congressional select committee investigating the 2012 Benghazi attacks is almost exclusively designed to undermine Hillary Clinton's presidential aspirations.
They say gaffes are merely the truths spoken out loud. This was certainly the case with McCarthy. By the way, we should underscore at this point how McCarthy isn't just another ambitious member of Congress. He's the House Majority Leader. So, yes, the House Majority Leader accidentally spilled the beans on one of the longest running scams in congressional history -- one of the biggest wastes of taxpayer money since Ken Starr's probe into President Clinton's pants-parties.
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That's pretty bad. But McCarthy's bad week didn't end there.
Either McCarthy is incapable of reading, or he has the worst speech-writing staff in the history of American politics -- and that includes Sarah Palin's self-authored Patriotic Mad Libs. Three days after Boehner announced his resignation from Congress, McCarthy was propped up for a foreign policy speech before the John Hay Initiative. The ostensible goal was to burnish McCarthy's political heft, but the exact opposite happened and, frankly, even the dumbest Republicans ought to be embarrassed to caucus with this idiot.
Here are some highlights:
"We must engage this war of radical Islam if our life depended on it. Because it does."
War of radical Islam? "On" or "against" makes more sense, of course. And shouldn't it be "lives" and not "life?" Honestly, the rest of the quotes will make this passage seem comparatively Shakespearean.
"This 'safe zone' would create a stem a flow of refugees... Unlike during the surge in Iraq when Petraeus and Crocker had an effective politically strategy to match the military strategy."
There's no such phrase as "stem a flow." There's something called "stemflow." One can also stem the flow of something, which is possibly what he meant. But "politically strategy" is just ridiculous.
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"We have isolated Israel, while bolding places like Iran."
It's emboldening. Who's responsible for this crap?
"The absence of leadership over the past six years has had a horrific consequences all across the globe."
Was anyone fired for this? How the hell is he still a contender for Speaker?
"In the past few years alone, I have visited Poland, Hungria, Estonia, Russia and Georgia..."
Hungria. Which is north of Freedonia and adjacent to that fake island where Balki from "Perfect Strangers" came from.
"It defies belief that the president would allow the ban on Iranian oil exports to be lifted. And also stand by while Russia blackmails an entire continent, all the while keeping the place of the band on America."
I have no idea what any of that means. Which continent? Let's get real here: we should amend the Constitution so that when any elected politician mutilates the English language this badly, their desk chair turns into an ejector-seat that summarily launches them out of Congress. Let's get on this now before it's too late.
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"We don't have the same as difficult decision that this White House is managing the decline and putting us in tough decisions for the future."
Um. Huh?
To be fair, gaffes are part of being a public figure. Spend enough time in front of a microphone and weird crap will inevitably fall out. However, a "stem a flow" of gaffes like this is inexcusable for a leader who's stepping into an office that's two heartbeats away from the presidency. Again, was it his speechwriter? Was he unable to read the prepared remarks? Why was he incapable of correcting the remarks on-the-fly? Was he having a stroke? Even the party of George W. Bush and Sarah Palin should, in a sane world, stand up and in a unified voice block this nincompoop from becoming Speaker. They won't, of course, and Boehner will likely hand his gavel over to the guy who, with a straight face, said he visited a place called "Hungria."
The good news, on the other hand, is that we'll all have another GOP doofus to kick around for a while. Silver linings, etc.
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Ever since Karl Rove and the Bush administration systematically altered the political landscape making it perfectly acceptable to be completely incompetent and still get re-elected by low-information voters who think politicians shouldn't be any smarter than the people who elect them: we've mostly settled for idiots. Sadly, the demystification of the presidency and electoral politics has convinced us that anyone can hold these jobs and that leaders should be "just like us."
Sorry, but the guy you might want to have a beer with shouldn't control the nuclear launch codes or the destiny of the free world. We should demand leaders who are devastatingly smart, engaged, disciplined, centered and intellectually curious. We should be gravitationally drawn to leaders with impeccable schooling and robust speaking skills. The salient question is this: Why don't Republicans want the same? Why are they so willing to settle for feckless trolls like Donald Trump or marble-mouthed dilettantes like Kevin McCarthy? It might be somewhat acceptable if they actually took responsibility for putting us all in tough decisions for the future, but the party of personal responsibility will never do that. And it’s hurting America. |
Pierre Pellegrini is a Swiss award photographer born in 1968 specialized in long exposure fine art photography. His artistic sense boosts the creation of extraordinary compositions of great depth and clarity engaging the viewer emotionally into timeless stories. We managed to get an exclusive interview with the artist, and we would like to invite you to check the enchanting answers, among the breathtaking selection of pictures that Pierre himself selected.
Tell us something about Pierre Pellegrini Photography?
After having gone in for architectural design, I realized that my dream was to become a physical education teacher. During my professional development, I applied myself to photography. For me, photography represents a wonderful mean to communicate and, at the same time, to give the viewers the chance to feel emotions.
Can you make a brief description on the pictures in this set?
The pictures in this set are the result of several years of work and experimentation in the field of long exposure photography. More than about techniques or the choice of the different subjects, the pictures allow me to tell you why I am attracted by this kind of photography. The applied technique requires different rhythms in which the time factor becomes essential. You take yourself time for the composition; during the intervals between one shot and the other you can live and relish the atmosphere of this particular moment, think about all kind of things and study the next framing. This is the origin of the title of this project “Pensieri nel tempo” (Thoughts in time). A way to escape from reality and to show a world that cannot be seen with our eyes. A different world, much closer to my thoughts. Some people consider photography as an exact reproduction of reality. Through this technique, reality is partly transformed. It’s true that some elements are shown exactly the way they are, but is also true that others, in particular those who can change from one physical state to another like water or clouds, appear in a new dress, growing away from visual reality. Depending on the direction and the force of the wind or the change of light, the drawings we find in the pictures will never be the way we see them with our eyes or like we imagine them to be. The atmospheric conditions of that precise moment, transient and therefore unique, are transformed through photography into a magical and evocative phenomenon.
Almost as if the reality of the time was invisible to our eyes. And so we must learn to look with our heart, with our emotions. A different world, where the dynamism of the sky is emphasized by the contrast with the perpetual movement of the water, frozen and ironed like a silk dress. We all know that photography not only frames a certain part of space but also contains a thin slice of time. In this project, the passing of time is immortalized, conveyed and held in one single picture. Even for me, when I am relishing that moment and the camera is recording, the picture that arises is always an unexpected surprise. When you have some experience it’s possible to imagine how it will be, but you will never be able to foresee the final result. There are no precise rules since the variables can be unforeseeable. It’s rather gestures which one learns with the time.
What’s your creative process like?
I don’t think that there is a real creative process. Mine was a rather spontaneous and instinctive process, maybe like those who regulate the memory. When I find myself in front of a landscape, an element or a subject that strikes me, it is like opening a drawer of my memory corresponding to images I have already seen and held within my heart and my mind. But not everybody sees and holds the same kind of pictures. It depends essentially on the filters every person has developed since birth. Thanks to the experience and the multitude of the seen images (from painters, sculptors or other photographers), every person creates her own style, taste, aesthetic sense and filters to see, think and finally take a picture. The images I realize are therefore the instinctive result of these mechanisms of the memory, of the filters that allow me to see and to think things and of the emotions I feel in that precise moment. I have tried to realize a real project but I felt too much tied. Maybe I’m wrong, I don’t know, but it often happens to me to go out, drive for miles and miles without knowing exactly where I am going or what I’m going to photograph. The only thing I know for sure is the kind of picture I wish to realize. A picture that grows away from visual reality – a long exposure image. Maybe one day I will have the wish to do other things, but right now I feel that this is the way I have to go on.
Where do you find inspiration and why you like photography?
Nature offers so many possibilities for compositions. The difficult thing is to chose the composition which - among all - is new in an extraordinary way. An aesthetic and graphic research of nature, where everything seems to have found its right place, where the sense of order seems so well balanced and proportioned that it becomes difficult to distinguish the boundary (if it exists) between human intervention and nature, responsible for itself. Like the choreography of a ballet or a musical composition – everything seems in harmony and gives us a deep feeling of peace and quietness. Order and balance of nature mixed with imperfection and unpredictability of the record technique give us the gift of a picture that grows away from reality.
Sometimes, I can’t even explain myself which are the mechanisms that make me chose one subject rather than another. I feel that I have to stop to immortalize what my eyes see. By photographing, I try to give a particular importance to what I see. In a first moment, this is a very personal value, where the picture is the expression of what I feel. A kind of inner landscape. A magical moment that I wish to hold in my memory and in my thoughts, but at the same time I want to share through the photography.
I love to photograph in solitude. I relish until the last instant these unique and magical moments. I want to give a voice to a silent picture. Make the picture itself talk about this silence, this quietness, is one of the aims of this project. I am not quite sure if it’s me who is looking for the subjects or if it’s the subjects themselves who are looking for me. Yet, whenever such an encounter happens, a picture arises, perfectly in harmony with myself and with my personality. A kind of balance, harmony, quietness ....
What is typically in your camera bag?
Most of the pictures have been realized with a camera Hasselblad 503 CW. I have chosen this kind of camera for different reasons. First of all, I wanted to give my pictures a square cut; maybe due to my personal aesthetic sense and the absolute symmetry between base and height, horizontally and vertically, but most of all to give a vision, detached from reality. As a matter of fact, the proportion 2:3 of a rectangular form is the closest one to the angle of the human eye. Moreover, rather than cutting in postproduction the rectangular pictures to give them a square format (from my point of view aesthetically improper and too invasive), I have preferred to invest in a camera with which I can directly frame the final shot. And finally, with the Hasselblad cameras it is possible to realize analogical as well as digital pictures. This increases remarkably my possibilities of experimentation.
What are some tips you could give to people that really like your work?
Tips? I feel quite embarrassed by this question. I consider myself an eternal amateur photographer. How could I give tips? The only thing that I can say is that they should follow their own dreams, let themselves carry away by their own emotions and try to understand why one picture attracts them more than another. In other words, know the mechanisms which activate their filters and their way to see and think things. And they should always try to enrich and develop their filters by visiting exhibitions, reading books, watching other photographs and so on. Every person has to build and follow her own way.
Can you name some great photographer that inspires you and why?
The first photographer that inspired me was Michael Kenna. I was immediately struck by his pictures and I still hold them in my heart and in my mind. Then, by a personal research, I have known many other photographers. I don't want to make a list because I am afraid to forget one of them. However, I take the opportunity to point out another photographer who, living in Switzerland, has helped me a lot to understand and build my own way. He is a very generous person and I think he has a great talent. His name is Philippe Mougin.
What can you tell us about your prints?
I have always asked myself if a picture has necessarily to be accompanied by words. Personally, I think that an image should be able to stand for itself. I don't have the answer, I can only invite the viewers of my prints to let themselves carry away by their emotions. When I was taking the picture, I have lived very personal feelings. Feelings I cannot describe because this must be done by the image itself. If my print succeeds in telling you something or in arousing emotions in you, then I will have achieved my aim.
Any suggestions for the title?
Obviously, I have tried to find a title for every shot. It is always a very personal choice that – as I have already said in the previous answer – must not influence on the liberty of imagination and interpretation of the viewer. Concerning the title of the project “Pensieri nel tempo”, I have already expressed myself in the first part of the interview. Let yourself carry away by the images wherever you want. Feel free to fantasize and dream.
Thanks a lot Lionel Orriols, who invited me to participate in Photography Office. Leo thank you for accepting my work.
***
Dear Pierre Pellegrini, it's a great honor to have you featured on our Photography Magazine. Your black and white style is unique, your stories are remarkable, and the tips given are extremely valuable. Thank you for all your help and good luck with your future projects. |
In recent years, cable companies have gained broadband market share against the telcos except in areas where the telcos have upgraded their traditional copper-based network infrastructure to support speeds competitive with the cablecos’ hybrid fiber coax-based service.
But according to researchers at Moffett Nathanson, that’s set to change as telcos, particularly AT&T, get more aggressive about delivering faster broadband speeds.
Moffett Nathanson researchers, led by founding partner Craig Moffett, previously forecast that cable companies would gain a 55% broadband take rate nationwide, but have now reduced that forecast to 51%.
Planned AT&T upgrades “will have the effect of lowering the percentage of the country where cable competes against legacy DSL . . .and raising the percentage of the country where cable competes against fiber-to-the-premises,” researchers wrote.
Broadband Market Share Shifts
Researchers caution that market share shifts are not yet noticeable, in part, because AT&T deployment plans are still underway and are somewhat vague. They note, though, that AT&T targets call for broadband capabilities as follows:
30 million customer locations will have speeds below 50 Mbps available to them (via DSL, IP-DSL and VDSL)
20 million will have 50-100 Mbps service available (via VDSL)
10 million will have “near Gbps” speeds available (via 5G)
22 million will have speeds above 1 Gbps available to them (via FTTH, including 14 million residential locations and 8 million business locations)
Overall, telco FTTH and equivalent services offering Gbps speeds will cover about 32% of the country, up from 23% in researchers’ previous forecast. An additional 20% of homes will have speeds between 50 and 100 Mbps available to them from the telco (up from 18%). The portion of the country that telcos serve with speeds below 50 Mbps will fall to 48% from 64%, researchers said.
The impact of telco network upgrades will vary from one cable company to another. But overall, cablecos will face competition from FTTH in 33% of their coverage area and from IP/DSLAM/FTTN in an additional 34% of their territories. according to Moffett Nathanson. Cablecos will face off against legacy DSL in 33% of their service areas.
Cable Isn’t Standing Still
The Moffett Nathanson research note cautions that cable companies are not standing still with regard to technology. The researchers note, for example, that equipment supporting the full-duplex DOCSIS 3.1 standard, expected in mid-2020, will support speeds of 10 Gbps symmetrically.
It’s worth noting, though, that current DOCSIS 3.1 equipment can support gigabit speeds – at least in one direction and at least for a certain number of customers. In addition, at least one cable company – WOW – has further boosted DOCSIS capacity by splitting nodes and deploying deep fiber using a virtualized distributed access architecture (vDAA). And although cable companies have not yet announced specific plans for vDAA, sources say the major cablecos are exploring that possibility.
Even if the Moffett Nathanson report underestimates the near-term capabilities of cable networks, however, the fact remains that telco network infrastructure is poised to be much more competitive against cable than it has been in recent years.
So perhaps the question is not whether we will see broadband market share shift toward the telcos, but what the magnitude of those shifts will be. |
Wendy Yuan, who was rejected as a Liberal candidate, says she believed she had earned her degree in 1987, but recntly found one course was partly incomplete and she did the work requested to earn the degree this past spring.
OTTAWA — A high-profile B.C. federal Liberal and international businesswoman has incorrectly claimed for years that she received a graduate degree in international management from a U.S. university, The Vancouver Sun has learned.
That was the rationale used by the Liberal party to deny Wendy Yuan, who ran for the party in Vancouver Kingsway in 2008 and 2011, the chance to seek the 2015 nomination in Steveston-Richmond East.
A spokesperson for Bradley University in Illinois confirmed this week that Yuan did not obtain a masters in “international management” in 1987 — a claim made on Yuan’s website in her recent nomination battle, and in the 2008 and 2011 elections.
“Wendy Yuan attended Bradley from spring 1986 through summer of 1987, and spring of 2015. She received her master of arts degree in May of 2015,” spokesperson Renee Charles said in an email Thursday. “She majored in educational administration.”
But Yuan said in a statement Friday that “to the best of my recollection” she thought she had completed her program in 1987, but never intended to pick up “either my transcript or diploma certificate. Since I was working in my own business, I had no need of either.”
When the Liberals asked her earlier this year for proof of the degree she said she contacted the university and was told one course she needed to graduate was marked “in progress” in her transcript. While she believed this was an error, she said she was told the designation couldn’t be removed since the professor had died.
To finish, she said she was asked to write an essay on multiculturalism, received an A, and that resulted in her finally getting her degree in May.
The university was asked to verify this version of events, but did not respond by The Sun’s deadline.
Yuan sent The Sun a copy of the degree Friday, along with a photograph of her at the 1987 convocation ceremony at the university.
Asked why she didn’t push the university long ago for her diploma, she replied: “Because I did not need it. I always worked for myself … nobody had asked me for that piece of paper, nobody.”
She said the claim that her degree was an MA in “international management” was based on the fact she took business as well as education courses at Bradley, but primarily came from a “translation issue” from Chinese to English while “conveying my background” to her campaign biography writer.
Party spokesman Olivier Duchesneau, who wouldn’t disclose the specific reason why Yuan was disqualified, said earlier this week that the party is more aggressively screening candidates. That explains, he said, why the party had a problem with Yuan’s application even though she was given the green light in two previous campaigns as the candidate in Vancouver Kingsway.
Yuan’s camp, supported by affidavits from a former Vancouver Kingsway campaign volunteer, maintains the party blocked her candidacy over her internal dispute with former Liberal cabinet minister Ray Chan, Justin Trudeau’s top fundraiser in the Chinese-Canadian community.
“I feel strongly that allegations of misrepresentation are being used as a red herring to mask the real undisclosed reason for the rejection of her candidacy application,” said her lawyer, Gary Matson. |
After Michigan’s controversial abortion insurance bill went into effect Thursday, five progressive female politicians urged University students to fight back against the perceived injustice by running for office themselves at an event held in Rackham Auditorium Thursday night.
More than 100 students and community members attended “Changing the Game: Progressive Women in Government,” which was hosted by the College Democrats’ Women’s Issues Committee, FemDems, in honor of Women’s History Month.
Debbie Dingell, congressional candidate and member of the Democratic National Committee, State Sen. Rebekah Warren (D–Ann Arbor), State Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D–Detroit), Washtenaw County Commissioner Felicia Brabec and Southfield Mayor Brenda Lawrence were panelists at the discussion.
The politicians addressed a number of issues ranging from the controversial abortion insurance law to the media’s obsession with Hillary Clinton’s hair.
However, the theme that dominated the hour-and-a-half-long event was the need for more women to run for political office at national, state and even local levels. The politicians repeatedly referenced the fact that the percentage of women holding office in the Michigan Legislature — 18.9 percent — is at a 20-year low, noting that this leaves women’s voices and needs at a disadvantage.
“Don’t wait,” Brabec said. “Run. We need you.”
“We need to step up so we’ll be heard,” Lawrence added.
The leaders also stressed the importance of mentorship — whether from a male or female — and the need for women to support each other in campaigns, careers and in life instead of seeing each other as competitors.
Late last month, Dingell declared her candidacy to fill her retiring husband Rep. John Dingell’s (D–Mich.) congressional seat. Though Warren formed an exploratory committee to consider a run, she later opted to stay in Lansing.
While education, the wage gap and health parity were also discussed at length, the issue of choice received the most passionate responses from several of the panelists. Dingell called the passage of the abortion insurance rider “absolutely outrageous.”
The bill requires individuals who receive insurance through an employer to purchase an additional abortion rider at their own expense and is not available to women who purchase their own individual policies. Because women must have the rider to cover abortions resulting from rape or incest, Michigan Democrats have branded it as “rape insurance.”
Proponents of the bill say it allows people who are morally opposed to abortion to opt out of paying for health plans that cover the procedure. The legislature first passed the bill in 2012, when Republican Gov. Rick Snyder vetoed it. It became law after Right to Life Michigan gathered 300,000 petition signatures in support of the bill, and both houses passed it again in December.
Because the signatures qualified the measure as a citizen’s initiative process, it went into effect without for Snyder’s signature.
“It’s inexcusable,” Dingell said. “I could use a lot of words but I don’t want to use profanity today.”
Warren, who represents Ann Arbor in the Michigan Senate, said while some may view choice as a niche issue, it may come off as too narrow. She added it is the most telling issue of a politician’s core values and beliefs.
“I don’t view it as too narrow because in some ways, choice is the best values indicator,” Warren said. “In some ways it’s the only thing I need to know about a candidate to know if I want to support them or not.”
Tlaib said she ran for office because of her love of community — not as a pro-choice candidate. However, she said she quickly became a prominent pro-choice activist while in office and, like Dingell, said she was outraged at the actions of the Republican-dominated Michigan legislature.
“The way they shape it, they’re calling me a killer, a murderer, on the House floor. They have no idea,” Tlaib said. “The infant mortality in my city is so high, but you don’t want to spend the money on those children … it’s very hypocritical.”
Infant mortality is the number one killer of children in Detroit, according to the Michigan Department of Community Health.
While Dingell said there is still much to be done to help women reach parity in society, she is optimistic about the future for women in the country.
Dingell plans to run on a platform that includes a focus on health parity for women, but said increased funding for education is also crucial.
“I’m really worried about access to education,” she said in an interview after the event. “Too many students are graduating with debt they can’t afford.”
Correction appended: Due to an editing error, a previous version of this article misstated State Senator Warren's plans for the upcoming election season. Though she considered running for U.S. Congress, she later opted to remain in Lansing. |
About
Poster for the film designed by Lisa Trucchio
The Story
When You Fade takes us into the mind of a dying Alzheimer’s patient as she struggles to grasp onto her memories. Using objects of their past, her husband tries to help her remember the life they lived, thus freeing her soul from the confined clutches of the disease.
5.4 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s today. It’s a subject that hits close to home for a lot of people and though it’s been portrayed many times in films, the disease has never really been captured from a truly subconscious level. In When You Fade, I wanted to go beyond the physical state of being and enter the thought process of dementia, as one that’s traveling through time metaphysically.
I’m currently experiencing Alzheimer’s in my own family and I’ve always wondered what’s going on inside the brain. What if the sense of being is suspended between our world and the world beyond? I wanted to evoke a feeling of suspension or flying, as if this woman’s mind is soaring through her memories, trying to remember.
Putting together the crane shots
The Goal
In the past Kickstarter has given me the opportunity to raise enough money to enter my films into endless festivals. I can use your help once again. And this time, you’ll be helping me share a story many people could relate to.
Financing for the film will go towards film festival submissions, postage and transportation to the festivals themselves. Music is a crucial element in capturing the emotion of the film, so this money will also go towards composition and recording of the original soundtrack.
With your help, I can share this important story of love, loss and the mysterious beyond. |
Dunkin' Donuts Worker Beaten, Pistol-Whipped Over Botched Vanilla Coffee Order Share
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A Dunkin’ Donuts worker was beaten and pistol-whipped Tuesday by a Florida couple enraged over a botched coffee order, police report.
The 1 PM melee at the Lauderhill eatery resulted in the arrest of Jeffrey Wright, 27, for aggravated battery, a felony. Alexis Longo, Wright’s 22-year-old wife, was charged with misdemeanor battery.
According to a Lauderhill Police Department report, the couple placed a drive-thru order that they later discovered contained the wrong coffee. Longo wanted her java with vanilla. Instead she got caramel.
So the pair parked their vehicle and went inside the restaurant to speak with a manager. Before that could occur, the pair got into an argument with the worker who had handled their order. Matters quickly escalated and Wright and Longo allegedly began assaulting the employee.
During the brawl, Wright, a security guard, repeatedly struck the victim in the head with a loaded Taurus Slim 9mm handgun (which he is licensed to carry). Store surveillance video shows Wright pummeling the worker while Longo gets in a few blows.
Seen in the above mug shots, Wright and Longo are both locked up at the Broward County jail. Wright is being held in lieu of $20,000 bond, while Longo’s bond has been set at $1000. |
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What would be the appropriate thing to say about a government that pours a monstrously disproportionate amount of money into an issue no one really cares about, and does so at the huge expense of the very issues that people really do care about? Hat-tip: Die kalte Sonne and newnostradamusofthenorth.blogspot.
I’d say it’s just a question of time before serious economic and social instability erupts. It’s a socio-political disaster waiting to happen.
This is precisely the case in Europe. Hundreds of billions of euros are being pumped into environment and “climate protection” which a recent survey clearly shows is not at all the main concern of EU citizens. The survey tells us in no uncertain terms that the essential issues of economics and jobs are being seriously neglected and that the stability of the continent is at serious risk. People are genuinely worried about their jobs and the economy.
In a comprehensive European survey on issues that matter to citizens, climate and environment finished almost dead last, not even making the top 10.
The chart above compares sentiment from last spring to last autumn. Note that despite the IPCC’s dramatized and hyped release of its 5th assessment report last autumn, concern for climate and environment climbed only a mere 1 percent. Even dead cats have much more bounce.
Clearly, economics jobs and prices are far more important for European citizens, as the challenge for citizens to make ends meet are far more real than the abstract computer-generated “climate catastrophe”, which is allegedly due 100 years from now.
Only in the very rich countries do environment and climate have any meaning.
So why does the EU pour so many billions into a non-relevant issue when in some countries, like Greece, societies are on the verge of uprising because of economic hardship? On the surface it makes no sense. But closer examination shows us what happens to a society when its government becomes so irrationally obsessed with an irrelevant issue that it literally puts its existence at risk. Ideology and dogmatism are blind.
More astonishing is that despite the 2-decades long multi-multi billion euro climate campaign and persistent mass media blitz, climate still remains an irrelevant fringe issue. Unless you find yourself in North Korea, it goes to show that brainwashing is not easy to do in today’s decentralized multi-media environment. Mainstream media has lost its influence. The Internet media is playing a more important role then ever.
Another point the survey reveals is that climate is an issue, and only a moderate one at that, in mainly very rich countries where people have nothing better to worry about, e.g. Sweden and Germany. It’s about soothing guilt.
Of course everyone agrees environment is an essential issue. But pouring literally tens of billions into fictitious “climate protection” year after year while neglecting the real, pressing issues is becoming a dangerous game. The observed data do really tell us: the climate catastrophe is nothing more than a computer model-generated hallucination.
Hopefully eurocrats will quickly take the survey results very seriously and acknowledge that their economic problems are truly pressing and that neglecting them further will only increase the risk of serious social consequences and civic instability. The EU is keeping its socioeconomic powder kegs tinder dry.
Source of graphics: http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/en.pdf. |
GENEVA/MURSITPINAR Turkey (Reuters) - Thousands of people most likely will be massacred if Kobani falls to Islamic State fighters, a U.N. envoy said on Friday, as militants fought deeper into the besieged Syrian Kurdish town in full view of Turkish tanks that have done nothing to intervene.
U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura said Kobani could suffer the same fate as the Bosnian town of Srebrenica, where 8,000 Muslims were murdered by Serbs in 1995, Europe’s worst atrocity since World War Two, while U.N. peacekeepers failed to protect them.
“If this falls, the 700, plus perhaps the 12,000 people, apart from the fighters, will be most likely massacred,” de Mistura said. The United Nations believes 700 mainly elderly civilians are trapped in the town itself and 12,000 have left the centre but not made it across the border into Turkey.
“Do you remember Srebrenica? We do. We never forgot and probably we never forgave ourselves,” said de Mistura, the U.N. peace envoy for Syria. “When there is an imminent threat to civilians, we cannot, we should not, be silent.”
The plight of mainly Kurdish Kobani has unleashed the worst street violence in years in Turkey, which has 15 million Kurds of its own. Turkish Kurds have risen up since Tuesday against President Tayyip Erdogan’s government, which they accuse of allowing their kin to be slaughtered.
At least 33 people have been killed in three days of riots across the mainly Kurdish southeast, including two police officers shot dead in an apparent attempt to assassinate a police chief. The police chief was wounded.
Intense fighting between Islamic State fighters and outgunned Kurdish forces in the streets of Kobani could be heard from across the border. Warplanes roared overhead and the western edge of town was hit by an air strike, apparently by U.S.-led coalition jets.
But even as the United States has increased its bombing of Islamic State targets in the area, it has acknowledged that its air support is unlikely to be enough to save the city from falling.
‘TRAGIC REALITY’
“Our focus in Syria is in degrading the capacity of (Islamic State) at its core to project power, to command itself, to sustain itself, to resource itself,” U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken said. “The tragic reality is that in the course of doing that there are going to be places like Kobani where we may or may not be able to be effective.”
Blinken said Islamic State controlled about 40 percent of Kobani. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war, gave a similar estimate and said fighters had seized a central administrative area, known as the “security quarter”.
Ocalan Iso, deputy head of the Kurdish forces defending the town, told Reuters that Islamic State fighters were still shelling the centre, which proved it had not yet fallen.
“There are fierce clashes and they are bombing the centre of Kobani from afar,” he said, estimating the militants controlled 20 percent of the town. He called for more U.S.-led air strikes.
In Washington, the U.S. State Department said Turkey has agreed to support the training and equipping of moderate opposition groups in Syria and that a U.S. military planning team would visit Ankara next week to further discuss the matter. The United States has been pressing Turkey to join the fight against Islamic State.
The Middle East has been transformed in recent months by Islamic State, a Sunni militant group that has seized swathes of Syria and Iraq, crucifying and beheading prisoners and ordering non-Muslims and Shi’ites to convert or die.
The United States has been building a military coalition to fight the group, an effort that requires intervening in both Iraq and Syria, countries with complex multi-sided civil wars in which nearly every state in the region has allies and enemies.
International attention has focussed on Turkey, a NATO member with the biggest army in the region, which has absorbed 1.2 million Syrian refugees, including 200,000 from Kobani in the last few weeks. Erdogan has so far refused to join the military coalition against Islamic State or use force to protect Kobani.
“We would like to appeal to the Turkish authorities ... to allow the flow of volunteers, at least, and their own equipment in order to be able to enter the city and contribute to a self-defence action,” the U.N. envoy de Mistura said in Geneva.
Turkish soldiers in armoured vehicles patrol the streets of Diyarbakir October 8, 2014. REUTERS/Sertac Kayar
‘FIGHT TO LAST BREATH’
The Kurdish uprising in Turkey provoked a furious response from the Turkish government, which accuses Kurdish political leaders of using the situation in Kobani to destroy public order in Turkey and wreck its own delicate peace process.
Turkish Kurds fought a decades-long insurgency in which 40,000 people were killed. A truce last year has been one of the main achievements of Erdogan’s decade in power, but Abdullah Ocalan, jailed co-founder of the Kurdish militant PKK, has said the peace process is doomed if Turkey permits Kobani to fall.
In a televised speech on Friday, Erdogan accused Kurdish leaders of “making calls for violence in a rotten way”.
“I have put my hand, my body and my life into this peace process,” he said. “And I will continue to fight until my last breath to restore the brotherhood of 77 million at any cost.”
The three days of riots in southern Turkey were the worst street violence in many years. The attempted assassination of a police chief in eastern Bingol province was the first incident of its kind since 2001. The armed wing of the PKK denied involvement in the attack.
The southeastern border province of Gaziantep saw some of the worst violence overnight, with four people killed and 20 wounded as armed clashes broke out between protesters calling for solidarity with Kobani and groups opposing them.
Footage showed crowds with guns, swords and sticks roaming streets of Gaziantep. Two local branches of the Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), Turkey’s main Kurdish party, there were torched, Dogan News Agency reported.
Many of Turkey’s Kurds say the refusal to defend Kobani is proof the government sees them as a bigger enemy than Islamic State. At the frontier, dozens of Kurdish men watched Kobani’s fighting from a hill where farmers once tended pistachio trees.
“I believed in the peace process, because I didn’t want any more children to die. But the Kurds were fooled. The peace process was insincere. The government either wants to wipe out Kurds or to enslave them,” said Ahmet Encu, 46, who came 500 km (300 miles) to watch Kobani, where four relatives are fighting.
Slideshow (12 Images)
Turkey says it would join an international coalition to fight against Islamic State only if the alliance also confronts Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government. Erdogan wants a no-fly zone to prevent Assad’s planes from flying over the area near its border and a protected buffer zone there for refugees.
The United States has said it is studying the idea but has made clear it is not an option for now.
The Pentagon said the top U.S. military officer, General Martin Dempsey, will convene a meeting of more than 20 foreign defence chiefs next week outside Washington to discuss the multinational campaign against Islamic State. |
On Tuesday night, the decision by the major broadcast network to erase the Planned Parenthood scandal from their newscasts continued with the release of a sickening third video by the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) that again discussed the selling of body parts from aborted babies.
As the “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC were ignoring this third video, the trio spent six minutes and 26 seconds teasing and reporting on the "outrage" surrounding the shooting death of a high-profile African lion in Zimbabwe by an American dentist.
While reporting on the lion’s death may be all fine and good, it certainly says something about the networks when they neglect to even mention a horrifying video about aborted babies.
With the English networks, Spanish-language networks Telemundo and Univison, and PBS appearing to have deleted this scandal from their airwaves, the Fox News Channel (FNC) newscast Special Report led with the story and spent six minutes and 40 second on both the third video and the move by Planned Parenthood to remove the list of corporate donors from their website.
Off the top of the show, host Bret Baier explained that the “very bad summer for Planned Parenthood is a lot worse tonight” with “pro-life groups gathering across the nation demand an end to federal funding of the organization” in addition the “third and most graphic undercover video” that’s “shocking even hard-core abortion foes.”
Covering the video’s release, chief legal correspondent Shannon Bream reported that the third video from “the Center for Medical Progress shows a tissue procurement buyer inside a clinic talking to a doctor about pricing for parts and organs from a fetus that was just over 11 weeks into a pregnancy.”
On the heels of the CMP video, Bream mentioned that there were pro-life rallies “[i]n more than 60 U.S. cities” that “call[ed] for investigations into recent allegations regarding Planned Parenthood's harvesting and transfer of aborted fetal remains along with pressure on lawmakers to follow through on pledges to defund the organization.”
Bream also highlighted at the end of her report another key piece of this video:
This new video today also contains the testimonial of a woman who says she was hired by Stem Express to work inside a Planned Parenthood clinic. She claims she thought she would be drawing blood. She said she wasn't told before she arrived on-site that she would be harvesting fetal organs and body parts and fainted on her very first day.
Along with Special Report, the top cable networks offered on Tuesday varying degrees of coverage. On CNN, the lone program to mention the third CMP video was The Lead as it was alluded to both in a full report by CNN investigative correspondent Chris Frates and when host Jake Tapper interviewed GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson.
In somewhat similar fashion, the video fetched just one mention on MSNBC when a segment on Now with Alex Wagner attacking CMP and the pro-life movement. Meanwhile, the Fox News Channel (FNC) covered it on eight different programs throughout the day (as of 9:45 p.m. Eastern).
As the Media Research Center has chronicled over the past two weeks, the network coverage of this scandal has decreased from negligible coverage to a complete blackout. Concerning the first video that came out on July 14, that CMP expose saw nine minutes and 11 seconds on the networks (compared to 31 minutes and 11 seconds on the 2012 Susan G. Komen controversy when it tried to halt its funding of Planned Parenthood).
When the second video rolled around on July 21, it barely saw the light of the day on the networks as July 21's CBS Evening News provided the sole two-minute-and-two-second segment on the scandal.
The relevant portions of the transcript from FNC’s Special Report with Bret Baier on July 28 can be found below. |
Carpe Diem Group is hoping to serve customers who will be left in the lurch due to the provincial government’s decision to axe the Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC).
“We’re looking to take over as much as we can that STC already has,” said Mitch Blyth, Carpe Diem’s general manager. “A lot of different ideas floating around in our ownership group right now, but we have some great ideas that we will release at a later date.”
This plan, which happened “very quickly,” began on March 22, when Finance Minister Kevin Doherty announced the end of STC, which the government founded in 1946.
Blyth called his CEO the day of the budget announcement. Their goal is “to help out the people of Saskatchewan in this situation,” said Blyth.
“There’s cancer patients, dialysis patients, people like that. This is becoming an essential service to these people; it has been for how many years STC has been around.
“We feel that when it becomes a matter of life and death, that’s where we want to step in.”
Blyth said Carpe Diem hopes to offer no disruption to transportation service. STC’s freight service is scheduled to end May 19; its passenger service is scheduled to end May 31.
Carpe Diem has 14 vehicles that can be used for STC-type service, said Blyth, ranging from two to 22 seats.
Carpe Diem also has access to a larger fleet of vehicles.
“It’s going to be a supply and demand thing. We can provide whatever type of vehicle is necessary,” said Blyth. “If we find a need for the 54-passenger, we certainly have access to them.”
Carpe Diem is based in Regina, Saskatoon, Yorkton and Melville.
Blyth said he’d like to work with other transport companies, which could act as a “feeder system” to cover even more of the province.
STC’s 25 routes serve 253 communities. Its projected ridership for 2016-17 is 182,000, down from 790,000 in 1980, around the last time STC was profitable.
“Every year, $10 million to $11 million was being expended to subsidize STC … $85 million over the next five years to maintain everything that we were doing at STC,” Doherty said on Budget Day.
Carpe Diem is still working through costs and prices, but Blyth isn’t too worried about the numbers.
“We plan on running a lot more efficiently,” said Blyth. “We’ve been watching the STC buses and obviously the big 54-passenger buses aren’t full, so we can run this a lot more cost-effectively.”
Unlike their limousine service, the charter vehicles won’t be liquor licensed, said Blyth, although the company aims to “step it up a notch with general service.”
STC employed 224 people who will be laid off with the company’s end. Blyth said Carpe Diem will be looking to hire new staff, although he’s not yet sure how many.
— With files from Barb Pacholik, Leader-Post
amartin@postmedia.com
twitter.com/LPAshleyM |
It's otherwise known as Dr. Strangelove Syndrome, which should give you an idea of its symptoms. One hand appears to act independently of the rest of the sufferer's body, performing complex actions that are often in direct opposition to the person's intention. Your right hand, for example, might shake that of your girlfriend's father, while your left hand reaches around and gives him a cheeky pinch on his buttocks.
Due to its willfulness, sufferers tend to associate the hand with a specific personality, which is usually that of a total fucking dickhead.
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Will it get me laid?
For a shy person, a rogue hand is an invaluable gift. Say a girl has been throwing you some subtle "bone me" signals that you've been too damn introverted to notice or believe. But your hand has noticed, and you watch in awe as its response leaves absolutely no room for doubt in the girl's mind that you are interested in commencing intercourse. To clinch the deal, you can now give her a line such as "Hey baby, do you know what my hand will be doing in 20 minutes? (cock eyebrow suggestively) Me neither!"
If that doesn't work (and let's face it, possessed limbs are often not the best judges of subtle moods), you've still got someone else's hand on the end of your arm. If you can persuade it that you love and respect it very much, and that your erogenous zone is not going to stimulate itself, you don't really need to get laid at all.
How do I get it?
Alien Hand Syndrome is caused by a particularly hardcore treatment for epilepsy in which a "doctor" surgically separates the two hemispheres of your brain. Due to its suicidal insanity, this operation can only be performed by a cackling madman in a lightning-lit castle at midnight. The lightning is important; on clear nights, a nurse is employed to switch the main light on and off really quickly.
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Is it worth it?
It's your call. While the condition is rarely fatal, it can be very inconvenient. Are you a teacher? Better be careful. It only takes a few instances of "I swear it wasn't me! It was The Alien Hand" before the parents' association pays to have you arrested with unnecessary force. On the upside, you'll most likely get laid in prison. |
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – After operating a Charlottesville radio station for 70 years, including 37 years as a commercial FM station, today the University of Virginia student-owned media organization, WUVA, Inc., announced that it has agreed to sell its radio station WUVA-FM 92.7 to Saga Communications, Inc. (NYSE – MKT: SGA).
WUVA, Inc., owned and operated by University of Virginia students since 1947, will continue to serve the University and Charlottesville communities through its growing online news platform, WUVANews.com (http://wuvanews.com/). Launched in 2011, WUVA News has become a leading source of journalism on Grounds, producing high-quality written and video news content.
“It certainly is bittersweet to transition out of FM radio. But on behalf of WUVA’s student leadership, I’m very excited to focus on completing our transition to a digital-first news organization with expanded production capabilities – and now with an endowment to support our future,” said Kailey Leinz (College ’17), WUVA President. “We will remain a strong, independent editorial voice at the University of Virginia.”
“WUVA has a rich tradition as a broadcaster and as a training ground for scores of leaders in media over its history,” said Edward Swindler, WUVA Alumni Board Member (College ‘76, Grad A&S ’82, Darden ’84) and a 32-year NBC Universal executive. “The sale proceeds will endow our digital news organization, enable us to modernize our reporting and delivery, and reach the UVA and Charlottesville communities on more relevant platforms. Our focus on digital video will also better prepare graduating students to compete and lead in a rapidly-evolving media environment.”
“A fiscally secure and expanded WUVA News will also cooperate more closely with the University of Virginia’s renowned Media Studies Department and emerging Center for Media and Citizenship,” said Richard Marks (College ’66), General Counsel for WUVA. The Center was co-founded by WUVA and the Media Studies Department in 2012 with a grant from the Jefferson Trust. “Our thanks to the University and Charlottesville communities for their continued support of WUVA as we evolve our media strategy for the 21st century.”
“It’s been an honor to serve Charlottesville as a commercial FM radio station. We know Saga Communications will be a worthy steward of our FM facility, as it has a long tradition as an outstanding local broadcaster,” said David Mitchell, General Manager of WUVA-FM, 92.7 Nash Icon. “Saga’s ownership of 92.7 FM will benefit Charlottesville’s listeners, the entire University of Virginia community, and 92.7 FM’s advertisers.”
Edward K. Christian, President and Chief Executive Officer of Saga Communications, said, “We have enjoyed working with everybody at WUVA, Inc. and are looking forward to adding the station to our radio group, allowing us to expand our service to the Charlottesville community. Saga intends to continue building its business in both the radio and television markets by identifying and acquiring middle market stations.”
WUVA’s sale to Saga is subject to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval. The sale is expected to close in early 2017. As a part of the agreement, WUVA will retain all rights to the “WUVA” trademark and all assets related to the operation of WUVA News.
As a non-profit corporation, WUVA, Inc. will continue to raise funds for its investments in local journalism and the training of University of Virginia students in video and print journalism and media operations. Donations to the Campaign for WUVA News to support its operations and endowment for the future can be made at: http://wuva-fm.com/campaign-for-wuva/.
About WUVA, Incorporated:
WUVA, Inc. was created in 1947 to educate University of Virginia students in the art of commercial radio broadcasting. From 1947 to 1978, WUVA operated as a commercial carrier-current (closed circuit) station at UVA. In 1978, WUVA won an FCC license to operate WUVA (FM) on 92.7mHz, and WUVA’s mission necessarily expanded to serve Charlottesville, WUVA’s FCC-designated city of license. WUVA is an independent 501(c)(3) not-for-profit Virginia membership corporation, owned and operated by University of Virginia students. WUVA, Inc.’s board of directors is made up of five students and six alumni.
In 2011, with the launch of WUVA Online, WUVA expanded its mission to train students in digital media related to commercial radio. In 2016, WUVA added WUVANews.com as its primary journalism website (http://wuvanews.com/). WUVA’s digital audience includes University of Virginia students, faculty, staff, and alumni worldwide, as well as residents of Charlottesville and surrounding counties and the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Over the past 70 years, WUVA alums have profited by their “real-world” media experience to earn high-profile managerial, on-air, and technical positions with some of the biggest names in media, including ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX, ESPN, Disney, Clear Channel, Cumulus Media, and the Discovery Channel, as well as with industry-leading production, advertising, marketing, and law firms.
WUVA works closely with the Media Studies Department in the University of Virginia’s College of Arts & Sciences, and is a co-founder of the Center for Media and Citizenship at the University of Virginia (http://www.mediaandcitizenship.org/).
WUVA News has been supported by grants from The Jefferson Trust, an activity of the UVA Alumni Association, and from the UVA Parents Fund Committee. |
Look, we all saw this coming, didn't we? It's been obvious for many months now that Champ Bailey would not be back in 2014, at least not at his $10M cap figure.
The only question was whether the future HOFer would accept a hefty pay cut and/or shift to safety in order to stick around.
Obviously, the answers are no, and no.
It's being reported that the Broncos did not offer Champ the chance to stay at a reduced salary, and that they instead told him they would be cutting him outright.
At face value, this reads as a coldhearted approach to one of Denver's greatest players.
But let's be real here - just because Champ says he wasn't offered a lower contract, doesn't mean there were no negotiations.
We all know that Bailey is a (justifiably) proud athlete, and perhaps until right about now, he has always made clear that he would make major career decisions on his own terms.
If the Broncos and Bailey were going to agree to a reduced salary for 2014, the team would have to have guaranteed some or all of it.
And that's on the very bold (foolish?) assumption that the two sides could have found a number to their liking.
For argument's sake, let's say that Denver sees Champ as a $2M/year player now, while Bailey thinks he's worth double or triple that.
Does anyone really think Bailey would admit (and so soon) that the Broncos offered him such a low salary to stay?
If he were to say so, the next question would be how much he was offered.
A segment of fans would be upset at the Broncos for having lowballed a future Ring of Famer, while another group would say Champ was being selfish and greedy, and that he should just risk his long-term health play for whatever Denver was offering, if he wants a SB ring.
Chances are, the two sides exchanged numbers, but were too far apart.
By not acknowledging this publicly, the Broncos get to bid farewell to one of their greats without having to sully his name or legacy.
Champ gets to move on with some semblance of pride.
All he has to do is admit that he's not a $10M/year player anymore - not that the Broncos think he's worth $2M, or whatever it is they suggested.
Money aside, we don't know that the Broncos think Champ can be a good enough safety to make their 2014 roster as one.
We don't know that he can be a better safety than either Rahim Moore, Duke Ihenacho, or whatever other veterans and prospects they may have their eyes on.
Keep in mind, just because a guy is (or was?) a great tackler among NFL cornerbacks, doesn't mean he is physical enough to be a quality NFL safety.
We don't know how much they would have to have paid him (especially in guaranteed money) for him to have given that a shot.
The Broncos might have said, "Champ, you can try to make the roster as a safety, but we can't guarantee you millions of dollars just to show up for training camp."
They might also be thinking, "We need a longer term solution there, anyway, and would rather have a rising 22-year-old at a fixed, cheap, long-term contract, than a declining 36-year-old who's never played the position on a one-year deal."
Admittedly, there are a lot of assumptions here.
But as always, we have to read between the lines, and we certainly can't accept reports and quotes as the entire story.
So, Champ says he wasn't offered a chance to stay at a lower salary.
Does anyone really buy that? |
The historical record of far-right ridiculousness has been well-documented here and throughout the blogosphere.
But I don't think we ever anticipated that the presidency of Barack Obama would, among other things, send the far-right into a freakazoid display of shockingly deranged conniptions and outright crazy talk -- their manic hyperdrive engines, fueled by Rush Limbaugh's gesticulating arm flab, blasting them out of their political Mos Eisley cantina scene and expelling them a thousand parsecs beyond the zero barrier of insanity.
Too much?
Just to be clear, I'm not talking about the lies or distortions or their utter lack of credibility (zero cred) on broad-ranging issues like, you know, foreign policy and the economy. What we have here is the equivalent level of chaos as, say, the first group therapy scene from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. In other words: a total berserker meltdown.
Seriously, have you ever seen the Republicans more twisted and kerfuffled than they are today? Movie metaphors aside, I've been hard pressed to find greater examples of insanity from the far-right than have been exhibited in the past week alone. Here we have a Republican Party that's been discredited and bloodied, and yet in the face of an enormously popular president who is confounding conventional wisdom while building a working consensus among American voters, the Republicans appear to be reflexively coughing up the most intellectually violent chunks of hooey on record.
They're screaming about fear-mongering, even though we had eight years of this.
They're screaming about fiscal responsibility, even though we had eight years of this.
They're screaming about free speech, even though we had eight years of this and this and this.
They're honest to God screaming about fascism, even though we had eight years of this and this and this.
Yes, the Republicans have claimed to have "found their voice." If this is true, then their "voice" sounds exactly like Rush Limbaugh, Matt Drudge and Michelle Malkin, depending on the day.
So what are these voices saying exactly?
For starters, Rush Limbaugh -- the de facto leader of the Republican Party -- said on his show Tuesday that the entire economic meltdown was actually precipitated by a conspiracy between George Soros and a cabal of billionaire liberals who deliberately sought to sabotage the world economy in order to get Barack Obama elected.
He, of course, has no real evidence for this, other than what the shadow people told him while he was tweaking his TV remotes.
Okay, so I made up the part about the shadow people, but the rest is seriously what Limbaugh was telling his audience of dittoheads yesterday. What Limbaugh doesn't know, however, is that Soros is actually a hobbit who's conspiring with Elvis to fake another Moon landing. (Shh!)
Confined to its own phantom zone of crazy, there's only so much harm this can do. After all, Limbaugh's puffy melon has been bombarded with a mountain of hillbilly heroin large enough to crush God. But I wish I could report that this was wholly the product of Limbaugh's condition. It's also a theory that was repeated by Donald Luskin: a seriously wrongheaded economist and, go figure, former economic adviser to Senator John McCain.
Speaking of John McCain, he was pilfering extra helpings of rich, creamery crazy from Michelle Malkin this week. Senator Coburn and Congressman Boehner were doing it, too. Last month, Malkin nicknamed the president's recovery bill the "generational theft" bill, arguing that the debt it would create will serve to rob future generations. This, naturally, disregards the nearly doubled national debt and record-breaking deficits created by George W. Bush with programs that, when taken individually, were enthusiastically endorsed by Malkin (Iraq, tax cuts and so on). But there was Senator McCain on Face the Nation on Sunday talking about "generational theft." Whatever, senator, the fundamentals are strong so what's does it matter, right?
Meanwhile, Michael Steele, the newly elected head of the RNC and preemptive excuse for the next time a Republican talk radio host blurts out a racist remark, tried to tell a national television viewing audience that the government has never in the history of the United States created a job -- only "work." Yep. Do I really need to outline why this is crazy?
Elsewhere, another far-right blogger is vowing to never again fist-bump with her friends at her tennis club. And when she's at the grocery store and is confronted by magazines with the president's face in the checkout line, she turns the magazines backwards. All of them. I'm not making this up.
They have indeed totally lost their shpadoinkle and despite purely involuntary spikes in my blood pressure, it's so much fun to watch. By successfully debunking their lies, rising above their bait and merely presenting a contrast of character, President Obama is making the Republican A-listers appear small, petty and absolutely befuddled. They're frantically struggling to figure out how to counterpunch, so they're grabbing, borrowing or downright plagiarizing ideas from anywhere, irrespective of the general quality of the idea. And if the Republicans are at all interested in continued survival, someone they respect should probably smack their hands and scold: Drop that filthy Limbaugh quote! You don't know where it's been!
But if this is their "voice" and they're satisfied with it, I for one welcome the new Republican "voice" and wish them a hearty and very sincere: Good luck with that. |
Imagine cows and dogs coming out on to the streets for the protection of human rights in Kashmir. Thanks to Awami Ithaad Party (AIP) led by independent MLA from Langate Sheikh Abdul Rashid aka Engineer Rashid, cows, dogs, horses and even goats made their debut in the unique protest parade in Srinagar.
Braving bone-chilling cold, protesters waving black flags started from Sher-e-Kashmir Park and marched through fashionable Residency Road before they were stopped by the police.
Led by Rashid, who was smeared with black ink in Delhi for allegedly hosting a beef party in Srinagar in October, the agitators were trying hard to herd the "protesting" animals.
"I am Sangh Parivar's cow… I am secure than Kashmiris," read a placard slung by the neck of a cow. "I am Rashtrapati Bhawan's horse, I am secure than Kashmiris," read the placard slinging down the neck of a horse.
Police had a tough time to control the march and tame the animals mostly the horses. Police successfully herded several animals but it was the horse that was unwilling to go with the khaki-clad cops. Later several policemen joined hands and bundled the horse into the police station Kothi Bagh.
"Through this innovative protest, we want to convoy to world community about our sufferings. They should ask the government of India why was it depriving Kashmiris of their fundamental rights and why are the perpetrators of human rights abuses roaming free and being awarded with promotions, perks and privileges?" asked Rashid
AIP president noted that while India is celebrating Afzal Guru's hanging, the killers of Gowhar Nazir, Khalid Muzaffar Wani, Zahid Bhat and dozens others are not being taken to task as required by the law.
"Government of India is misleading world community over custodial killings, forced disappearances, illegal detentions, juvenile detentions, tortures and other numerous human rights abuses", he said.
Batting for the right to self determination, Rashid, a two time MLA, appealed the world community to impress upon New Delhi to allow Kashmiris to exercise their rights.
"The protest should act as an eye opener for those who often get misled by soft spoken sermons being given by Indian leaders from time on non violence", he said. |
Most Americans have gotten used to regular news reports about military and CIA drones attacking terrorist suspects – including US citizens – in Pakistan, Yemen, and elsewhere abroad.
But picture thousands of drone aircraft buzzing around the United States – peering from the sky at breaches in border security, wildfires about to become major conflagrations, patches of marijuana grown illegally deep within national forests, or environmental scofflaws polluting the land, air, and water.
By some government estimates, as many as 30,000 drones could be part of intelligence gathering and law enforcement here in the US within the next 10 years. Operated by agencies down to the local level, this would be in addition to the 110 current and planned drone activity sites run by the military services in 39 states, reported this week by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), a nongovernment research project.
IN PICTURES: Drones America's unmanned Predators
The presence of drones in the US was brought home Wednesday night when some people thought they saw a UFO along the Capitol Beltway in Washington. In fact, it was a disc-shaped X-47B UCAV (Unmanned Combat Air System) being hauled from Edwards Air Force Base in California to Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland for testing.
Civil libertarians warn that “unmanned aircraft carrying cameras raise the prospect of a significant new avenue for the surveillance of American life,” as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) put it in a report last December.
“The technology is quickly becoming cheaper and more powerful, interest in deploying drones among police departments is increasing, and our privacy laws are not strong enough to ensure that the new technology will be used responsibly and consistently with democratic values,” reported the ACLU. “In short, all the pieces appear to be lining up for the eventual introduction of routine aerial surveillance in American life – a development that would profoundly change the character of public life in the United States.”
Steven Aftergood, who directs the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists, highlights one potentially controversial part of US Air Force policy regarding military drones flown over the US.
“Air Force Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) operations, exercise and training missions will not conduct nonconsensual surveillance on specifically identified US persons, unless expressly approved by the Secretary of Defense, consistent with US law and regulations,” according to an instruction on oversight of Air Force intelligence.
At the same time, the instruction states, “Collected imagery may incidentally include US persons or private property without consent.”
Americans have mixed feelings about pilotless drones flown over the US, according to a new Monmouth University Poll.
A large majority (80 percent) supports the idea of using drones to help with search and rescue missions; a substantial majority also supports using drones to track down runaway criminals (67 percent) and control illegal immigration along US borders (64 percent).
But despite widespread support for certain domestic applications of drone technology, privacy issues are an obvious concern, the poll finds. For example, just 23 percent support using drones for such routine police activity as issuing speeding tickets while two-thirds oppose the idea.
“Specifically, 42 percent of Americans would be very concerned and 22 percent would be somewhat concerned about their own privacy if US law enforcement started using unmanned drones with high tech surveillance cameras," the poll report states.
That’s the increasing attitude on Capitol Hill as well.
“I do not want a drone monitoring where I go, what I do and for how long I do whatever it is that I'm doing,” US Sen. Rand Paul (R) of Kentucky wrote on CNN’s website this week. “I do not want a nanny state watching over my every move. We should not be treated like criminals or terrorists while we are simply conducting our everyday lives. We should not have our rights infringed upon by unwarranted police-state tactics.”
Legislation introduced by Senator Paul – the “Preserving Freedom from Unwarranted Surveillance Act of 2012” – would force police officials to obtain a warrant before using domestic drones.
“If the warrant is not obtained, this act would allow any person to sue the government,” Paul writes. “This act also specifies that no evidence obtained or collected in violation of this act can be admissible as evidence in a criminal, civil or regulatory action.”
A similar bill introduced by Rep. Austin Scott (R) of Georgia is now before the House Judiciary Committee.
Sen. Mike Johanns (R) of Nebraska wants to ban the Environmental Protection Agency from using drones to make sure farmers and ranchers comply with environmental regulations.
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Still, the Federal Aviation Administration noted recently that it is “streamlining the process for public agencies to safely fly UAS in the nation’s airspace.”
IN PICTURES: Drones America's unmanned Predators |
It has been one year since an earthquake shook Metro Vancouver and Vancouver Island.
It was the strongest earthquake to rattle the South Coast in years.
The magnitude 4.7 quake struck near Victoria and was felt as far away as 100 Mile House.
“I felt quite strong shaking in my house,” said John Cassidy, a seismologist with Natural Resources Canada, who lives just south of Sidney.
The quake followed another that measured 4.4 and struck several hours earlier near San Bernardino, California.
No one was hurt and no damage was reported but it was a wake-up call for many British Columbians.
Over the past year, families and businesses have acquired emergency kits and created escape plans to be better prepared for future earthquakes.
If that wake-up call inspired you to update your emergency preparedness kit, here's a good resource: https://t.co/v4tHv1ha5V — Surrey RCMP (@SurreyRCMP) December 30, 2015
WATCH: Home security camera captures B.C. earthquake |
It’s Friday, and I’m off for the day; the following tumblr entry is extra relevant:
Anyway, I promised a number of things yesterday, and I intend to deliver on as many of them as possible.
The transportation to Spain was, how shall I say, not the greatest I have ever had. My team from Samsung UK flew on Iberia airlines. I will leave out the gritty details of the flights, but they managed to lose all of our luggage (though they did find it, eventually) and I would not recommend flying with them. Upon arriving, we stayed in the Ayre Grand Via hotel. The service there was exemplary, the rooms nice, and the breakfast buffet quite delicious; definitely a place I would stay if I return to Barcelona. With these plugs out of the way, onward to the events!
First up, some info on the EFL Dev Day. This was a great event, and I think everyone who attended had a great time. I’ll do my best to post some photos of the event next week, but for now I’ll give some highlights, gaps to be filled in next week with photos (I hope):
Presentation from Carsten Haitzler (raster) regarding future directions of EFL+E17
Some info about ESVG and the Enesim toolkit
Status updates on EFL/E Wayland work
2012 b0rker awards (Winners: raster, k-s, tasn, devilhorns, vtorri, cedric)
Extremely cool demos and talks about Calaos
cool demos and talks about Calaos Introduction and status updates to EasyUI
Discussions for the Enna project+community
Panel of trolls
Next, LinuxCon. This was a very well-organized event in a great location. The hotel had lots of large rooms which were comfortable for both presenting and attending various talks, and they had plenty of refreshments set up all over — something I am particularly in favor of.
Considering the scope of LinuxCon/ELCE and the number of presentations held, I’m going to cut it down to what I thought was the best presentation I attended, Taking the Fear Out of Contributing: Open Source Mentoring by Stephen Hemminger from Vyatta. This talk discussed a number of issues which come up in OSS projects, notably ones which impede the growth of projects and prevent potential new members from effectively joining; he made specific mention of solutions for improving workflows, changing the process by which new members are eased into a community, and creating clear guidelines about policies. I’m not sure whether anyone recorded the talk, but I was inspired by his presenting charisma as well as the conviction by which he held to his points. If you happen to stumble across this post, Mr. Hemminger, job well done with the talk. If you are not him and have the chance to see one of his presentations, I highly recommend it.
As an aside, I should also make note that the event photographer, Ivan Maly, seems to be very astute with regard to his ability to choose suitable targets for his pictures. Suffice to say, I am present in quite a number of the event photos. More on this situation as it develops.
As promised, my presentation slides are available here in their original ODP format. You can use them to follow along in the surprise recording done by Javier Pastor, CTO of Total Publishing Network in Spain. The Linux Foundation had told me that there would be no recordings done of any presentations other than keynotes, but Javier brought a camera and decided to do it himself. He missed the first couple minutes since I started a bit early, and, funnily enough, the battery ran out exactly as I announced the release date of E17 (coincidence, I swear), but the quality is great and I can’t thank him enough for doing the recording. The video of my talk can be found here in the article he posted:
http://www.muylinux.com/2012/11/08/video-linuxcon-preparando-y-anunciando-el-lanzamiento-final-de-enlightenment-e17/
For those of you who don’t feel like watching my amazing presentation, the most important talk given this year which included the results of the 2012 E-Devel CFB, I pity you. So much that I’m even posting the final slide in my presentation here to serve as an official announcement of the release date of E17.
Before that, however, I need to apologize for something. In yesterday’s post, I promised another alpha release of E17. Unfortunately, due to a couple recent snafus, any release done today would not be substantially different from the first alpha on Monday. Also it might beat you up and steal your lunch money. For this reason, there will be no new release today. Sorry.
If you’re reading this instead of just scrolling down the page to see the release date of E17, I’m impressed. You are obviously quite disciplined.
It’s pretty rare to see people these days who can read this much text.
Okay, I’m done fooling around. The release date of E17, barring any huge issues, shall be the date predicted many centuries ago by the Mayans:
Brace yourselves, it’s coming.
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By Sharon Bernstein
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - A controversial bill to allow physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients in California passed a key legislative committee on Tuesday, after failing in the legislature earlier this summer amid opposition from the Catholic Church.
The measure, which passed 10-2, next goes to the assembly finance committee.
The bill was pulled from consideration in the legislature's regular session in July but was reintroduced last month as part of a special session on healthcare called by Democratic Governor Jerry Brown.
"The more time we've had to work on it, the more support we have," said Senator Bill Monning, a Democrat from Carmel who is a co-author of the bill. "Every major newspaper in the state has editorialized in support."
Last weekend, conservative columnist George Will wrote a column supporting assisted suicide, breaking with many conservatives to do so.
Backers have tried numerous times to legalize aid-in-dying in California, without success.
Last year, the issue burst into public consciousness in California after a 29-year-old cancer patient, Brittany Maynard, moved to Oregon to take advantage of that state's assisted suicide law.
With polls showing consistent support for such a measure in the most populous U.S. state, Democratic lawmakers introduced a bill after Maynard's death to make it legal for a doctor to prescribe medication for a terminally ill patient to end his or her life.
The practice is opposed by many doctors, who feel they should preserve life rather than help to end it, the Catholic Church and many conservative religious groups. Disability rights activists fear disabled people will be pushed to end their lives by insurance companies or relatives who do not want to care for them.
Assisted suicide is legal in Oregon, Washington, Montana and Vermont.
After the powerful California Medical Association removed its opposition to the latest bill last spring, backers hoped it would pass.
The measure made it through the state Senate, a more liberal body where it has strong support. But it stalled in the health committee of the state Assembly amid concern from some lawmakers with large Catholic constituencies that the Church was strongly opposed to it.
The committee, however, has different members for the special session on healthcare and on Tuesday the bill passed.
The California bill makes it a felony to pressure someone into physician-assisted suicide. It also forbids insurance companies from sending patients information about aid-in-dying drugs unless the patient has requested it.
(Editing by Sandra Maler) |
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Facebook's new community standards provide more detail about what posts will be removed
Facebook is providing the public with more information about what material is banned on the social network.
Its revamped community standards now include a separate section on "dangerous organisations" and give more details about what types of nudity it allows to be posted.
The US firm said it hoped the new guidelines would provide "clarity".
One of its safety advisers praised the move but said that it was "frustrating" other steps had not been taken.
Facebook says about 1.4 billion people use its service at least once a month
Confused users
The new guide will replace the old one on the firm's website, and will be sent to users who complain about others' posts.
Monika Bicket, Facebook's global head of content policy, said the rewrite was intended to address confusion about why some takedown requests were rejected.
Image copyright Facebook Image caption Facebook's guidelines urge members to report posts that they believe violate its rules
"We [would] send them a message saying we're not removing it because it doesn't violate our standards, and they would write in and say I'm confused about this, so we would certainly hear that kind of feedback," she told the BBC.
"And people had questions about what we meant when we said we don't allow bullying, or exactly what our policy was on terrorism.
"[For example] we now make clear that not only do we not allow terrorist organisations or their members within the Facebook community, but we also don't permit praise or support for terror groups or their acts or their leaders, which wasn't something that was detailed before."
Ms Bicket stressed, however, that the policies themselves had not changed.
Buttocks ban
The new version of the guidelines runs to nearly 2,500 words, nearly three times as long as before.
The section on nudity, in particular, is much more detailed than the vague talk of "limitations" that featured previously.
Facebook now states that images "focusing in on fully exposed buttocks" are banned, as are "images of female breasts if they include the nipple".
It adds that the restrictions extend to digitally-created content, unless posts are for educational or satirical purposes. Likewise, text-based descriptions of sexual acts that contain "vivid detail" are forbidden.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Facebook said some users were confused about why complaints had been rejected
However, Facebook adds that it will "always allow photos of women actively engaged in breastfeeding or showing breasts with post-mastectomy scarring".
Other sections with new details include:
Bullying - images altered to "degrade" an individual and videos of physical bullying posted to shame the victim are now expressly forbidden
Hate speech - while the site maintains the same list of banned topics, it now adds that people are allowed to share examples of others' hate speech in order to raise awareness of the issue, but they must "clearly indicate" that this is their purpose
Criminal activity - the network now states that users are prohibited from celebrating any crimes they have committed, but adds that they are allowed to propose that an illegal activity should be legalised
Self-injury - the site says that it will remove content that identifies victims and targets them for attack, even if done humorously. But it says that it does not consider "body modification" to be a type of self-injury
Graphic violence
The changes have been welcomed by the Family Online Safety Institute (Fosi), one of five independent organisations that make up Facebook's safety advisory board.
"I think it's great that Facebook has revamped its community standards page to make it both more readable and accessible," the body's chief executive Stephen Balkam told the BBC.
"I wish more social media sites and apps would follow suit."
But he expressed concern that Facebook was still not doing enough to protect youngsters from seeing disturbing videos.
While Facebook's new guidelines state that users should "warn their audience about what they are about to see if it includes graphic violence", it provides no way for members to add cover pages to clips to prevent them from auto-playing.
In January, after months of pressure from Fosi and others, Facebook revealed it had introduced a way for its own staff to add such "interstitial" warnings. They have been used over clips showing the murder of a French policeman in the Charlie Hebdo attacks among other material.
Image copyright Facebook Image caption Facebook staff can add interstitial warnings that stop videos from auto-playing, but only do so after acting on complaints
However, Facebook only adds the alerts if it has received a complaint, rather than letting the original posters do so.
"It is frustrating that after all this time, Facebook users are still not able to put up interstitials on violent or controversial images and videos," said Mr Balkam.
"Facebook has done the right thing to place interstitials themselves once a user has reported an image or extreme content, but my hope is that they will bring this to ordinary users sooner rather than later."
Facebook has acknowledged the point.
"We are always looking to provide more tools for people to use themselves," responded Ms Bicket.
"Right now we are not in a position to provide those tools to people, but we are always looking at ways to do better." |
Bengt Halvorson of Green Car Reports did the math on whether or not it’s worth it to buy the forthcoming plug-in version of the Toyota Prius, and the math is ugly:
The Prius has a small battery that holds only enough charge to take the vehicle 14 miles, but that battery charges relatively quickly — four hours on standard house current. Electricity costs about 11 cents per kwh and the battery holds 3.8 of them. All told, this leads to only a marginal cost savings per mile:
Prius Plug-In (100 miles): $6.12 Standard Prius (estimate, 100 mi): $6.98 Difference per 100 miles: $0.86 Difference per 10,000 miles: $86 Difference per 100,000 miles: $860
This, despite the fact that the plug-in Prius Halvorson tested was averaging a Gaian-hard-on inducing 90.8 mpg. The plug-in Prius will sell for between $3,500 and $5,000 more than its non-plug-in cousin, so no way are you making up the difference over the life of the vehicle even if gas prices freaking double, you Kombucha-drinking bikram yoga practitioner.
If you’re willing to pony up that extra scratch in the name of better emissions, however, the plug-in Prius has you covered. Halvorson calculates:
Greenhouse gases (CO2) per 10,000 miles: Standard Prius: 1.98 tons Prius Plug-In: 1.18 tons
So there you have it: in this economy, it ain’t easy being green. Until we get either a price on carbon or some kind of serious gas tax, we are stuck sucking the black ichor that issues from Mama Oil’s wretched teat.
(Unless you can just not drive, which is always the best option of all.)
Read more:
“2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In: By The Numbers, Would It Work For You?” Green Car Reports |
Donald Trump and Kanye West.
Among all of the intrigue surrounding the talent set for Donald Trump’s inauguration festivities, one name has been conspicuously absent: Kanye West. Indeed, given his photo op with the president-elect and his admission that Trump had his vote in his heart, West might be considered one of Trump’s most vocal famous supporters. So why isn’t West booked for an inauguration gig? According to Tom Barrack, the chairman of the Presidential Inauguration Committee, he was never asked because the inauguration isn’t a fitting “venue” for West. Talking to Erin Burnett on CNN, Barrack said, “He’s been great, he considers himself a friend of the president-elect, but it’s not the venue.” He continued to imply that West is not the right type of entertainment for the “typically and traditionally American” event, saying, “It’s going to be typically and traditionally American, and Kanye is a great guy, we just haven’t asked him to perform. And we move on with our agenda.” Sure, sure, all things Americana. That explains how lord of the Irish riverdance Michael Flatley got booked, sure. Watch the interview below. |
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called Saturday for an end to a world order dominated by the West and said Moscow wanted to establish a “pragmatic” relationship with the United States.
Lavrov was speaking at the Munich Security Conference shortly after US Vice President Mike Pence told the audience Washington remained “unwavering” in its commitment to the US-led NATO military alliance as it faced a more assertive Russia.
Lavrov said that the time when the West called the shots was over and, dismissing NATO as a relic of the Cold War, added: “I hope that (the world) will choose a democratic world order — a post-West one — in which each country is defined by its sovereignty.”
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Lavrov said Moscow wanted to build relations with Washington which would be “pragmatic with mutual respect and acknowledgement of our responsibility for global stability.”
The two countries had never been in direct conflict, he said, noting that they were actually close neighbours across the Baring Straits.
Russia wanted to see a “common space of good neighbor relations from Vancouver to Vladivostok,” he added.
Earlier at the conference Pence vowed to “hold Russia accountable” even as President Donald Trump searches for new common ground with Moscow at the start of his presidency.
Pence, in an address to the Munich Security Conference, also offered assurances to European allies that the US “strongly supports” NATO. He said the US would be “unwavering” in its commitment to trans-Atlantic institutions like NATO.
In his first overseas trip as vice president, Pence sought to calm nervous European allies who remain concerned about Russian aggression and have been alarmed by Trump’s positive statements about Russian President Vladimir Putin. The address to foreign diplomats and security officials also sought to reassure international partners who worry that Trump may pursue isolationist tendencies.
Pence said the US would demand that Russia honor a 2015 peace deal agreed upon in Minsk, Belarus, to end violence in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russia-backed separatists.
“Know this: The United States will continue to hold Russia accountable, even as we search for new common ground which as you know President Trump believes can be found,” Pence said.
Pence met afterward with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who addressed the conference just before the vice president. Merkel stressed the need to maintain international alliances and told the audience, with Pence seated a few feet away, that NATO is “in the American interest.”
European countries along Russia’s border are rattled by the prospect of deeper US-Russia ties after Trump suggested sanctions imposed after Russia’s annexation of Crimea could be eased in exchange for a nuclear weapons deal, and after the president referred to NATO as “obsolete” in an interview before his inauguration. Trump has since tempered his language, stressing the importance of the NATO alliance during his telephone conversations with foreign leaders.
Pence also scheduled meetings Saturday with the leaders of the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko — countries dealing with the threat of Russian incursion. Pence also planned to meet with Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.
The visit, which includes a stop in Brussels on Sunday and Monday, comes amid worries in Europe about Russian aggression, Trump’s relationship with Putin and whether the new president may promote isolationist tendencies through his “America First” mantra.
In his remarks, Pence also reinforced the Trump administration’s message that NATO members must spend more on defense.
NATO’s 28-member countries committed in 2014 to spending 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense within a decade. But only the US and four other members of the post-World War II military coalition are meeting the standard, Pence said.
Failure to meet the commitment, he said, “erodes the very foundation of our alliance.”
“Let me be clear on this point: The president of the United States expects our allies to keep their word, to fulfill this commitment and, for most, that means the time has come to do more,” Pence said. |
BUDAPEST – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a blistering attack against the European Union during a closed-session meeting Wednesday morning in the Hungarian capital of Budapest, telling the premiers of Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia that the EU's behavior toward Israel is crazy.
>> Netanyahu’s Bigheaded Euro-bashing in Budapest Is Bannon 101 ■ EU Dismisses Netanyahu’s Euro-bashing: Israel Must Respect Humanitarian Law
Although the meeting had been behind closed doors, Netanyahu's remarks were accidentally transmitted to the headphones distributed among reporters, though his people discovered the transmission and shut it down within a few minutes.
skip - Snippets from the Netanyahu hot-mic remarks: EU behavior toward Israel is crazy
Snippets from the Netanyahu hot-mic remarks: EU behavior toward Israel is crazy
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“The European Union is the only association of countries in the world that conditions the relations with Israel, that produces technology and every area, on political conditions. The only ones! Nobody does it,” Netanyahu said.
“It’s crazy. It’s actually crazy,” he continued, referring to the EU’s insistence to condition the EU-Association Agreement on certain terms related to the peace process. “It’s not about my interest. I’m talking about Europe’s interest.
“We have a special relationship with China. And they don't care. They don't care about the political issues. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he needs water for his people. Where will I get it? Ramallah? No,” Netanyahu said, adding that Israeli cows produce more milk than any other cows in the world – double the European average.
He went on to ask the Central European leaders to “help us and help Europe in expediting the EU Association Agreement.”
He added: “I think that if I can suggest that what comes out of this meeting is your ability perhaps to communicate to your colleagues in other parts of Europe: help Europe – twice. Don't undermine that one Western country that defends European values and European interests and prevents.
“There is no logic here. The EU is undermining its security by undermining Israel. Europe is undermining its progress by undermining its connection with Israeli innovation by a crazy attempt to create conditions,” he added.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban interrupted at this point and said, laughing, “Mr Netanyahu, the European Union is even more unique. The EU places conditions on the ones already inside the EU, not only the countries on the outside.”
Netanyahu answered, “I think Europe has to decide if it wants to live and thrive or if it wants to shrivel and disappear. I am not very politically correct. I know that’s a shock to some of you. It’s a joke. But the truth is the truth. Both about Europe’s security and Europe’s economic future. Both of these concerns mandate a different policy toward Israel.
“We are part of the European culture,” Netanyahu continued. “Europe ends in Israel. East of Israel, there is no more Europe. We have no greater friends than the Christians who support Israel around the world. Not only the evangelists. If I go to Brazil, I'll be greeted there with more enthusiasm than at the Likud party center.”
He also told the four other leaders that Israel has ties with Arab countries: “The Arabs speak with us. They speak with us about technology and everything we're talking about here,” Netanyahu said.
On American policy in the Middle East, Netanyahu attacked former U.S. President Barack Obama, saying, “We had a big problem [in the U.S.]. I think its different now. Vis-a-vis Iran, there is a stronger position. The U.S. is more engaged in the region and conducting more bombings [in Syria]. It is a positive thing. I think we’re ok on ISIS. We’re not OK on Iran.”
Regarding Syria, Netanyahu admitted to the four other prime ministers that Israel had carried out dozens of attacks against Hezbollah arms convoys. “We blocked the border not only in Egypt but in the Golan Heights,” he said. “We built the wall because there was a problem with ISIS and Iran trying to build a terror front there. I told Putin, when we see them transferring weapons to Hezbollah, we will hurt them. We did it dozens of times.” |
In this post I am going to share a simple trick that will help prompt you to compose and improvise your own music.
This also provides an excellent strategy for helping more advanced students develop their creativity, and move beyond written music.
When making up our own music it’s useful to have a “trigger” that helps get things started – or perhaps a set of “rules” or self-imposed limitations within which we will work. Far from limiting our imagination, this can stimulate our creativity as we explore the boundaries we have set ourselves.
The Eight Chord Trick can be used in exactly this way.
The Rules
Using whole notes / semibreves for each, play eight chords.
Each Chord must have four separate pitches (no octaves or doubled notes).
Don’t play the same chord twice.
And that’s it.
For more elementary players, you could try this using just four triads, and build up to the full Eight Chord Trick once the player is at an intermediate level.
Some Examples
First, here’s an example which takes little account of any of the laws of tonality or functional harmony:
Many players start off with something like this. It’s interesting that if we ignore what we know about basic chord construction and composing, we end up with something that sounds a bit like Messiaen!
Moving on, here’s a far more confident example, which could easily be used as the basis for a more developed composition.
There’s obvious diatonic awareness, some advanced harmonic understanding (which could have been achieved from trial and error, aurally or through theory work). Simple triads have been extended with either an added 6th or 7th, and there’s awareness of the “circle of fifths” too:
The two four bar phrases are more evident, and the Chord voicings move more naturally.
Learning about Playing Styles
Once the eight chords have been selected, go ahead and write them out for reference, using staff notation, Roman numerals, figured bass, or as jazz chord notation.
This musical idea can now be used for learning more about vamping simple accompaniments, improvisation, and as the basis for a long-form composition.
In this clip, I have taken Version 2 from above and arpeggiated the notes of the chord to make an easy variation:
A Student Example
Here’s an example composed by one of my own students, 14-year old Maddi Thompson (who is around Grade 5 piano standard). This was recorded on my piano during one of her lessons, and is shared here with permission.
You can hear how Maddi has used broken chord configurations to expand on her initial eight chords, which she had previously worked on and notated. She repeats the figure building dynamic shape and textural complexity.
Learning about Harmony
If you are a teacher using this activity with your students, it provides a perfect launchpad for investigating chords, their construction and voicing, the “circle of fifths” and the role of key.
One extension to the activity would be to limit the chords selected to a single diatonic or modal key.
For the more advanced player, the exercise could be extended to 16 chords, including a modulation. These activities provide the ideal bridge between the pianist’s practical development as a player, and their academic development as a musician.
Going further…
Those who get really into composition, music technology and popular music styles, could use their eight chord trick as the start for a new groove:
And with more instrumentation…
The possibilities for extending, adapting and developing The Eight Chord Trick – whether as a teaching and learning activity, or as a tool for your own creative development, are literally limitless.
Sunset in Gold
If any doubt remains that it’s possible to take such a simple idea and develop it into a fully-fledged composition, let me leave you with this composition of my own, which is actually based on a recurring pattern of just FOUR chords:
F9 – E7 – Am7 – Dm7
Unlike the examples so far, I didn’t stick to a regular four bar pattern with one chord per bar – in this piece, the chords follow a rhythmic logic determined by the melody line.
But this is what is possible when a melody is added, a little counterpoint perhaps, lots of instrumentation, electronic effects, and some poetry by Joseph von Eichendorff (1788-1857), as also used in the last of Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs:
Conclusion
You’ll have seen that from our starting point – the very basic rules of selecting eight chords – we have come a long way. And the skills that bring us this far take a long time to develop.
But for those who are committed to our own creative development, and to helping students “learn music musically”, I recommend trying out this method right away. |
And, really, that's about all we have to say about that. We'll be South of Market in San Francisco May 15-17 for the Google I/O developer conference. Perhaps you remember last year's event, which included skydiving (twice), the introduction of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and Google's Project Glass.
RIM will be at the Orlando Howard Johnson's (or somewhere nearby, we suppose) in Orlando May 14-16. And you might see an encore of the following presentation (after the break).
*Update from CrackBerry Kevin (w/ Phil's permission): Hey folks, just a little clarification here that the scheduling of this event really doesn't conflict with Google I/O from a developer perspective. BlackBerry Live, formerly BlackBerry World, formerly Wireless Enterprise Symposium, it not a developer event. Historically it's for enterprise customers, BES admins, carriers, and people in the business of BlackBerry. This past year RIM held a BlackBerry Developer conference in parallel with BlackBerry World, so they could get the Dev Alpha developer hardware into the hands of devs to build apps in preparation of the upcoming BB10 launch. BlackBerry's annual developer conference happens in the fall. *
*Update 2 from Phil: Whatever.
Source: CrackBerry |
Don’t worry about me, I’ll be back in 2017. Photo: SAUL LOEB/2012 AFP
The political collapse of Bobby Jindal is one of the noteworthy developments of the year. Following the 2008 elections, when waves of young, minority, and college-educated voters swept Barack Obama into the presidency, Republicans cast their eyes around and noted their young, non-white, highly educated governor and dubbed him their next big thing. They tapped him to deliver the official response to Obama’s first State of the Union address, and his performance was deemed so abysmal, and comically reminiscent of the manner of 30 Rock character and notably non-presidential figure Kenneth the Page, that Jindal fell off the national map altogether.
After Obama won reelection — once again, Republicans noticed, with the same coalition of young, non-white, and college-educated voters — Republicans remembered they still had this Jindal guy sitting around. Jindal reinflated his reputation with speeches urging Republicans not to be the “stupid party,” advice that struck some of them as potentially a good idea. But now the second Jindal bubble has popped. His approval rating in his home state — a crucial measuring post for national viability — has dipped below 40 percent.
If the first Jindal collapse was farce, the second is tragedy. And the cause of it is easy enough to identify. Jindal unveiled a sweeping plan to eliminate the state’s income taxes and corporate taxes, replacing the lost revenue with cuts to social programs and higher sales taxes. It sent the hearts of national Republicans (like The Wall Street Journal editorial page and Grover Norquist) aflutter but provoked massive opposition within the state.
Benjy Sarlin concludes an excellent rundown of the debacle by suggesting “it may be time to rethink just how popular the whole ‘starve the beast’ approach actually is with voters.” That misses the crucial fact that caused the backlash against Jindal, and that also differentiates him from the national Republican approach.
Jindal’s plan exploded because it was zero sum. It cut taxes on the rich and raised them on the poor. It had to be zero sum because states have to balance their budgets.
But the federal budget doesn’t have to balance, and this fact underpins the entire Republican policy strategy over the last three decades. Before Ronald Reagan, Republicans cared a great deal about controlling the budget deficit and very little about cutting taxes for the rich. In an environment where every dollar into one account had to come from another, giving a lot of the dollars to a tiny number of people is almost invariably unpopular.
That’s why the GOP’s makeover into a more plutocratic party occurred simultaneously with its abandonment of old-fashioned fiscal conservatism. Lower taxes for the rich can work politically only if you obscure the fact that eventually the money has to come from somewhere else.
The Paul Ryan budget is instructive. The original version of it from 2010 included a sweeping, Jindal-style overhaul. It slashed taxes for the rich to such levels as to require, for the sake of avoiding an explosion of debt, middle- and lower-income Americans to pay around 50 percent more in taxes. When Republicans decided the next year to make Ryan’s budget the governing vision of their party, they scrapped the provisions to raise taxes on the non-rich and instead replaced the lost revenue with hand-waving nonsense.
Jindal was attempting to enact a state-level version of the Ryan approach, but in a context that left him unable to use the Ryan-style obfuscations that are necessary to hide the fact that it’s a gigantic exercise in upward redistribution of wealth. He may urge Republicans to stop being the stupid party, but the biggest fool is Jindal himself. |
AoM:EE Balance Update - Detailed Thoughts From The Team
Competitive maps:
State of the meta:
Norse:
Greek:
Egyptians:
Atlanteans:
Hi everyone,We wanted to give more in-depth information on the balance team's thoughts regarding the game's current(pre-patch) state of balance, the reasoning behind the changes and how we would like to communicate with you guys.The changes can be seen here: http://www.forgottenempires.net/aom/changelog To access the changes, use the "Preview" beta build, as shown in the bottom of our dev blog: http://www.forgottenempires.net/age-of-mythology-ee-dev-blog-1-the-old-powers We feel that the random map generator unfortunately leaves room for too much imbalance in general. Things such as one player having their starting hunt within their initial vision, whereas the other player doesn't are commonplace, and cause considerable differences in options available to the players. On water maps, this problem can be even more severe. It's also important to mention cases where one player has access to considerably more resources, or even more settlements than the other player. These kind of differences cause major snowballing in games, and often there is no "right choice" to handle the problems the map is causing, as the favored player would be more wary of special moves, while maintaining control over the game.We recognize the importance of the sense of accomplishment when overcoming such imbalances, but we also think it is crucial to point out that the negatively affected player has to play considerably better than his opponent (given decent god balance) to overcome such problems, especially if their extent is great.To soften the impact of these problems, our cartographers have been hard at work, making hundreds of edits to the existing maps. While this will not completely eliminate the possibility of problems, based on our internal testing, the severity and likelihood of disposition and uneven distribution of resources have been reduced greatly.As you can see in the change log, we made a few changes to map dynamics, such as Alfheim's cliffs where units can no longer be placed. This has been a significant problem in the majority of cases when dealing with Roc drops, or Shifting Sands. For Oasis, we felt that the single big forest spawns are too defensive, and do not create enough points of interest to fight over.Additionally, we have removed Highland from the random map set, as we deemed its gameplay too abusive given the nature of the water's positioning. To those who didn't know, it's commonplace to spam docks on highland, which is something we do not want to encourage in competitive games as it is highly stale. A long term goal of ours is to have a replacement for Highland(maybe 2 replacements), which everyone is free to brainstorm about.One of the new maps in Tale of the Dragon will have an elongated layout, with a small water pond with fish behind each player. The outside of the map will feature high hunt. The idea here is to have a map where limited fishing can be executed safely without the gameplay transitioning into naval battles. We are aware that this will reduce the benefits of map control to some extent, but think that that could be an interesting dynamic to have on one map.The game has not received any significant balance updates since 2004, save for the bug fixes that had a very minor impact here in the Extended Edition, but in the end weren't too significant when it comes to overall balance and strategies. As such, there has been plenty of time for players old and new to figure out how to correctly approach things and create various playstyles.Our stance on the strength of gods(before this patch), broken up into tiers is the following:Tier 1: Zeus, Set, Oranos, IsisTier 2: Poseidon, Ra, Thor, Loki, Kronos, HadesTier 3: Odin, GaiaThis means that the tier 1 gods, with the exception of a few rare situations are considerably stronger than the tier 2 or tier 3 gods. Gods of equal tier have a reasonable chance of dealing with each other as long as the map is fair.When it comes to playstyles, we are seeing very harsh abuse of harassment in the early Classical Age. The problem here is that the opposing player may still be in the Archaic Age, where there's not much of a defense that can be mustered. The tendency of being forced to advance early to repel this kind of harassment is something we would like to tone down. A number of our changes are aimed to make this type of harassment weaker.While economic harassment, and getting ahead through it in booming has been highly dominant for a long time now, we're not seeing much viability in super aggressive rushes, or early all-ins. We feel that walls are the strongest contributors to the very strong defender's advantage in AoM, in most cases to an extent that is unnecessarily big. By weakening walls against hack attacks, and reducing the repair speed on them, we hope to improve this situation. While we don't think this is enough to discourage heavy booming that is the current standard meta in a lot of matchups, we think we can at least provide greater strategic diversity this way.Additionally, we want to remove some of the god power randomness. We would like to see consistent results from these - a strong example would be Great Hunt, which when cast on an Aurochs and a Goat, would the majority of times only clone one of the two due to a randomized selection. With the change, as long as you are not hitting the 750 food limit, animals will be consistently cloned.In the balance team's opinion, Norse is currently in a fairly weak spot, abusable in far too many ways. We would like to give them some extra strength in certain areas, in addition to weakening the tier 1 gods that are most notably abusing them currently.As the #1 problem I would like to mention getting up docks on water maps: the Ulfsark is not capable of going into the passive stance, which means that he cannot ignore damage caused by enemy units while building. As such, Kataskospos, Priest, Pharaoh, Set animals or even Villagers are capable of keeping Norse from building the dock for a long time. This leaves Norse at an economic disadvantage due to the fact that opposing players meanwhile are able to train some fishing ships. In addition, Zeus is able to use bolt on the Ulfsark to force the Norse to make another, which can still be harassed the same way.Our solution to this is introducing a starting Ulfsark that is not identical to the regular one, and cannot be re-trained. It is not affected by bolt and can ignore damage while building. We also made sure that pharaohs cannot shoot over unfinished buildings that block access to dock builders.With this in place, Norse players are going to be able to have a dock at proper timings and in proper positions, which is going to be a really big change - we're looking forward to see how this alters things on water maps.Aside from making forward temple pressure stronger, we think this has very little effect on how they perform on land maps. We felt that with the reduction to the Archaic Age harassment via introduction of archaic age nerfs on Greek Heroes, and the weakening of the Pharaoh until Hands of the Pharaoh is researched, as well as the weakened Turma(no medium upgrade for free) and the Shifting Sands nerf will mean that Norse is going to be able to either push away overeager aggressors with their hunters(most common point of harass), or just retreat while taking less damage than they would have before. With this, we think that there will be a slightly better economy available as Norse enters the classical age.Another area that we wanted to address is their ability to fight flying units, especially when facing fast-heroic advances that lead to Roc or Stymphalian Bird use. We feel that Throwing Axemen do acceptably well at zoning, but for that they need access to the Axe of Muspell upgrade - we decided to give access to it in the Classical Age, and made it provide extra range for them as well, so that they are actually able to hit a flying target as fast as Rocs. This way, the upgrade will potentially see usage even in matches where flying units are not involved.We are hearing the complaints about Hersirs being slow and inefficient, especially without the Hall of Thanes upgrade. As an initial step, we decided to marginally increase their speed, which should help them zone and/or chase enemy Myth Units.Finally, we wanted to give all the Norse gods a buff for the late game, in order to make them not solely rely on Ragnarok. We hope that the siege buffs will be sufficient once their upgrades kick in in order to keep Norse potent at dealing damage. We also improved Fenris Wolf Broods, which will hopefully increase Tyr usage. Also important to mention is the Nidhogg change, that will allow Loki players to safely use it against Zeus players.There is a minor buff to Odin's regeneration bonus, which doesn't really need further explanation. We'd just like the regeneration to pay off better, as idle units are generally not that useful. Also, with the change to the Ravens, he should be able to use Forest Fire without investing population into scouting.An overall well rounded civilization, with a limited amount of things that shine a little too brightly currently, as well as a few viability problems.Zeus is highly dominant out of the three gods, which is something we would like to tone down. There is an array of hero changes that will make Greek heroes more balanced across the board, most notably the Mythic Age heroes. Bellerophon for example will not be able to handle Siege Units single handedly with the same efficiency, and he will also take more than a single jump to kill Myth Units such as Lampades or Mummies, which will allow these to be better used against Colossi.Additionally, we see a high dominance of Greek on water maps, which we think is caused by the +4 range on Triremes(when compared to other arrow ships). We would like them to still have more range, but only +2. The Restoration nerf is going to help in this area as well(in addition to making gold starve strategies weaker).Zeus' ability of Myth Unit spam is another thing we would like to slightly tone down for the entire game's duration, and so we're reducing his favor gathering bonus.We feel that the Bolt power is too powerful when used on the Son of Osiris or the Nidhogg, as these are Mythic Age god powers that are not going to be usable. While we acknowledge that Isis has some limited counterplay with Monuments, it is not enough in standard supremacy games to withstand Colossus after Colossus, as well as the Myrmidon heavy compositions. We also have removed the boltability of Transport Units, namely the Leviathan and Roc, to be in line with the Transport Ship's status.Centaurs are another thing that we would like to re-balance, by slightly increasing the base speed, but reducing the speed at which they move after the Sylvan Lore upgrade. This way we believe that they will be easier to zone out, and perhaps Poseidon will make use of a pair of un-upgraded Centaurs in the early game more often than now.The repair rate on the Underworld Passage is now similar to other buildings - it was as high as it was most likely because of a coding mistake in the original game. Now it is repaired at the rate a normal building would be, which should make the struggles of Egyptians against Zeus' mythic age Underworlds less one sided.The buff to Hetairoi was done because they are not really effective at their role as by the mythic age people upgrade their towers with Crenellations in general, but especially against Poseidon. With this huge increase to hitpoints, these units are hopefully strong enough to be used regularly.As a minor note, Lure should be fully consistent now, and Sentinels will be able to hit units that are moving, bumping up the strength of Poseidon and Hades ever so slightly.A great portion of the Egyptian changes addresses early game harassment, our direction on which was explained above. I would like to add though that Set animals denying Docks, and early Shifting Sands to steal Villagers/Military Units and trap them between building fire is by our definition part of the same abusive meta that we would like to phase out.We definitely see a lot of problems with Greek players doing a 3 TC boom into mythic while surviving off of mass Hippikons. To provide counterplay beyond Scorpion Men, we'd like to try a minor buff to Camelry. We're also looking to make them slightly better at raiding and against Centaurs.Due to an overpowering strength of Roc drops(Elephants/Siege Towers) against Norse in the heroic age, we decided to slightly reduce the Roc's speed in addition to Norse changes. This should also make the Catapult drops weaker later on as well.Given the many changes that weaken the Greek mythic age, we are looking to weaken the Egyptian pushes aided by Mercenaries by reducing their hitpoints. We hope that players will be able to fight these head-on more often than now. This will of course affect the entirety of the late game, but we're not expecting that to be a negative thing, as these pushes usually bear one sided end results.The Meteor accuracy change should have a massive effect as well - as long as there are enemies to hit, the meteors will strike them. Note that this is not a real buff against Town Centers though, as surrounding buildings will cause meteors to hit those, making the TC take less hits.Due to their highly asymmetric design(Citizens, Manors, Heroes), Atlanteans are really tricky to balance.While we will not be changing their original design, what we will change is their power spikes. The goal here is to reduce their strength in the early game, and strengthening them across the rest of the game, while also solving the many viability issues of their minor gods.A big problem we've been seeing for a very long time is that they can advance with a very good economy even when they only have 5 Citizens. There is a bug when it comes to resource drop offs that we are looking at currently(note: this always has been in the game!), which could force a considerable amount of economic changes across the board. For the moment, we are leaving the Atlantean economy alone, but would like to hear your thoughts on it while the drop off bugs are looked at. We are aware that nerfs to the early Atlantean economy would be detrimental on water maps, and would compensate with some form of Bireme buff most likely, if such a change would happen.To go along with the theme of weakening the classical age unit flood of Atlanteans, we'd like to take away the free Medium Archers tech. Turmas should be slightly easier to deal with this way. Coupled with weakening the stun effect of Shockwave, these kinds of plays will feel much less abusive.The reliance on Prometheus as a crutch against Myth Units is very clear - Gaia has extreme difficulties keeping up with the required hero counts. As such, we would like to make heroes cheaper, but also weaken the Valor god power by taking a charge away.We feel that Priest/Siege pushes by Isis and Set are extremely difficult for Atlanteans to deal with currently, and would like to provide counterplay in the form of the Contarius, seeing as Greek/Norse would handle this composition with cavalry fairly easily. With this change, we're giving room to the Contarius entering the meta, and will hopefully push Priest/Siege out of dominance. In addition, we have been thinking about making the Medium Cavalry upgrade free for Atlanteans, or reducing the Cavalry line upgrade costs, seeing as only one of their units is affected. We will be watching to determine if that is needed, and are looking forward to your feedback on this.To buff the Atlantean late game, as well as general rush defense(particularly against villager rushes with Shifting Sands), we would like to make the Town Centers of Atlanteans equal to that of other civs stat-vise. For the late game, the Fire Siphon will be turned into a mid-range siege weapon, while the Heka Gigantes becomes a little more tanky. This should allow Atlanteans to mimic the Greek late game a little (note similarities to Myrmidon-Colossus-Helepolis and Underworld Passage with Heka Gigantes-Destroyer-Fanatic-Fire Siphon and Vortex).As you can see, we are very unhappy with Minor God viability issues, and would like to bump up the power of Leto, Rheia, Hyperion and Gaia's Lush bonus by a little.Continued below. |
Politics
China Warns Trump not to Meddle in South China Sea Dispute
China has warned US President Donald Trump not to meddle in the South China Sea dispute saying Washington is not a party to the territorial conflict in the region.
In an interview with an American news agency on Wednesday, China foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the new Trump administration was in no position to attack Beijing over its territorial disputes in the region.
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"There might be a difference of opinion over the sovereignty of these islands, but it's not for the United States," Lu told NBC News.
Individual Claimants
Lu reiterated Beijing's stance that it would negotiate only with claimant countries in the region to resolve the conflict. This includes the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, and Taiwan.
Lu said Beijing would not back down on its claims in the South China Sea and that the US would have to "wage war" to bar China from accessing its islands and reefs in the region.
Even before Trump assumed presidency, Chinese state-run news agencies had already warned the Republican billionaire to refrain from getting involved in the territorial disputes in the disputed waterway.
But this week, US spokesperson Sean Spicer said that US forces would continue to defend the rights of other countries to use the international waters in the South China Sea freely.
Measures
Spicer likewise said that the US would soon formulate measures to bar Beijing from taking islands in international waters in the disputed waterway.
"We have to protect the US' interests in the region and defend international territories from being taken over by one country," he said.
Analysts said Spicer's statements called for military action which may include a naval blockade that could ignite a war between the two countries.
During one of his campaign rallies, Trump had openly accused Beijing of building a "military complex" in the South China Sea and vowed to confront China on the issue once he becomes president.
The resource-rich sea is believed to hold huge deposits of oil and gas. Around $5 trillion worth of ship-borne trade passes through the region annually.
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With Week 7 of the NFL season upon us, NFL.com's network of reporters gets you up to speed with the hottest news and notes from across the league, including:
» The secret to Lorenzo Alexander's success.
» Why Christian Hackenberg continues to wait.
» An update on the mysterious saga of Ladarius Green.
But first, we catch up with one of the masterminds of the Vikings' juggling act ...
* * * * *
Rick Spielman was looking forward to the Minnesota Vikings' bye weekend mostly because it meant a plane ride to a college game. And that meant, maybe, a 90-minute nap.
"That's my 'me' time," Spielman said.
There isn't another general manager in the NFL who could use a spa day more than Spielman. His team is the league's lone remaining undefeated squad, having tested the bounds of resilience and desperation deal-making along the way.
From the moment quarterback Teddy Bridgewater crumbled to the ground with a devastating knee injury in practice a little more than a week before the regular season even began, the Vikings' roster has been on tilt. Coach Mike Zimmer cancelled the rest of that practice, then held a team meeting, while Spielman and the personnel department began three days of sifting through their options. Then Spielman spent all night negotiating a blockbuster trade to acquire quarterback Sam Bradford from the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for draft picks, including a first-round choice in 2017.
And that was just the beginning. Running back Adrian Peterson is out, and so are left tackle Matt Kalil and right tackle Andre Smith, all perhaps for the entire season. Last week, the Vikings announced the signing of veteran tackle Jake Long, the former first overall pick who immediately began working on the left side before the Week 6 bye in preparation for the Vikings' game this weekend against the Philadelphia Eagles.
"I've been in this business a long time; I don't know if your head ever spins," Spielman said as he prepared for his scouting trip. "The injuries have been pretty significant so far. When things happen, you just try to do the best you can to make adjustments."
The adjustments the Vikings have made -- most particularly the acquisition of Bradford, who, in four games, has completed 70.4 percent of his passes with six touchdowns and no interceptions -- have paid off so far. Bradford's play has been so impressive that there are already questions about how the Vikings will manage their quarterbacks next season, when Bridgewater is expected to return.
Immediately after the trade, Spielman made it clear that Bridgewater's timeline is uncertain, and the second year of Bradford's current contract is important because of that. But with the Vikings now on a roll, Spielman sounds a bit like he is tapping the brakes on the runaway optimism.
"We're still not going to know the end results," Spielman said. "He has played well for us, but we still have a long season ahead of us."
Still, that Minnesota is 5-0 after such a barrage of bad news is a reflection of the all-in attitude the Vikings had from the start. Minnesota was a popular preseason Super Bowl pick coming off an 11-5 campaign and its first NFC North title since 2009. Every team facing similar injuries -- Super Bowl-ready or not -- would pay lip service to the notion of never giving up on the season. But Spielman admitted that, had the Vikings' timeline been different, the team's reaction to Bridgewater's injury might have been, too.
"I think each year is different," he said. "Maybe if it was Coach Zimmer's first year, and we had just started building this under his and my vision of what we want the team to be, but we're into his third year right now. We put a lot of time and effort into the three years to build what we envision as a good football team. Because we're in that phase instead of the beginning of the program, we're going to be more aggressive."
The Vikings also knew they possessed a top defense on which to lean. Minnesota is allowing the fewest points in the league (12.6 per game). That provides a safety net for all the offensive tinkering, which has resulted in the 14th-ranked scoring offense (23.8 points per game). Could Spielman have imagined all his decisions would work out so well?
"Honestly, no," Spielman said.
The signing of Long is almost certainly the last significant deal the Vikings will make this season. They have limited cap space -- at one point last week, Spielman said it was about $50,000 -- a function of having 10 players and about $33 million on injured reserve and the non-football injury list. Spielman has begun looking at the roster and salary cap for 2017, which will bring momentous decisions about the futures of Bradford, Bridgewater and Peterson.
But with the Vikings' season resuming in Philadelphia, and with Minnesota now the NFC team to beat, the big roster decisions can wait while the current ones play out.
"All of that stuff will be there at the end," Spielman said. "I take it -- we do, as a team -- take it one day at a time, one game at a time. People say, 'Why don't you trade for this left tackle?' -- it's not fantasy football. You have to tie in the business aspect. We did give up a first-round pick for Sam next year. I still have eight draft picks, my goal is always to have 10. I'm not going to touch any more draft picks."
-- Judy Battista
And now, the rest of this week's notes from NFL.com's reporters:
BALTIMORE RAVENS: Urschel makes it all add up. In a new Bose commercial, J.J. Watt tunes out Ravens offensive lineman/math whiz John Urschel as he explains how noise-canceling headphones work. Urschel said, "J.J. was great," and that the shoot took only about two hours of filming -- which is remarkably fast for any TV production.
"Their acoustic engineers had written up some things for me to look at," Urschel told me. "So once I looked at them and learned them, I didn't have to memorize them. I knew them. So it was very much like I was teaching. That made it very natural."
Urschel owns bachelor's and master's degrees in mathematics from Penn State and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in mathematics from MIT. He's never received a grade other than an "A."
Urschel -- popular within the Ravens organization -- said he eventually wants "to be a professor, be a researcher and get to learn about fascinating phenomena in the world and also inspire young people."
You might be wondering if Urschel and his math genius are a fit in an NFL locker room. I did, too. So I asked him.
"I know what you're saying," he said. "While I don't think the math fits in an NFL locker room, I very much feel like I do. Yeah, I do all these 'math things,' but I'm also just one of the guys. I'm a football player. So while the things I do off the field might not fit in, I feel like I do."
-- Kimberly Jones
* * * * *
BUFFALO BILLS: Alexander's breakout a long time coming. It's impressive enough that Bills linebacker Lorenzo Alexander leads the league with eight sacks. A relative unknown before now, Alexander is on his sixth team and in his 12th season.
When I talked to Bills defensive lineman Leger Douzable, one of the former Jets who is now on Rex Ryan's Buffalo roster, he called Alexander "one of the greatest teammates you could have."
Why?
"Because he's so unselfish. You can't help but get fired up seeing him running down on kickoff and punt teams."
Alexander has been on the field for 64.4 percent of Buffalo's defensive snaps and at least 32 snaps in each game. He is also among the Bills' leaders in special teams snaps. (He was, by the way, the Redskins' Special Teams Player of the Year in 2011.)
Rex said he once thought Alexander reminded him of Adalius Thomas, but lost track of him until Bills GM Doug Whaley wanted to sign him.
"He just makes plays," Rex said. "He's smart, he ties in super well -- like, him, Kyle Williams, Jerry Hughes, all that group, Douzable -- all those guys, they're just a team. These guys build off each other. [Alexander] will be the first to tell you that he wouldn't have the success without Jerry Hughes opposite him. He's been phenomenal."
-- Kimberly Jones
* * * * *
NEW YORK GIANTS: Bringing the comeback back. The Giants rallied from a 10-0 deficit to defeat Baltimore last Sunday for one of their wildest -- and most stunning -- wins in recent memory. How rare was the comeback? Very.
The Giants had lost the previous 13 games in which they'd trailed by at least 10 points at any point in the game. They are 18-69 (.207) when Eli Manning starts and the team trails by 10 or more points at any point in the game. And the Giants are just 3-27 (.100) in the last 30 such games, dating back to Week 10, 2012.
Sunday's victory marked the first time the Giant won after overcoming at least a 10-point deficit since Week 5 of the 2014 season. Odell Beckham Jr. made his NFL debut that day after missing his first four games as a rookie with a hamstring injury; he caught his first touchdown pass on a route he'd never practiced.
On Sunday, Beckham led the Giants with two TDs and 222 receiving yards. He scored the game-winner from 66 yards out with 1:24 to play.
"That was a fun locker room after the game," Manning said. "Exciting locker room."
No wonder.
-- Kimberly Jones
From childhood fan to on-field colleague. After making his first NFL touchdown catch Sunday, Giants rookie receiver Roger Lewis Jr. tweeted that he "went from wearing an Eli Manning jersey in middle school to catching his 300th touchdown pass."
Lewis told me it was "back when my mom was picking out my clothes" that he donned the Eli jersey. Now, he has that touchdown football in his locker. He said he will ask Manning to sign it, then give it to Mom.
Which begs the question: Did Manning want that milestone football?
"No, he can have it," Manning said. "It's his first one; I got 300 other ones. The first one's a special one, and he deserves it."
Manning does have the ball he threw for his first touchdown pass, to Jeremy Shockey back in November 2004 -- six days before Lewis turned 11 years old.
-- Kimberly Jones
* * * * *
NEW YORK JETS: Hackenberg has to keep waiting -- for now. When the Jets drafted Christian Hackenberg, their plan was for him to sit out the 2016 season and learn from veteran quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick.
At the time, it made sense, with Fitzpatrick coming off a career season and with the 21-year-old Hackenberg needing to learn the pro game. Now? The grand plan -- at least around the rookie -- has fallen apart, with an ineffective Fitzpatrick being benched in favor of Geno Smith. Coach Todd Bowles said neither Bryce Petty, who injured his shoulder in the fourth preseason game and returned to practice a week ago, nor Hackenberg was an option.
"You've got to get reps to get ready," Bowles said. "He's a rookie quarterback and he's got three in front of him. He's not going to get enough reps to be ready to throw in there like that. He's getting plenty of scout-team reps. He's learning poise in the pocket and is getting experience that way."
In this, the year of the rookie quarterback, the Jets' handling of Hackenberg, their second-round pick, is at least interesting and arguably a debate topic. Consider that five rookies have started at QB this season, posting a combined 9-9 record: Dak Prescott (5-1), Carson Wentz (3-2), Jacoby Brissett (1-1), Cody Kessler (0-4) and Paxton Lynch (0-1). The rookies have a combined passer rating of 97.0. The NFL average passer rating is 91.3.
Hackenberg told me at the end of preseason that he would prepare as a starter whether he actually had that opportunity or not this season. It seems anything could be possible in Florham Park.
-- Kimberly Jones
Ryan remembers Byrd. Rex Ryan became emotional at his Wednesday press conference when the Bills coach was asked about the passing of former Jet Dennis Byrd.
Byrd, a compelling figure following his recovery from paralysis after a career-ending neck injury in 1992, died on Saturday in a two-vehicle accident in Oklahoma. He was 50.
Rex said when he was Jets coach, he unexpectedly received a package from Byrd. It was the jersey Byrd was wearing when he was injured.
"He came out, spoke to our team, and he was amazing," Rex said. "So he inspired me, and he inspired the whole team, too."
As for the jersey, Rex said, "I couldn't accept it. No way."
The jersey remains at the Jets' training facility in Florham Park. It is framed and hangs in the equipment area.
-- Kimberly Jones
* * * * *
PITTSBURGH STEELERS: Belichick sees something special in Bell. If you want to know what it's like when Bill Belichick fawns, consider his reaction when a reporter started asking about Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell.
"Oh my God," the Patriots' coach said, before the full query was even out.
The NFL's longest-tenured head coach went on to call Bell a "tremendous player" and credit the third-year back with having just about every positive asset a player at his position could have. None of which was lost on Bell.
"It's really humbling," Bell said. "He's one of the greatest coaches to ever coach the game, and to say he likes my skill set? It blew me away."
Bell missed the first three weeks of the season while serving a suspension for a violation of the NFL's substance abuse policy (for, he said, missing drug tests). In the three games since, he has 263 rushing yards on 48 carries and another 177 receiving yards on 20 receptions. Belichick said Bell is "as good as anybody." This week, with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger out and the Patriots coming to town, the Steelers will certainly need Bell to live up to that praise.
"I have to do whatever I can to help us win this game," Bell said. "But I feel like that when Ben's playing. It's not any different. I'm in shape to do whatever is asked of me."
The Patriots rank ninth in run defense (allowing 92 rushing yards per game), and they've allowed an average of 45.5 receiving yards per game to running backs. Bell said when he looks at New England, he sees a team "that wants to bleed you out. They make sure to take away the big play, and they'll let you have a couple yards here and there."
Bell, of course, said he has no problem with that, explaining, "We know how to be patient."
As for backup quarterback Landry Jones, who will be making the start in Roethlisberger's stead, Bell said, "It's on us to take the pressure off him. Guys like the offensive line, 'AB' [Antonio Brown] and myself."
And Belichick, for one, is at least talking like Bell could.
-- Aditi Kinkhabwala
Green's status still up in the air. The long, confusing saga that has been Ladarius Green's time in Pittsburgh continues this week ... with more uncertainty.
The Steelers' one splashy offseason signing, Green was finally set to practice this week, and on Monday, said he expected to. As of Thursday, he had yet to join his teammates on the field.
Brought in to help fill the hole left by tight end Heath Miller's retirement, Green has not suited up once since signing his four-year, $20 million contract. The team has maintained that his recovery from seemingly routine ankle surgery in January has prevented his return; NFL.com first reported this summer that Green has actually been suffering from recurring headaches.
While Green has never denied the headaches have played a role in his sidelining, he did declare himself ready to participate. In fact, when asked if it was reasonable to even be active come Sunday, when Pittsburgh host the Pats, he said on Monday, "I hope so."
By Thursday, he knew that was improbable. And while he again said, "I feel ready, I feel good," he also said it is head coach Mike Tomlin's decision on when to activate him, and "I don't argue."
Tomlin has remained non-committal on when he expects Green to return. Tuesday, he said he had "more pressing issues" to discuss with his medical staff than Green. The Steelers have until the day after Week 11 to begin Green's practice clock. Once he participates for the first time, the team has 21 days to officially add him to the 53-man roster.
-- Aditi Kinkhabwala |
Canada's job market has been a powerhouse over the past year, adding some 320,000 jobs, well above population growth.
The latest numbers from Statistics Canada showed another strong month of job growth in September, with 112,000 full-time positions created, even as the country shed 102,000 lower-quality part-time jobs.
The jobless rate stayed steady at 6.2 per cent, a nine-year low. It's hard to imagine the job situation, nationally, getting much better. But as always in Canada's economy, there are wide regional differences.
Watch: The most in-demand jobs in Canada in 2017
For instance, in September, Ontario took the cake for job growth, adding a whopping 34,700 jobs in one month. In that same time, Alberta lost 7,800 jobs, Quebec lost 7,600 and British Columbia lost 6,700 jobs.
According to the latest edition of the Bank of Montreal's Labour Market Report Card, cities in just three provinces are dominating the list of best places to find work — British Columbia, Manitoba and Ontario. And Ontario — particularly cities near Toronto — is the big winner, with six of the top 10 cities for work in that province.
Here are BMO's best cities for work, for the third quarter of 2017:
10. Victoria, B.C.
Comstock Images
Jobs added in past year: 3.1%
Unemployment rate: 4.5%
Victoria has dropped six spots on the ranking in the past year, but still maintains a top-10 spot thanks to strong job growth and a very low jobless rate.
9. Toronto, Ont.
ferrantraite via Getty Images
Jobs added in past year: 2.4%
Unemployment rate: 6.1%
A booming real estate industry and strong population growth has made Toronto a job-creation powerhouse, and its jobless rate is at a 16-year low, BMO notes. Watch out for those high housing costs, though.
8. Oshawa, Ont.
Toronto Star via Getty Images
Jobs added in past year: -1.7%
Unemployment rate: 4.9%
Oshawa, long known as an auto factory town, is one of many cities near Toronto benefiting from the area's strong economy. Although it has shed jobs over the past year, its unemployment rate is considerably lower than Toronto's at 4.9 per cent, likely thanks in part to jobs in nearby cities.
7. Guelph, Ont.
Getty Images
Jobs added in past year: 4.6%
Unemployment rate: 5.8%
Guelph jumped eight spots in BMO's Labour Market Report Card in the past year, another city seeing strong economic growth thanks to nearby Toronto. Still, that's not such as strong showing, given that, as recently as 18 months ago, it was the best city in Canada to find work.
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6. Vancouver, B.C.
Pgiam via Getty Images
Jobs added in past year: 2.4%
Unemployment rate: 4.5%
British Columbia and its largest city have had a very dynamic job market in recent years. Vancouver's 2.7-per-cent jump in jobs in the past year is actually a little weaker than the 3-per-cent-plus rates seen a year ago. But its ultra-low jobless rate means it still one of the best cities in Canada to find work.
5. Barrie, Ont.
DonFord1
Jobs added in past year: -2.0%
Unemployment rate: 6%
Barrie jumped 12 spots in the rankings over the past year, despite actually losing jobs. As Torontonians look further and further out of the city for affordable housing, Barrie, some 115 km north of Toronto, has become an option for many. The result? A housing boom in the city.
4. Winnipeg, Man.
benedek via Getty Images
Jobs added in past year: 2.6%
Unemployment rate: 5.5%
Winnipeg is the only city on this list that isn't in Ontario or British Columbia, having jumped 17 spots on the rankings in a year. The city's job growth helped to pull Manitoba's unemployment rate down from a 20-year high in late 2016, BMO notes. The bank suspects it was the oil shock that caused Manitoba's job weakness last year.
3. Kitchener, Ont.
Arpad Benedek
Jobs added in past year: 4.9%
Unemployment rate: 4.5%
Kitchener's high-tech scene and its proximity to Toronto helped propel the city four spots in the BMO ranking. Like Barrie and many other places, the city is seeing an influx of Torontonians seeking affordable housing.
2. Hamilton, Ont.
benedek via Getty Images
Jobs added in past year: 12.5%
Unemployment rate: 4.2%
This formerly struggling steel town is now a boomtown, jumping 25 spots in the BMO ranking in a year. But as BMO notes, the massive 12.5-per-cent jump in the number of jobs may not have happened entirely in Hamilton. The labour force survey measures employment from your place of residence, and these jobs may be located in other parts of the Greater Golden Horseshoe/Greater Toronto Area. Still, not a bad place to be if you are looking for a job.
1. Kelowna, B.C.
Getty Images/iStockphoto
Jobs added in past year: 14.3%
Unemployment rate: 5.4%
What an amazing turnaround for this city in British Columbia's interior. As recently as a year-and-a-half ago, Kelowna ranked as the worst city in Canada to find a job, having fallen 33 spots in the labour market ranking in a single year. Well, the city has just made up all its losses, jumping all the way to first place. So maybe the real takeaway here is that Kelowna has a very volatile job market. |
Obama: Be Prepared For New Wave Of Anonymous Attack Ads Posted by Pile (10334 views) [E-Mail link]
In his weekly address, President Obama discusses the Republican Power Grab - this is an important, short video worth watching that will shed light on the coming mayhem of the mid-term elections.
Posted by sick and tired on 2010-09-22 14:41:19 none of this is nothing new, there has always been trashing in
politics. all parties try a power grab. all of the above are paying for
the adds. This IS new
Posted by jtrahan63 on 2010-09-29 08:01:30 The previous poster thinks this us business as usual. It is true that negative attack ads have been around a long time, but the difference is that you could find out who was behind them and determine a motivation. The conservative Supreme Court has rule that corporations can launch ads and do not have to disclose who they are. This will tilt the election to the GOP, because they are in bed with the wealthy (more than the Dems are). And when legislation is favorable to corporations and the wealthy, that means it is unfavorable to the average citizen. A vote for the GOP is a vote against your own self interests. Truth or Dare
Posted by MaggieB on 2010-11-14 22:16:04 trahan63:
You are absolutely right! the "trashing" that goes on now has never been so low or so vicious as in past years, and this viciousness gets worse every day and year!
I am amazed that those who believe the Republicans are revealing the criminality of the Left, should know that primary documents show that the alleged "Left Wing Media Outlets" ARE telling the truth in news media. In fact, in a recent study, those media outlets that told the truth were singled out by Republicans as "Left Wing Media Stations" rather than truth-telling media stations.
In addition, there are several investigative reporters who have lost their lives simply because they were seeking to find the truth. Be sure that you let people know of the investigative journalism media outlets that make so little money, but do so much for our country. By the way, Fox New "pundits" make millions per year.
I research material for a living, and I am able to verify, with certainty, if those who think the Republicans have the best interests of ordinary citizens in the U.S., all they need to do is research for primary documents.
I am afraid, however, that millions do not know just how to research for primary documents. I live in Michigan, and our State Educational Content Standards and Benchmarks DO require that teachers aid students in identifying the characteristics of truth and propaganda; I assumed all States required this. How about your state?
When I have talked to teachers about this gap in student education, most had no idea that truth in media is no longer required in News programs. Loss of truth in media also means that newspapers, magazines, radio, television and the Internet are not legally obligated to tell the truth. This is morally abhorrent!
If anyone at all is interested in primary documents on this topic, court records are still legally required to be accurate (praise the Lord!), so I would advise those of you who are doubtful that truth in the news is NOT required, search for court documents from Tampa, Florida on Jane Akre and New World Communication (Fox News--at that time), 1998, and New World Communication vs Jane Akre, 2003. Now Fox News is called the New Corporation. I am not sure why Fox changed its title between 1998 and 2003, but I DO know now that Reverend Moon (yes, from the "Moonies) bought shares in Fox and Rupert Murdoch gave (or sold--I don't know) the New World Communication title to Reverend's Moon's Media company.
Fox News is owned by Rupert Murdoch, who is, by the way, owner of media in just about every country. It is, nevertheless, worth noting that he also owns media in China. The Chinese Government suppresses news broadcasts to their citizens, so Rupert, therefore, sterling man that he is, suppresses the news in deference to a Communistic and suppressive country. Perhaps that doesn't strike many as completely immoral, but this DOES tell you something of the quality of his credibility and ethical standards. Name: (change name for anonymous posting) Title: Comments: 1 Article displayed. |
Share. Evil is relative. Evil is relative.
SPOILERS for the upcoming Justice League #23 ahead.
Since the launch of the New 52, the mysterious presence of Pandora has been leading us to one massive conflict, Trinity War, which itself is merely a precursor to DC Comics’ first event series since Flashpoint in 2011: Forever Evil.
Forever Evil #1 kicks off DC’s Villains Month in September, where a series of one-shots will celebrate the ever-popular rogues community in the DCU. Up to this point, readers have assumed that Forever Evil would be about the usual suspects taking control of the world while the heroes flounder to recover from the events of Trinity War. However, writer Geoff Johns has told us that this isn’t the case. In fact, the situation is much, much worse for our heroes.
“As far as the world knows, the Justice Leagues are dead. What happened to them and where they are will be revealed within the pages of Forever Evil, which is focused squarely on the greatest villains in comics,” said the writer, who added that this event would be changing the status quo of the DCU in a major way. He said that the monthly comics would eventually reflect the changes that the universe undergoes by the time Forever Evil reaches its conclusion in issue #7. “There are some major events that happen to some of our heroes and villains, and those are all reflected in the monthly books at the end of [the series], except for the ones that tie-in directly like the Justice League titles, Suicide Squad, and Teen Titans. Those books will be up-to-speed monthly.”
“ 'As far as the world knows, the Justice Leagues are dead.'
What’s most surprising about Forever Evil isn’t its repercussions, however. It’s that everything we thought we knew about the series is wrong. Up to this point, we’ve believed that the Secret Society of Super Villains has been in control, manipulating the Justice League and turning public opinion against them.
The fact is that there’s an even higher power, one that will be revealed at the end of Trinity War in Justice League #23 – “The Crime Syndicate will be the ones leading the charge to take the world in Forever Evil.” The Crime Syndicate’s debut in the New 52 calls back to their roots – a team of twisted, evil incarnations of the Justice League that come from the parallel Earth-3.
“Evil is relative – and what I mean by that, is that our villains are as complex, as deep and as compelling as any of our heroes. Every antagonist in the DC Universe has a unique darkness, desire and drive. And the reason for being of Forever Evil is to explore that darkness,” explained Johns. “We start literally, in the first issue, when the whole world goes dark; communication and power are gone. And as our Earth is plunged into darkness, the Crime Syndicate begins their plan for conquest.”
“[They] make themselves known and they enact their mission to take over. They will lead an army of super villains, but not every villain sees things the way they do,” he continued. “Every villain in the DC Universe wants something different and not all of them want to rule the world. Or at least, not all of them want to rule the world in the way the Crime Syndicate do."
Interestingly, in the original Crime Syndicate stories from the 1960s, the hero that rose up to stop the villains on Earth-3 was that parallel world’s own version of Lex Luthor. Mirroring that sentiment, Johns has placed Luthor as the main protagonist in Forever Evil, who will be forced to take matters into his own hands and “form his own version of a Justice League to take them down. Who are we rooting for in this scenario? How bad are things if we are forced to rely on Lex Luthor they way he’s always wanted us to?”
It won’t just be Luthor in the spotlight, however. “From Sinestro to Black Adam to Captain Cold to Catwoman, we’ve never seen these villains team-up like this before. And for what some might say the right reasons. But they go about trying to ‘save’ the world in a very, very different way than our heroes might. They don’t have laws they follow. Their moral codes are all on a sliding scale. And their sense of justice isn’t going to be a jail cell. Or even something as simple as death. In the end, they too have their own reasons for doing what they do, and ultimately this story will change them as much as it changes the heroes.”
This new threat, the Crime Syndicate, will be the classic line-up that includes Ultraman, Superwoman, Owlman, Johnny Quick, Power Ring, plus new member Deathstorm to start with. “For them, and Ultraman in particular, it’s not about good and evil. It’s about strength and weakness. They’re the strongest, most powerful people on their planet, therefore they have ruled it.”
Johns said that each member of the Syndicate has come to “our” DCU for very different reasons, which will be explored throughout Forever Evil and the Justice League titles. “They’re here for the thrills, or for simple survival, or for a chance at a new life. Although they work together, they’re as self-concerned as you can get. Their thinking is backwards; they’re wired wrong. And they view our world as backwards in so many ways – it’s a shock to the system. The culture and behavior is so alien to them. I’m not taking about flying around and being a ‘super hero’ – I’m talking about even the most basic concepts of good in our society, like a soup kitchen or a free clinic or fundraising -- they don’t make sense to them. Why are people sacrificing anything for anyone else? Something like sacrifice is a foreign concept to the Syndicate. It’s all about strength.”
Though he loves working with all of these characters for different reasons, Johns admitted that Ultraman has proven to be his favorite. “Ultraman is going to be the uber-villain. He doesn’t understand the laws of nature on this world. We’ll get deep into that, his brutality, and his lack of compassion. But he also has an agenda that is frighteningly understandable. I think that’s the scariest part of it all; you can actually see why Ultraman is doing what he’s doing, as horrific as it is. Like many people out there, he doesn’t believe in protecting the weak.”
Johns worked closely with Forever Evil artist David Finch to redesign the Crime Syndicate visually. “[We] talked about their personalities in great detail. We wanted a touch of old-school looks to them combined with the modern day, because we wanted them to look like heroes. Some might say that Ultraman’s costume looks more heroic than Superman’s right now. When Ultraman walks into a room, you think it’s Superman until he starts talking…and acting. I wanted to have this almost immediate sigh of relief, followed by absolute terror. ‘Superman is here!’ ‘That’s not Superman.’”
He continued, “It’s all about personality and individual story. With Power Ring, for instance, [David] has done an amazing job of illustrating how the ring affects the greatest coward the ring could find. And Deathstorm sees Power Ring as a fascinating experiment. Deathstorm is a scientist who’s been merged with the dead body of his lab assistant. It’s given him a cold demeanor and a clammy touch. He’s essentially a mad Nazi scientist with Atomic Power at his hand. Johnny Quick has his kills-for-thrills attitude is all over his face; he’s smiling, he’s excited. He’s finally found a place he can have some fun with again. And he’s been through hell. He wants to give that hell back to everyone he encounters. Owlman is searching for control, he knows the world can’t be plunged into chaos – it needs systems to function. And he wants to control those systems. He wants to control everything. Superwoman is probably the most manipulative of them all. She is the most frightening because of the secrets she has. We really wanted to twist our superheroes inside out.’”
“ 'Forever Evil is my love letter to DC super villains.'
Whether exploring characters he’s never worked with before, revisiting old favorites like Captain Cold and Black Adam, or digging into fan-favorites like Catwoman, Johns is excited to put all of these villains together and see how they interact with (or against, for that matter) Ultraman and company. “The Crime Syndicate will make some of our villains look like good guys. And then vice versa.”
The writer concluded, “Forever Evil is my love letter to DC super villains. It’s my chance to take all of the villains I’ve worked with and all the ones I’ve never worked with and put them into one gigantic, epic story that will bring together the bads of the DC Universe.”
Ever the tease, Johns added, “I’ve revealed a lot, but not everything. You can see Batman in this art. What’s that about? Why would Batman follow Luthor? Is that even Bruce Wayne?! There are many more surprises coming up. Because if there’s anything about villains you do know, it’s that they’re unpredictable.”
Perhaps we’ll find out when Forever Evil #1 hits on September 4th. Be sure to hit up your local comic book shop and pre-order your copy!
Joey is a Senior Editor at IGN and a comic book creator. Follow Joey on Twitter @JoeyEsposito, or find him on IGN at Joey-IGN. He often wonders whatever happened to Billy's RadBug. |
Death of Perth toddler crushed by chest of drawers sparks likely changes to tenancy act
Updated
A coroner has recommended changes to the law so tenants cannot be prevented from securing furniture to a wall in the interests of child safety, as part of a case in which a Perth toddler was crushed by a chest of drawers.
Reef Kite died aged 21 months when a heavy chest of drawers fell on him in the bedroom of his family's rented home in Yokine on October 13, 2015.
During hearings at the coronial inquiry into his death last month, his mother Skye Quartermaine said she was aware of the benefits of securing such furniture to the wall.
But she explained the chest of drawers was not bolted to the wall because she had not been given permission by her landlord to do so. She also thought it was relatively stable because of its weight.
Drawers toppled over easily, investigators found
Forensic officers who investigated the accident gave evidence they were very surprised at how easily the drawers came out and toppled over.
Video presented to the court showed the drawers quickly sliding on their metal rollers, making the whole unit quickly topple over.
Coroner Helen Linton concluded that after waking up from his nap, while playing in his bedroom, "Reef came in contact with the chest of drawers, which toppled forward onto him".
"The weight of the chest of drawers resulted in crush asphyxia, which caused his death. I find that the manner of death was by way of accident."
Ms Linton cited an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission study in 2015 which noted several hundred children were injured this way each year, some fatally.
A separate report by the WA Product Advocacy Network found there were 271 furniture-related injuries in children in the five-year period up to December 2016 in the state.
Among these, 148 involved furniture tip-overs, and the most common piece of furniture involved was a chest of drawers, followed by TV cabinets.
Ms Linton said the problem with efforts to raise safety standards was under legislation governing residential tenancies, "landlords are entitled to decline consent to a tenant affixing any fixture".
She recommended the McGowan Government consider amending the Residential Tenancies Act to ensure a landlord cannot stop a tenant from affixing furniture, "if the fixture relates to anchoring a television or item of furniture to a wall for the purposes of child safety".
"Rather, the Act should provide that for those specific fixtures, such an item may be affixed with the lessor's consent [and the lessor shall not unreasonably withhold such consent]."
Ms Linton noted Reef's parents hoped the publicity surrounding his death would help to prevent similar deaths.
Minister backs 'sensible' recommendations
Commerce Minister Bill Johnston said he noted the coroner's recommendations, and would seek to determine if changes could be made.
"I think the coroner has looked at a tragic circumstance and come up with sensible recommendations," Mr Johnston said.
"It doesn't in my view put an onerous burden on the landlords, but it would be worthwhile to protect children in these tragic circumstances."
Mr Johnston said there would need to be consultation with industry stakeholders, but he did not view it as a very complicated matter, so it would hopefully not take too long.
"I don't think there'll be objection from people in the sector because I think it's a balanced and sensible recommendation from the coroner," he said.
"I think that sensible landlords would not want to have any risk to children in their rental properties."
Safety organisation welcomes findings
Kidsafe WA, a not-for-profit organisation that promotes safety and prevention of childhood accidents, gave evidence at the inquiry and has welcomed the Coroner's findings.
CEO Scott Phillips said he was glad the Government had indicated it would act swiftly on the recommendations that he said made just as much sense for landlords as parents.
"Really under common law if you're supplying a place for someone you should be trying to keep everybody safe there, particularly young children," he said.
Mr Phillips said the dangers of unstable furniture were not difficult to address.
"A lot of the manufacturers of furniture now do give you options with attachments within their packaging, or you can go to your local hardware store and get attachments, but a lot of us don't use them," he said.
Topics: courts-and-trials, death, safety-education, children, perth-6000
First posted |
Please keep in mind this is a preliminary set of features for 9.19. We’ll reveal the final details just before release.
Over the years, we’ve heard lots of you asking for ways to test your mettle against players of a similar standing. And at our Facebook Live Developer Panel, we unveiled Ranked Battles. This all-new game mode is built around individual contribution and delivers on your long-standing wish. The idea behind Ranked Battles really seemed to click with everyone, and teams around the studio ramped up their efforts to bring it to you. It’s been a real treat to work on it, and today, we’re excited to deploy it for Supertest, along with other features included into 9.19. So hang tight, it's coming to live servers soon!
Here we’ll explain the mode in more detail and preview other goodness coming in the next update, including a brand-new currency, improvements to Battle Missions and Events interface, and more. Let’s get to it.
Supertests happen at the early stages of development—typically a month and a half before final release—and involve checking the changes of a new update and searching for the most critical issues before open testing. World of Tanks Supertests are divided into production tests (new maps, balancing vehicles, etc.), and version tests (the entirety of the update).
Once Supertests are complete, Common Tests begin, available to all players interested in trying out the new features.
Ranked Battles
Ranked Battles is a 15v15 mode exclusive to Tier X vehicles, where the first team to eliminate the opposition or capture their base secures victory. Basically, the setup is the same as Random Battles. And that’s where the similarity ends. Ranked Battles is all about individual results. Your ultimate goal here is to put on a stellar individual performance to climb the ladder, earning ranks and rewards along the way. Unlike Random Battles, your success depends more on your than your team’s results. The more successful you are in battle, the higher your rank in a special Random Battles ladder. However, teamwork still matters as your camp’s victory significantly raises your chances at earning a chevron.
Matchmaking. The matchmaker puts you in a team with players whose rank is similar to yours (±1). It will also create a team of comparable skill for you to compete against. Just as with Random Battles, if getting a ±1 match would take too long, the matchmaker will loosen its restrictions a bit to get you in a battle quickly. The two teams will always have the same number of players with any given rank. Simply put, you play alongside tankers of similar ranking and have competition to match. The higher your rank, the higher the competition that you face.
If you’re looking for a little extra information on the way the matchmaker works in Random Battles, check out the dedicated article.
Progression. Getting in the Top 12 by XP on the winning team earns you a chevron, taking you a step closer toward earning a new rank. So does getting in the Top 3 on the losing team. If your team wins, but you end up in the Bottom 3, you don’t earn a chevron, but you don’t lose one either. Players who rank 4–15 by XP on the losing team lose a chevron. Lastly, if a battle ends in a draw, the Top 3 of both teams get a chevron, while the Bottom 12 each lose a chevron. The 1st rank will cost you just one chevron, and the higher you climb, the more chevrons it takes you to progress.
For Supertest and Common Tests , the number of chevrons between ranks was reduced to shorten the leveling process, which should help us collect substantial feedback on overall progression.
Upon reaching the 1st and 5th ranks, you progress is saved so you don’t have to start the grind all over if you end up losing a few battles. On top of that, after you reach the 5th rank you get an option to prove your skill on a certain Tier X vehicle by leveling it to the max. The rules remain the same: participate in Ranked Battles in this tank, and the better your individual performance, the faster you progress. Just one exception here: the number of vehicle ranks isn’t limited.
Timeline. Ranked Battles are divided into seasons. The first season will consist of four 7-day stages. When a new stage begins, rank leveling is reset to the beginning. The progress achieved by the end of day 7 is included in the leaderboard. When the season ends, your results over the last 28 days are totaled and you receive rewards, depending on your final standing. |
The new Audi A5. Audi Audi unveiled its new second-generation A5 coupe on Thursday in a ceremony at the company's headquarters in Ingolstadt, Germany.
The new coupe will serve as the long-awaited sequel to Audi's highly successful first-generation A5, on sale since 2008.
The new A5 will also take on BMW's 4 Series.
Based on the fifth-generation A4 sedan, the A5 is expected to feature the latest in Audi's powertrain, chassis, and infotainment technology.
This includes Audi's latest MMI infotainment system, as well as its innovative virtual cockpit instrument display, which debuted on the new-generation TT sports car.
In addition, the A5 will arrive with high-speed internet connectivity and semiautonomous driving and self-parking capabilities.
But what's truly exciting about the new A5 is that Audi has decided to offer the car with an old-school six-speed manual gearbox at a time when most car companies have abandoned the technology.
For those who appreciate the art of coordinating engine revs with your feet while changing gears with your right hand, this is a breath of fresh air — even though most cars will likely be optioned with the company's seven-speed dual-clutch transmission.
Audi A5 interior with virtual cockpit instrument screen. Audi
Audi hasn't yet confirmed the A5's US engine options. What we're likely to get is a power plant related to the new A4's 2.0-liter, 252-horsepower, turbocharged, inline-four-cylinder unit.
Audi also unveiled the high-performance S5 variant of the coupe. That car comes with a new, 354-horsepower turbocharged V6 engine. It's unclear if Audi will offer the S5 with a stick shift, but we can always hope!
Audi S5. Audi
According to Audi, the S5 is good for a zero-to-62-mph sprint in just 4.7 seconds. The S5 will also be Audi's flagship coupe until the company's very fast RS 5 variant shows up sometime in the next couple of years.
Audi has yet to announce official pricing for the new A5 and S5. The current generation A5 starts at $40,500 while the S5 starts at $53,100.
The new second-generation Audi A5 and S5 is expected to arrive in US showrooms sometime this fall. |
So it has come to pass that the Keeper of the Great Clock announced Monday that London’s Big Ben hour bell will be silenced for four long years as desperately needed repairs are carried out on the 158-year-old timepiece, a masterwork of Victorian ingenuity and an enduring British icon.
Londoners were not happy to hear the news, and there was lament on Twitter, with many recalling how the hourly bongs of Big Ben serve as a kind of base note for their lives.
“A silent Big Ben will be super eerie,” tweeted Rob, a history student at King’s College. “I could hear the chimes from my room in Euston, they’re the sound of London!”
“It will be very sad, but it needs to be done,” said Kirsten Hurrell, 71, a news agent who runs a busy stall that faces the clock tower.
Hurrell said the gong of Big Ben might be one of those things in life you don’t miss until it is gone. “Quite honestly, we live with it and half the time we don’t hear it,” she said. “But we will miss it when we will suddenly find it’s not there any more.”
Scaffolding covers Elizabeth Tower, which houses Big Ben, in London as part of a four-year restoration project. (Will Oliver/European Pressphoto Agency)
Tourism officials were glum but hoping for the best.
A selfie with the Great Clock atop Elizabeth Tower along the Thames River is almost mandatory. The Palace of Westminster, home to the houses of Parliament, is one of the top five visited sites in London, and Big Ben is the star of the show.
The tower will soon be fully swaddled in metal scaffolding and three of the four clock dials covered. The last gongs of Big Ben, before its long rest, will ring out at noon Monday, Aug. 21. Large crowds are expected to witness the event. The repairs should be complete sometime in 2021, authorities promised.
“Big Ben has marked the hour with almost unbroken service for the past 157 years,” said Keeper of the Great Clock Steve Jaggs, noting that the complex renovation — budgeted at about $40 million — is designed to safeguard clock and tower for future generations.
“Big Ben falling silent is a significant milestone in this crucial conservation project,” the clock keeper said.
The actual bell is not the problem. It is the clock that rings the bell that needs repairs.
Cast by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, the 13-ton hour bell was the largest of its day, its first performance celebrated by parliament in 1859.
In all these years, Big Ben bonged through good times and bad, including the Blitz, Germany’s eight-month aerial bombardment of London during World War II.
The hour bell has been silenced for long periods a few times before. Just weeks into its service, Big Ben cracked. Apparently the striking hammer was too heavy. A lighter hammer was installed, the bell was turned, and Big Ben was back in service after three years. The experts say the crack gives the bell its unique but imperfect tone.
In more recent times, Big Ben stopped pealing for six weeks in 2007 and for repairs in 1983 and 1976. The bell was silent during the funerals of prime ministers Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher.
The Keeper of the Great Clock explained that Big Ben must be silenced as the clock itself must be “dismantled piece by piece with each cog examined and restored.”
The four opal glass faces of the dials will also be cleaned and repaired, the rusting cast iron framework renewed, and the hour and minute hands refurbished. In addition, some modern conveniences — such as an elevator and washroom — will be built for the timekeepers.
Not only will Big Ben be quiet, but four quarter bells, which chime every 15 minutes, also will go silent.
While the refurbishment is ongoing, conservationists will allow one dial of the clock’s four faces to be visible, so Londoners can still set their watches. A modern electric motor will turn the clock hands until “the prince of timekeepers” is repaired.
Some folks wonder why the bells can’t keep ringing during the repairs. Or why an ersatz recording couldn’t bang on. The answer is that a recording would be a feeble thing. More to the point, the clock tower will be crawling with artisans repairing a national treasure. They can’t go holding their hands to their ears every 15 minutes.
The clock keeper announced that Big Ben would not be completely silenced during the repairs and would strike the hour for “important national events,” such as New Year’s Eve and Remembrance Sunday, Britain’s version of Veterans Day.
“Yay!” Ty Lopez said as Big Ben let out a bong Monday at precisely 1:15 p.m.
Lopez, a 36-year-old flight attendant from New York, and her friends were in London only for two days, but they made sure to take in the sights — and sounds — of Big Ben.
She reckoned that four years would pass by quickly.
Oliver Harris, 36, a flight attendant traveling with Lopez, said the silence could take some adjustment.
“It’s going to be different. You’re going to have to rely on looking at your watch, looking at your phone, instead of listening to the bongs.” He said it would be akin to living next to a subway station that suddenly closed for renovations. “It would be weird at first not to hear it going by your room.”
Read more:
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Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Julia Gillard: "This century will bring Asia's return to global leadership"
Australian PM Julia Gillard has outlined a major foreign policy plan aimed at improving Asian ties.
A government white paper sets out 25 national objectives to be met by 2025, with targets ranging from improving trade links to teaching more Mandarin.
Ms Gillard said she wanted to refocus Australia away from Europe's "old countries" towards its near neighbours - particularly China and India.
The plan is detailed in a 312-page paper, Australia in the Asian Century.
With Asia on track to become home to most of the world's middle class in the next 20 years, this was a moment in history to grasp, said Ms Gillard during the release of the white paper at Sydney's Lowy Institute.
"The scale and pace of Asia's rise is staggering, and there are significant opportunities and challenges for all Australians," she said.
"It is not enough to rely on luck - our future will be determined by the choices we make and how we engage with the region we live in."
No containing China
While Ms Gillard underlined continued strategic ties with the US, her speech formalised trends built up during the past three decades in which China has become Australia's top trading partner, ahead of Japan, the US and South Korea, says the BBC's Duncan Kennedy in Sydney.
Previous prime ministers such as Bob Hawke and Paul Keating established the first ties with Asia, but the new policy would be deeper and more organised, adds our correspondent.
Some of the goals outlined are specific, others more aspirational. They include:
Boosting Australia's average national income from $62,000 (£41,000) per person now to $73,000 in 2025
Improving the school system so it is ranked in the world's top five, with 10 of its universities in the world's top 100
Making studies of Asia a core part of the Australian school curriculum
Giving all students the opportunity to learn a priority Asian language - Chinese (Mandarin), Hindi, Indonesian or Japanese
Making sure more business leaders are "Asia-literate"
A member of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) group, Australia is one of the 11 nations involved in negotiations for a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), both of which aim to liberalise regional trade.
On security issues, Australia in the Asian Century says any policy aimed at containing China's military growth would not work.
Rather, it says Australia can balance its defence ties to the US while backing China's emerging military strength. |
Spy (2015)
Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Rose Byrne, Jude Law, Miranda Hart, Jason Statham, Peter Serafinowicz, Allison Janney
Directed By: Paul Feig
Written By: Paul Feig
Rating: R (US) Running Time: 2 hr
Two Cents:
After last year’s awful Tammy and Sex Tape, and this year’s terrible Hot Pursuit. I’ve started to worry about the state of Hollywood comedies. Their recent offerings usually start out with a great premise. But then get stifled by a series of idiotic contrivances as the writers try to shoehorn their one note characters into unrealistic situations in order to get a laugh. Failing miserably.
Writer and director Paul Fieg however, doesn’t seem to have that problem, and Spy is a genuinely funny and entertaining time at the movie theater. The premise of a frumpy inexperienced middle-aged CIA agent being deployed in the field, is somewhat ridiculous, but Melissa McCarthy does a great job selling the part to the audience. Once established, the humor then grows naturally from that premise, and makes sense within the world Fieg sets up. Ending up with a movie that’s a cool combination of The Pink Panther, and a great Bond film. With lots of inspired moments of dialog thrown in for good measure, and great supporting performances from Rose Byrne, Miranda Hart, and Jason Statham.
McCarthy’s Spy is kind and supportive. She’s well liked by her support team, and even bakes cakes for the office. She’s also no wallflower, and the film’s best moments arrive when she’s holding her own against seasoned assassins in the field. She may be inexperienced, but she is well-trained, and once she gets her confidence and breaks out of her shell; watch out!
Movie Prep:
If you enjoyed Feig’s other films, Bridesmaids and The Heat, I think you’ll be entertained with Spy. The movie is rated R for language, surprising gruesome violence and very brief nudity.
Best Format:
This is decently made, and will entertain equally in the theater or at home with a HD rental.
Best Moment:
I really enjoyed the fight scene in the kitchen as Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy), armed only with a frying pan, holds her own against an enemy agent.
References: IMDB
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Image copyright AFP Image caption Nigeria's army has so far failed to contain the insurgency during the state of emergency
Nigeria does not need the help of UN or African Union troops to take on Boko Haram, the country's national security adviser has told the BBC.
Sambo Dasuki said Nigeria, and its neighbours were in a "good shape" to take on the insurgents.
But he acknowledged the group, which is fighting to create an Islamic state, were a "real security threat".
Meanwhile US Secretary of State John Kerry says he plans to visit Nigeria in a couple of days.
Mr Kerry made the announcement in a speech discussing how to tackle violent extremism at the Davos economic conference.
Since the Nigerian government declared a state of emergency 20 months ago in three north-eastern states to deal with the insurgency, Boko Haram has strengthened and now controls several towns, where it has declared a caliphate.
The militants gained worldwide notoriety after kidnapping more than 200 schoolgirls in April last year - who have yet to be rescued.
Boko Haram at a glance
Image copyright AFP
Founded in 2002, initially focused on opposing Western education - Boko Haram means "Western education is forbidden" in the Hausa language
Launched military operations in 2009 to create Islamic state
Thousands killed, mostly in north-eastern Nigeria - also attacked police and UN headquarters in capital, Abuja
Abducted hundreds, including at least 200 schoolgirls
Controls several north-eastern towns
Launched attacks on Cameroon
Soldiers without weapons
Who are Boko Haram?
Why Nigeria has not defeated Boko Haram
Recently they have carried out raids into neighbouring Cameroon and this week Boko Haram's leader said his fighters had carried out the brutal attacks on the Nigerian town of Baga.
He said they had seized enough weapons from Baga's military base to "annihilate Nigeria".
Some reports said that as many as 2,000 people died in Baga but Nigeria's government has disputed this, putting the toll at 150.
Mr Dasuki told the BBC's Newsday programme that close to 50% of Nigeria's army was now deployed to the north-east, which he said showed how seriously the situation was being taken.
Image copyright AFP Image caption Over the weekend, Chadian soldiers deployed to Cameroon's border with Nigeria to bolster security
However, several soldiers have complained about not being given enough weapons and working equipment to tackle Boko Haram.
Mr Dasuki has dismissed such criticisms, saying there were "cowards" within the armed forces who hampered the campaign against the insurgents.
When asked if Nigeria needed outside help, he said "No", before saying it was an option to involve UN and AU forces, but regional partners were best placed to deal with the problem,
Nigerian soldiers currently make up the bulk of UN peacekeepers deployed to Africa, the security chief has said.
Correspondents say so far the regional fight against Boko Haram has been ineffectual.
Efforts to form a multinational force involving Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon have floundered.
However, following a meeting this week it was agreed that they would seek UN backing for the force - and move the headquarters from the captured town of Baga to Chad's capital, N'Djamena.
Over the weekend, Chadian soldiers deployed to Cameroon's border with Nigeria to help secure the porous border. |
Changes that will improve Linux support for hot-pluggable, hybrid graphics hardware have been merged into the development tree for X.Org's X Server. Support for this feature is currently considered to be lacking in Linux and was one of the reasons behind Linux creator Linus Torvalds' recent headline-grabbing "NVIDIA, fuck you!" outburst.
NVIDIA's contribution to the infrastructure integrated into the first pre-release version of X Server 1.13, published today, has apparently been minimal. The infrastructure consists of several components including patches for "output slaves" which allow X Server to activate graphics hardware added at runtime. This can be useful for DisplayLink hardware, for example, where it allows a currently displayed desktop interface to be extended to a newly connected USB monitor without having to restart X Server.
An "offload slaves" function based on the feature has also been merged into the X Server code. It allows drivers to offload graphics calculations to a graphics chip in order to output the calculated image with minimum overhead. This can be useful for supporting hybrid graphics in the latest laptops, where AMD and NVIDIA's hot-swappable GPUs (graphics processing units) generally deal only with graphics calculations, with actual monitor control and output being dealt with by the GPU on the processor.
The new functions can be used via an extension to the RandR (Resize, Rotate and Reflect Extension) protocol, which offers these capabilities in version 1.5 of the protocol. To ensure that these enhancements, which have been developed under the code name "prime infrastructure", make it into X Server 1.13, X.Org developer Keith Packard chose to extend the period during which major changes for this version would be accepted by a few days to 9 July (Monday). X Server 1.13 is currently a work in progress and is due for release in early September. The X Server extensions rely on Linux kernel features which will be included in Linux 3.5, due out later this month.
Prime infrastructure for the Linux kernel and X Server has been developed largely by Red Hat developer Dave Airlie. He posted two YouTube videos demonstrating the feature while it was still under development. Packard recently tried hot-plugging a DisplayLink monitor and describes his experience and some issues which still need ironing out in a blog post.
Work on proper support for hybrid graphics is not yet finished, with the current changes representing just the first two of the four steps outlined by Airlie a month ago. Functions for switching completely to another graphics chip at runtime and other extensions to enable functions from X's Xinerama mode are still on the to-do list. How well the infrastructure will work with the 3.5 kernel and X Server 1.13 in the distributions also remains to be seen. It is not currently clear whether the proprietary AMD and NVIDIA graphics drivers will use the new infrastructure. For now Bumblebee, an application that is somewhat more complicated than prime, will remain the best option for those wanting to take full advantage of the performance capabilities of NVIDIA GPUs in Optimus laptops.
(crve) |
Miles Olusina writes a detailed tactical analysis of the La Liga match that ended Real Sociedad 0-3 Real Madrid.
Real Madrid picked up where they left off last season with a comfortable 0-3 victory at the Anoeta against a Real Sociedad side who would normally provide tough opposition for most clubs in the division. Zinedine Zidane’s side understandably came in as favourites given the strength of their squad, however the absence of key players such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema was sure to give Sociedad some hope that they could possibly snatch a win. Unfortunately, this was not to be as Real Madrid raced into an early lead when a Dani Carvajal cross met the head of Gareth Bale to put them ahead in just the second minute. After that, despite the best efforts of the Basque side, the away team remained in complete control of the game, defending compactly and resolutely to force Sociedad into wide areas and exploiting their high defensive line on more than one occasion.
REAL SOCIEDAD 0-3 REAL MADRID
Line Ups:
Real Sociedad (4-2-3-1): 1. Rulli // 20. Zaldúa, 3. González, 6. Iñigo Martínez, 19. Yuri // 5. Bergara, 4. Illaramendi // 18. Oyarzabal, 17. Zurutuza, 24. David Concha // 7. Juanmi
Real Madrid (4-3-3): 13. Casilla // 2. Carvajal, 5. Varane, 4. Sergio Ramos, 3. Marcelo // 14. Casemiro, 16. Kovacic, 8. Kroos // 11. Bale, 21. Morata, 20. Asensio
Substitutions: 56’ Willian José (David Concha), 72’ Xabi Prieto (Juanmi), 79’ Vela (González) // 66’ Lucas Vázquez (Asensio), 73’ Isco (Kroos), 77’ Rodríguez (Morata)
Goals: 2’ Bale, 40’ Asensio, 90+4’ Bale
Real Madrid control space with 4-1-4-1 shape
A much more organised Real Madrid was on show in this fixture, something which was not very common until the introduction of anchor man Casemiro into the side. Initially, they played with two 6s in Toni Kroos and Luka Modric which proved sufficient against lesser opposition who did not have the personnel or tactical nous to exploit the Madrid 6 space but also would be starved of possession for long periods due to the fantastic ability of both Kroos and Modric to resist pressure and dictate the tempo of the game. However, they would often come unstuck against top sides that would see a lot more of the ball and could take advantage of the defensive deficiencies of Kroos and Modric, a perfect example being the 0-4 hammering by Barcelona last November.
A switch to the 4-3-3/4-1-4-1 shape with Casemiro in between the defensive and midfield lines has worked wonders with the side becoming much harder to penetrate due to the increased compactness brought about by Casemiro’s positioning in front of the back 4. Not only that but his ability to cover the half-spaces in defensive phases and cover large distances makes the job of the Madrid defenders much more routine. He finished the game with 9 tackles and a pass accuracy of 85.5%, showing again as he has done on many occasions that he can provide a solid foundation for this Real side.
Madrid are set up in this image in a 4-1-4-1 block with Casemiro in the 6 space and the defensive block situated primarily in the centre and half spaces. The back 4 were virtually untroubled in defensive phases, remaining in a solid defensive line with the defenders rarely having to deviate from their position. The presence of Casemiro certainly aided this as he was permanently in the 6 space, rarely foraying forward as Kroos and Modric would typically do when playing that role. The spatial coverage of Casemiro has huge benefits for the side as the back 4 can take a position-oriented approach as opposed to a man-oriented one which could possibly be undone through rotational movement from the opposition.
The more advanced midfielders Kroos, Kovacic, Bale and Asensio could also press with more ferocity as they were safe in the knowledge that Casemiro was in behind them covering the space and maintaining access to Sociedad players attempting to find space in behind Madrid’s waves of pressure.
Being unable to gain any foothold centrally due to Real’s compactness, Sociedad had no choice but to create chances in the wide areas and construct most of their possession there. They would often push the full backs forward to combine with the wingers, particularly down the right hand side in an attempt to exploit the space vacated by Marcelo who often ventured forward. Real were quick to deal with the potential threat with efficient defensive transitions and rapid ball-oriented shifts when the ball reached the wide areas.
Sociedad have moved the ball onto the right wing as Real Madrid have monopolised the centre. Their defensive block has shifted laterally to gain greater access in the wide areas. Madrid now have a 3 v2 overload and are in a much better position to press as the field of view and potential passing lanes of the opposition player are now severely limited. The home side also appeared reluctant to increase the number of players occupying the wide areas in attacking phases as it would prove detrimental during defensive transitions due to the fact that Real would be able to counter through the centre. Their insistence on creation through the wings led to a shortage of clear cut chances being created, but again the threat of being vulnerable in defensive transition meant that they could not push their full backs up as high as they would have liked and the number 6s were given less of an opportunity to move into more advanced positions in order to create numerical equality in the midfield and provide their side the option to recycle possession in higher areas of the pitch.
Real Sociedad struggle to maintain pressure, high line exploited
Contrary to what the score-line indicates, Real Sociedad put in a rather competent performance and defended resolutely for much of the game. Their approach could be described as quite brave, as they chose to deploy a high defensive line in an attempt to win the ball in higher areas of the pitch and to significantly reduce the space in which Madrid could manoeuvre. This at times did keep their opponents at bay, but as is common with relentless waves of pressure, the physical demands are insanely high and keeping up the intensity becomes difficult.
It was quite clear to see that their pressing scheme revolved around the ball primarily and its position in relation to the team shape. The side were urged to remain compact but the block was quite flexible in order to allow access to put pressure on the ball. Players were given license to vacate slightly from the defensive block so long as his teammates would cover the space and the structure would be maintained.
In the image of Varane on the ball above, we can see three Real Sociedad players gravitate towards the ball and none of whom are too fixated on other reference points such as the space and opposition players. Their sole aim appears to be regaining possession by putting as much pressure on the ball carrier as possible. It appeared to work at times, with Madrid centre backs at times playing the ball long in haste and giving possession away to Sociedad. The absence of Ronaldo and Benzema could possibly have influenced their decision to play in this fashion considering how much less dangerous Madrid were without their two star attackers. With those two out of the side, the threat of penetrative runs in behind the back 4 to exploit their high defensive line seemed to have been diminished.
Although, the away side were still able to exploit their defensive line on more than one occasion with Asensio breaching the back 4 to double their lead and Bale adding the third in the final minute of the game. This style proved difficult to maintain for the entirety of the game as they continued with the high line even when there was little to no pressure on the ball. This allowed the ball-playing centre backs in Ramos and Varane to find vertical runners like Asensio and Bale who later went onto score. It also could be argued that they could have better staggered the defensive block when pressing in more advanced positions upfield as at times Madrid found it too easy to play between the Sociedad waves of pressure. Had there been greater staggering and consequently enhanced compactness, the pressure Real would have had to endure would have been more constant.
A risky strategy to implement against a side like Real Madrid, Sociedad held their own for much of the game but should be wary of deploying this against a full strength Madrid side with Ronaldo and Benzema.
Madrid’s fluid front three prove dangerous, positional structure questionable at times
Youngsters Marco Asensio and Alvaro Morata proved very adequate deputies for Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, complimenting Bale perfectly with their off the ball movement and positional rotations. Despite not registering on the scoresheet in this game, Morata put in a terrific performance, as his movement constantly disrupted the defensive structure of Real Sociedad in deeper defensive phases. It was rare to find him staying put in the typical no.9 position, instead he was often drifting into the channels looking to drag the centre backs with him in order to allow for third man runs from deeper midfielders.
Here he is now occupying the right wing position which would typically be filled by Gareth Bale who has now dropped into the 10 space just in front of the back 4 of Real Sociedad. The lack of a permanent no.9 in Real’s attacking phase leaves the centre backs in a state of confusion as to who should be tracked in the final third. He often rotated with Bale and Asensio which had the added effect of giving his side a greater range of combination opportunities which resulted in more options that could be used to break down the Sociedad defence. The front three could combine with different players in different areas of the field as opposed to the same players within their zone.
Asensio also played a very pivotal role in this side, he played in a wide role but was often drifting into the half-space and central areas to create overloads for his side and provide vertical options for the two 8s, Kroos and Kovacic. His inward movements were pivotal for freeing Marcelo down the left hand side as he attracted the attentions of the full back, causing him to vacate his position on which the Brazilian full back could capitalise.
His role was made even more pivotal by the fact that both 8s were functioning primarily as deep lying playmakers, predominantly focusing on circulating the ball, dictating the tempo and pressure resistance. They both had fantastic games but it could be argued that more could have been done by them to provide a link between the midfield and the attack, a job which Asensio did with ease.
Asensio has dropped deep from his left wing position into the half-space, an area which is also being occupied by Toni Kroos. His constant movement into the centre allowed his team greater control of this area simply by having an extra man who was also resistant to pressure and was able to position himself well between the lines and combine with teammates. Having two excellent ball players in Asensio and Kroos between the lines provides a substantial amount of danger as they can play very incisive passes when given time on the ball, which is exactly what occurred as the Sociedad players could not gain access quick enough to apply pressure on either of them.
Another example of the effectiveness of Asensio’s dropping movements is on show again here as he moves into the deeper half-space to provide Kroos with a vertical passing option to bring the ball into the latter stages of possession. The full back, Zaldúa, tracks his run half-heartedly which creates enough space for Morata who makes a run into the channel. The rest of the Sociedad back 4 are now obligated to shift across which could have eventually led to Gareth Bale being free at the far post.
On occasion though, Madrid were unable to create many combinations in tight spaces in the final third, which I feel was particularly due to the positioning of Kroos and Kovacic who played as 8s. Too often, they were quite conservative in their positioning and could have pushed up in order to create overloads and allow for improved circulation in the final third. This could have been done especially considering the fact that the threat of being exposed in defensive transition was not as high due to the lack of threat from the Sociedad attackers on the counter attack and the presence of Casemiro.
The attackers did sometimes come unstuck and were short of passing options. This could have been rectified by one of the central midfielders had they chosen to engage more in the attacking phase instead of playing such similar roles and often playing on the same lines.
Morata and Asensio have rotated positions in the half-space but are still unable to disorganise the Sociedad back 4 who are undeterred by the change in position of the two forwards. Marcelo and Toni Kroos could both have adjusted their current position in order to aid their team’s attempt to break down the home side’s defence. Kroos, in my opinion, could be higher along with Marcelo in order to give Asensio and Morata options and provide more variety in the attack. Marcelo pushing further forward would result in either the opposition full-back or the winger being out of position as both would have no choice but to put pressure on him which would create more space for Morata or Asensio. Kroos, if he moves into a more advanced position; could provide an option for ball circulation and allow Morata to focus on making vertical runs and creating depth. Both attackers look isolated in the half-space as Sociedad have a 4v2 overload which could easily have been undone had either of the two moved into more attacking positions.
Conclusion
Some positives for both sides after this fixture, more so for Real Madrid of course; who cruised to victory and gained 3 points which could prove vital come the end of the season. If this opening game is anything to go by, los Blancos look much more organised than they did in previous seasons, something which has been their undoing for a number of years now. With Ronaldo and Benzema’s return imminent, Zidane’s side will only get better; add to this the emerging young starlets Morata and Asensio and Real’s chances of winning only a second league title in 8 years appear more and more likely. However, the season is still in its infancy and considering the fact that they rely so heavily on Casemiro in defensive midfield, Madrid will have their fingers crossed that they stay relatively injury-free for most of the season.
Sociedad should not be too downhearted by this defeat, a harsh score-line considering how they played. Many are predicting more mid-table mediocrity but should performances such as this become the norm and forwards Carlos Vela and Juanmi chip in with some goals, they could easily finish in the top half.
Read all our other Tactical Analyses here. |
Louise Mensch (Wikpedia) and others noticed that his private A319 M-KATE visited Las Vegas, NV and Concord, NC airports concurrent with Trump election rallies, stopping for 1-2 hours en route elsewhere. This past weekend, it visited Miami(MIA) during Trump’s Mar-a-Lago weekend. As seen by searching Twitter for M-KATE and MKATE, people are actively tracking its motions and speculating of communications. Of course, we do not know who else might have been on flights, nor is there any proof of communications between Trump’s people and Rybolovlev’s.
However, a much clearer picture emerges by combining Trump’s List of campaign rallies, his Thanksgiving schedule at Mar-a-Lago, and especially the last 12 months of known M-KATE flights (via Business login), reformatted and annotated in Table 2. Each day’s sequence of flights is summarized in Table 1.
During the last 12 months, M-KATE made at least 7 visits to New York City (EWR), spending several days or more on each visit, usually overlapping with Trump presence there, given his habit of flying back most nights during the campaign. M-KATE made two 1-2-day trips to Miami when Trump was at Mar-a-Lago, the first at Thanksgiving. M-KATE spent weeks in Burbank(BUR) on 3 visits, although the connection was unclear, as was a week spent at Westhampton Beach(FOK) on Long Island.
M-KATE also made 7 visits to Moscow (VOK), the last yesterday. On January 19, it started in Moscow, flew to Berlin, and returned to Moscow. These visits often closely preceded or followed visits to New York or Miami.
This could be coincidence, but the 12-month record shows clear patterns beyond a few simultaneous airport visits, easily able to support shuttle diplomacy.
John Mashey Table 1 - M-KATE travels, month by month |
Says Nations Should Be Able to Cooperate on Many Issues
During his annual question and answer session, Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted that Russia does not view the United States as their enemy,and that they are ready for constructive dialogue with the US on a number of issues, saying non-proliferation of WMDs and Syria are areas in particular where cooperation would be possible.
Though officially an answer to a question from some Russian citizen, Putin’s comments are likely a direct response to Defense Secretary James Mattis, who earlier this week told the Senate Armed Services Committee there was “no indication” Russia was interested in constructive dialogue, and was only interested in treating the US as a “competitor.”
Putin and other Russian officials have repeatedly made clear they are interested in improved diplomatic relations with the United States, and they were particularly eager to approach normalization of ties back when President Trump was talking up that idea.
But President Trump has since abandoned efforts to improve ties with Russia, at least publicly, and administration officials have tried to present the lack of diplomatic progress as Russia’s fault. Putin, it seems, wants to again underscore his nation’s interest in diplomacy.
Last 5 posts by Jason Ditz |
CHENNAI: In a shocking case of xenophobic hysteria and police ineptitude just days after the gunning down of five suspected bank robbers from Bihar and West Bengal , a mob in Pallikaranai on Sunday attempted to lynch a man because they thought he was a ‘burglar from north India’.After a group of residents of Balaji Nagar, a slum in Pallikaranai near Velachery, beat Venkat Rao till he lost consciousness, the police let off his assailants and took the victim to Pallikaranai police station. Officers took Rao’s fingerprints and let him go when they concluded that he appeared to be mentally challenged.Rao, who appeared to be in his twenties, was later identified as a native of Andhra Pradesh. When residents of Balaji Nagar saw him, he was walking through the locality barechested and wearing only a pair of trousers.When the residents suspected that he was a burglar and started following him, Rao panicked and attempted to run away. He ran into a marsh where around 15 men overpowered him. “People were shouting ‘north Indian’ and ‘thief ’ as they thrashed him. It was a horrible sight,” said an eyewitness.Nearly 1,000 people, including slum-dwellers and passersby, stood and watched the youth being thrashed. No one stepped forward to stop the attack. Policemen passing by stopped their vehicle but drove away despite noticing the melee in the marsh.“They were kicking and punching him and he was bleeding. After a few minutes, he lost consciousness,” a witness said.Police later returned to the spot and took him away.“Everything happened in 20 minutes. Many people were cheering and laughing and egging on the mob,” he said.The mob then dragged Rao to the main road, but the police came by again and this time took him away in a van.A resident of Balaji Nagar told TOI that the youth appeared suspicious. “People from the neighbourhood thought he was planning to commit a theft."The police confirmed the attack. “After the encounter with the bank robbers, people think that all Biharis are burglars. They mistook this man to be from north India and attacked him. He could not even speak properly. We gave him some tea and biscuits and let him go after taking his fingerprints,” said an officer from the Pallikaranai police station.The police admitted that they did not take any action against the men who beat up Venkat Rao. “Everything happened because of misunderstanding,” the officer said. |
LotV Beta - TL Strategy first impressions Text by Teoita Graphics by Shiroiusagi Legacy of the Void: First Impressions
The Legacy of the Void beta has just been released, and most of TL Strategy dove right in to test it. The full list of changes (which you can find
General Changes
The biggest change is perhaps the new economy. Both the extra workers at the start and the reduced resources massively impact the game in deep ways that likely hadn't even been predicted by Blizzard; in fact, both changes are so big we will focus on them in greater detail in our next article, coming out soon (tm).
In general, the fewer resources per base make the game feel completely different from anything we've played before, including Brood War. Currently, bases mine out incredibly quickly, to the point where you absolutely must take at least a third, and potentially a fourth, as soon as humanly possible. It's almost as if the game was a race against your own workers. This is such an extreme feeling that it defines the entire game: are actually punished for not expanding, rather than rewarded for expanding. To a certain extent, this is similar to Starcraft 1 (you do need extra bases to have more income), but the way the games play out is very different. It feels like there just isn't enough time to do anything but secure extra bases, particularly with slow and immobile armies. This is a very different feel from BW, when it was possible for mech, terran bio (vs zerg) and protoss (vs zerg) to stay on two bases looking for openings and opportunities for a while before needing to take a third and/or fourth. Many of us are even starting to theorize that going above twelve mineral workers per base might actually be a bad move, as you will mine out quicker for little benefit in return. Currently, we think this might result in one of two outcomes: either the games will stabilize in long games with really fast four base builds, or they will become similar to the scrappier HotS and WoL games in which both sides are at about two base economy as a base mines out as soon as another one is secured, with the builds used also resembing HotS styles.
The extra workers are perhaps an even bigger change, even though it doesn't appear to be so on the surface. The basic idea is simply to get in the game and do things faster than in the past; whether you will enjoy this or not is entirely subjective, but it's undeniable that for broadcasted games it's nice to cut out the early game "boredom".
However, this isn't all the extra workers bring. The higher early game income impacts the growth of economy, compared to the growth of tech, extremely quickly. Players have far more resources to set up an expansion and infrastructure, but important research timings such as stim, lair or warpgate are unchanged. The end result is that when these researches end, the opponent's build is much more developed than it would be with a 6 worker start, making any build relying on such a research - like a basic stim timing - considerably weaker. Again, this is a massive change and we will go more in depth on it in a future article, but it's easy to see how completing stim when the Zerg has full saturation is weaker than when he has 50 drones for example. This also shifts the focus of the game away from key tech to just massing easily accessible units that don't require good upgrades to be effective. We believe this is a huge reason why cyclones and ravagers in particular (more on them later) appear to be so strong in many situations - they both require very little tech (roach warren and factory, respectively), meaning their power is easily acquired early on.
Finally, the quicker growth also changes the pacing of scouting and reacting very drastically, which is particularly noticeable with Zerg overlord scouting. Because builds develop quicker than before, it feels harder to scout and deviate, with many builds hitting very shortly after they are scouted. Whether this allows players to branch and react in time to various threats, or increases the elements of build order luck that are always present in any version of Starcraft, remains to be seen.
There are also a few other, comparatively minor changes, that are worth discussing. The look on units and buildings on the minimap is more "transparent" and less saturated, making it very hard to spot movement, especially over a clear background like a desert map. The map pool itself is quite unsatisfying: some maps are plagued by bugs like mineral nodes being ignored by workers and ramps having disappeared from the original version of the map, while other maps are simply universally disliked, like Inferno Pools. One of the new Blizzard maps, called Lerilak Crest, features a natural with two very large chokes that can't possibly be walled, creating extremely annoying gameplay for both Terran and Protoss.
Protoss
The changes to the early and mid game timings discussed earlier impacted Protoss the most, because now the mothership core and any early game sentries just do not have enough energy to be an effective defense, to the point where it's very easy to get completely destroyed by the first few cyclones or ravagers that hit the field. It's also harder to be on the map with any kind of army, as both the immortal and colosuss are weaker, and key researches like forge upgrades, Warpgate and Blink are just so much slower compared to the past. Our Zergs, Terrans and Protoss all agree that the race doesn't have the power of the other two at the moment, in part because of the nerfs or new units and in part because the economy model just doesn't fit the research-based Protoss playstyle.
That said, we feel that both the new Protoss units are designed very well, and even though they both might need number tweaking, they seem to be very interesting gameplay-wise.
The adept's concept of a core unit that can quickly jump between locations is very unique, and it's easy to imagine many strategical situations in which they can be used to outplay and outposition an opponent. That said, with their current stats they can't fight anything straight up, including the light units they are meant to be strong against. Against marines, all that is needed is a bunker or wall, and against slow lings they are too slow to march onto creep and harass, or trade effectively once speed is done. Furthermore, they can't bypass walls, and their upgrade is so far up the tech tree it appears next to impossible to fit it into a build. As long as their numbers are so low, they are just a reaper that isn't capable of jumping up cliffs. The only use we found so far is an early game two gate adept rush in pvp, hoping that an opponent will have fast expanded and/or cut stalkers.
The disruptor fits a unit design that has been asked by Protoss players for a very long time - a strong robotics unit that is meant to work together with a warp prism for both harassment and straight up fights. The parallels with the Brood War reaver are obvious. They currently are the strongest Protoss unit, as their 150 damage easily one-shots the vast majority of units in the game; they are absolutely devastating against clumped group of units. Their presence puts immense pressure on the opponent to split his army correctly, but also on the Protoss to micro the warp prism perfectly - each disruptor costs 200 minerals and 300 gas, and losing one or two of them is pretty much game ending. The main difference from the reaver is that their movement speed without a warp prism and before activating their purification nova is quite quick, so they are capable of following an army of their own without any external transport. While they currently aren't massable because of their cost, this could have lategame implications once the game is more figured out.
On the bright side, carrier has arrived! This has probably been the most pleasant surprise for Protoss so far. The fact that the ridiculed carrier of all units appears to finally have a strong place in the protoss arsenal is a testament to just how different the game is, and how unpredictable the beta testing process is. Their reduced build time makes them much more accessible than before, and the ability to sacrifice all of the interceptors to deploy them instantly in an area is very strong, as it's possible to lay waste to entire bases and recall out, or simply zone out opposing armies trying to push into a base. They are still expensive and hard to tech to, as they rightfully should be, but finally it feels like that expense is worth it. Ironically enough, they even feel strong enough to replace the tempest in the lategame. The ability to release interceptors could use some quality of life changes, like the ability to target fire interceptors. Either way, the new carrier definitely looks like a major step up from the old one.
As a final and entirely minor note, there seem to be some small inconsistencies in the current build regarding the behavior of some units. While large units like archons, tanks and now disruptors are incapable of getting through a typical 1-hex gap, ravagers, whose model is just as large, can fit through perfectly. Also, blink stalkers have some inconsistencies in their behavior, as large groups of them sometimes just refuse to blink to a spot when ordered to do it. We believe this is likely tied to the scan range update, and possibly caused by the fac that it's impossible for a stalker to blink near a spot that is already occupied by a unit, like another stalker, before blinking, but while noticable it's hard to reproduce.
Terran
While the Terran race itself seems relatively unchanged, having gained only one unit, the different economy and new units from the other races, along with the sheer power of the cyclone in some situations, actually make a massive difference in how the race plays. The economy in particular also feels particularly punishing, as mules mine out bases extremely quickly; it's actually somewhat common to not start a third cc, but to simply float the main cc to the third.
Cyclones early on make a big impact in both TvP and TvT. They only require a tech lab factory to build, making them very accessible, and their range, movement speed and lock on ability easily shuts down any flying harassment unit completely no matter the race, from early mutas, to oracles, warp prisms, and even banshees. Additionally, the lock on allows them to trade effectively against protoss in the early game. While many people are already claiming they are as broken as the warhound used to be, they actually function quite differently. The warhound was criticized because it essentially didn't have any weak points, and during the entire game there was no reason not to simply mass them with minor support. Cyclones aren't like that, at all. In fact, they lose much of their worth in large engagements, as they are much more easily swarmed by zealots or bio, and their lock on tends to fixate on mediocre targets. Currently the best description for the cyclone is more or less an early game, ground based carrier, meant to take out key targets without scaling well in larger engagements against many units. It's a very odd design, and we generally feel like some changes will be required to make it a truly interesting and unique unit that benefits the Terran arsenal in a healthy way.
While cyclones rule the early game in the other two matchups, early game TvZ feels very changed and potentially troublesome. Ravager pushes are devastating for anything that doesn't include a tank drop or maybe quick banshees, seemingly reducing the number of viable builds; ravagers just feel incredibly powerful compared to how early on they are available. However, tank drops shut them down convincingly, and seem to force the Zerg into quick two base muta builds with extra queens. While powerful, this mechanic currently feels reasonably balanced, and possibly even enough to make marine/tank the go to TvZ composition again.
The mentioned difference in economy vs tech is very easily felt in TvZ early game. While tank drops are quick enough that they pose a decent threat, the traditional hellion/banshee pressure comes out at a much later timing, to the point where it can't pressure nearly as effectively as in the past.
Finally, when playing TvZ bio the combination of buffed cracklings and ultras with nerfed marauders effectively puts the Terran on a clock. Bio can't really transition into the lategame, and now can't beat ultralisks at all.
Before this timing and in the other two matchups, bio feels stronger than in HotS. This is likely to its ability to be on the map and pressure with cheap units while expanding; bio vs mech and bio vs protoss feel significantly easier than in HotS in the midgame, when the power of bio already peaked. The changes to the economy are so drastic that TvP feels much too easy even without building a single cyclone.
As a final quality of life note, many of the maps have weirdly shaped ramps that can't be walled with 2 depots and a rax; this is also happening on the TLMC maps that were previously wallable normally.
Zerg
Zerg is probably the race that benefits the most from the economic changes. They are designed to make many cheap units quickly, and the ability to get the extra third hatchery so much faster than the other races means they don't mine out as quickly as either Protoss or Terran. All in all, the focus on raw unit numbers rather than tech also make the race feel very strong. The new timings and economy aren't entirely positive however. Overlord scouting in particular is much weaker - an overlord takes longer to cross the map compared to how quickly builds develop, meaning you can get at most one scout off before the opponent has enough units to deny any further attempt, or a build is already fully developed and there isn't time to react to it.
The new units drastically change the way every Zerg matchup is played. Ravagers are incredibly powerful, especially as part of rushes, and they also drastically change the dynamics of ZvZ in particular: both sides are forced to split and reposition correctly to avoid the artillery shots, making roach wars more interesting and micro intensive than ever. Because the ravager shot is so slow, mutalisk switches also seem to have potential in the matchup. Finally, the buff to burrowed roaches is absolutely massive: the tech is very accessible, as it comes online very quickly and roaches are as easily massable as ever. Other than for early game rushes, Ravagers are incredibly devastating in PvZ. Their dps is higher than that of a hydralisk, and they are available much earlier on. The ability to destroy forcefields also appears incredibly powerful, possibly too much so early on in the game. A lair requirement along with a roach warren morph, like for Lurkers, might be necessary.
Lurkers are a fairly straight up units, as their design is essentially unchanged from bw. Their aoe appears to be very effective against most kinds of infantry units, and getting an iconic Zerg unit in the game just feels right. The only complaint we found so far about them is regarding their attack animation: it's extremely hard to see, especially in big battles, and often times it's really hard to realize that the reason an army is getting shredded is because there's lurkers underneath the roach/hydra/ravager forces.
After our first look, the most problematic issue for Zerg currently is their ability to mass units or drones through inject larva, while having a mobile army capable of securing a large number of expansions. The lack of photon overcharge (and possibly the buffed nydus worm) very early in the game makes one base cheeses incredibly powerful, and the Zerg ability to massively drone or make units through inject larva greatly favours them over the slower Protoss. The basic roach/ravager/zergling army currently appears to be so strong that the tech switches that have defined PvZ since the nerf to infestor/broodlord - and that are still very possible - aren't even necessary. Mutalisk/viper in particular appears to be incredibly powerful on paper against phoenix flocks, but it's hard to find situations in which the game develops that far. At this point, the game is so new that any kind of lategame consideration like that is too premature.
TvZ is also very changed. The midgame of muta/ling/bling against bio seems reasonably close to the current situation, minus the fact that hellion/banshee pressure is replaced by tank drop pressure, and that upgrades are harder to get and thus play a lesser role. It's hard to say just how much that changes the matchup. However, the sheer power of ultras completely appears to nullify any kind of bio play in the lategame, and many Terran players are trying to mech instead; however, it's hard to say wether the style truly is viable in the current economy model. As a final note, proxy rax bunker rushes seem to be destined to disappear: by the time they hit any hatch first build will already have at least completely the spawning pool, making defense much more comfortable and thus giving Zerg more room to breathe in the early game.
Conclusions
As we said in the introduction, the changes to the economic model are so massive that they warrant an in-depth article of their own; so far all we can say confidently is that while the basic premises of expanding more aggressively and getting in the game faster are valid goals, this first iteration appears problematic, and a lot more testing will be required to find a truly satisfying model.
The unit design overall seems valid on the other hand. While the numbers themselves are all over the place as expected, the basic mechanics of most units are convincing. The only unit that gets a question mark from us is potentially the cyclone, but we feel like with some retooling - like shifting its power away from the early game into a lategame "key unit" sniper, or removing some of its early power against air units - it could find a place in the Terran arsenal.
The Legacy of the Void beta has just been released, and most of TL Strategy dove right in to test it. The full list of changes (which you can find here ) is absolutely massive; the beta truly feels like playing a whole different game. We recommend you read the changes carefully before reading the rest of this article. This is just a brief recap of the initial thoughts and impressions of our members and several known players of all three races. While reading, please keep in mind that none of this is conclusive, since it's so early in the testing processs and Starcraft is constantly evolving.The biggest change is perhaps the new economy. Both the extra workers at the start and the reduced resources massively impact the game in deep ways that likely hadn't even been predicted by Blizzard; in fact, both changes are so big we will focus on them in greater detail in our next article, coming out soon (tm).In general, the fewer resources per base make the game feel completely different from anything we've played before, including Brood War. Currently, bases mine out incredibly quickly, to the point where you absolutely must take at least a third, and potentially a fourth, as soon as humanly possible. It's almost as if the game was a race against your own workers. This is such an extreme feeling that it defines the entire game: are actually punished for not expanding, rather than rewarded for expanding. To a certain extent, this is similar to Starcraft 1 (you do need extra bases to have more income), but the way the games play out is very different. It feels like there just isn't enoughto do anything but secure extra bases, particularly with slow and immobile armies. This is a very different feel from BW, when it was possible for mech, terran bio (vs zerg) and protoss (vs zerg) to stay on two bases looking for openings and opportunities for a while before needing to take a third and/or fourth. Many of us are even starting to theorize that going above twelve mineral workers per base might actually be a bad move, as you will mine out quicker for little benefit in return. Currently, we think this might result in one of two outcomes: either the games will stabilize in long games with really fast four base builds, or they will become similar to the scrappier HotS and WoL games in which both sides are at about two base economy as a base mines out as soon as another one is secured, with the builds used also resembing HotS styles.The extra workers are perhaps an even bigger change, even though it doesn't appear to be so on the surface. The basic idea is simply to get in the game and do things faster than in the past; whether you will enjoy this or not is entirely subjective, but it's undeniable that for broadcasted games it's nice to cut out the early game "boredom".However, this isn't all the extra workers bring. The higher early game income impacts the growth of economy, compared to the growth of tech, extremely quickly. Players have far more resources to set up an expansion and infrastructure, but important research timings such as stim, lair or warpgate are unchanged. The end result is that when these researches end, the opponent's build is much more developed than it would be with a 6 worker start, making any build relying on such a research - like a basic stim timing - considerably weaker. Again, this is a massive change and we will go more in depth on it in a future article, but it's easy to see how completing stim when the Zerg has full saturation is weaker than when he has 50 drones for example. This also shifts the focus of the game away from key tech to just massing easily accessible units that don't require good upgrades to be effective. We believe this is a huge reason why cyclones and ravagers in particular (more on them later) appear to be so strong in many situations - they both require very little tech (roach warren and factory, respectively), meaning their power is easily acquired early on.Finally, the quicker growth also changes the pacing of scouting and reacting very drastically, which is particularly noticeable with Zerg overlord scouting. Because builds develop quicker than before, it feels harder to scout and deviate, with many builds hitting very shortly after they are scouted. Whether this allows players to branch and react in time to various threats, or increases the elements of build order luck that are always present in any version of Starcraft, remains to be seen.There are also a few other, comparatively minor changes, that are worth discussing. The look on units and buildings on the minimap is more "transparent" and less saturated, making it very hard to spot movement, especially over a clear background like a desert map. The map pool itself is quite unsatisfying: some maps are plagued by bugs like mineral nodes being ignored by workers and ramps having disappeared from the original version of the map, while other maps are simply universally disliked, like Inferno Pools. One of the new Blizzard maps, called Lerilak Crest, features a natural with two very large chokes that can't possibly be walled, creating extremely annoying gameplay for both Terran and Protoss.The changes to the early and mid game timings discussed earlier impacted Protoss the most, because now the mothership core and any early game sentries just do not have enough energy to be an effective defense, to the point where it's very easy to get completely destroyed by the first few cyclones or ravagers that hit the field. It's also harder to be on the map with any kind of army, as both the immortal and colosuss are weaker, and key researches like forge upgrades, Warpgate and Blink are just so much slower compared to the past. Our Zergs, Terrans and Protoss all agree that the race doesn't have the power of the other two at the moment, in part because of the nerfs or new units and in part because the economy model just doesn't fit the research-based Protoss playstyle.That said, we feel that both the new Protoss units are designed very well, and even though they both might need number tweaking, they seem to be very interesting gameplay-wise.The adept's concept of a core unit that can quickly jump between locations is very unique, and it's easy to imagine many strategical situations in which they can be used to outplay and outposition an opponent. That said, with their current stats they can't fight anything straight up, including the light units they are meant to be strong against. Against marines, all that is needed is a bunker or wall, and against slow lings they are too slow to march onto creep and harass, or trade effectively once speed is done. Furthermore, they can't bypass walls, and their upgrade is so far up the tech tree it appears next to impossible to fit it into a build. As long as their numbers are so low, they are just a reaper that isn't capable of jumping up cliffs. The only use we found so far is an early game two gate adept rush in pvp, hoping that an opponent will have fast expanded and/or cut stalkers.The disruptor fits a unit design that has been asked by Protoss players for a very long time - a strong robotics unit that is meant to work together with a warp prism for both harassment and straight up fights. The parallels with the Brood War reaver are obvious. They currently are the strongest Protoss unit, as their 150 damage easily one-shots the vast majority of units in the game; they are absolutely devastating against clumped group of units. Their presence puts immense pressure on the opponent to split his army correctly, but also on the Protoss to micro the warp prism perfectly - each disruptor costs 200 minerals and 300 gas, and losing one or two of them is pretty much game ending. The main difference from the reaver is that their movement speed without a warp prism and before activating their purification nova is quite quick, so they are capable of following an army of their own without any external transport. While they currently aren't massable because of their cost, this could have lategame implications once the game is more figured out.On the bright side, carrier has arrived! This has probably been the most pleasant surprise for Protoss so far. The fact that the ridiculed carrier of all units appears to finally have a strong place in the protoss arsenal is a testament to just how different the game is, and how unpredictable the beta testing process is. Their reduced build time makes them much more accessible than before, and the ability to sacrifice all of the interceptors to deploy them instantly in an area is very strong, as it's possible to lay waste to entire bases and recall out, or simply zone out opposing armies trying to push into a base. They are still expensive and hard to tech to, as they rightfully should be, but finally it feels like that expense is worth it. Ironically enough, they even feel strong enough to replace the tempest in the lategame. The ability to release interceptors could use some quality of life changes, like the ability to target fire interceptors. Either way, the new carrier definitely looks like a major step up from the old one.As a final and entirely minor note, there seem to be some small inconsistencies in the current build regarding the behavior of some units. While large units like archons, tanks and now disruptors are incapable of getting through a typical 1-hex gap, ravagers, whose model is just as large, can fit through perfectly. Also, blink stalkers have some inconsistencies in their behavior, as large groups of them sometimes just refuse to blink to a spot when ordered to do it. We believe this is likely tied to the scan range update, and possibly caused by the fac that it's impossible for a stalker to blink near a spot that is already occupied by a unit, like another stalker, before blinking, but while noticable it's hard to reproduce.While the Terran race itself seems relatively unchanged, having gained only one unit, the different economy and new units from the other races, along with the sheer power of the cyclone in some situations, actually make a massive difference in how the race plays. The economy in particular also feels particularly punishing, as mules mine out bases extremely quickly; it's actually somewhat common to not start a third cc, but to simply float the main cc to the third.Cyclones early on make a big impact in both TvP and TvT. They only require a tech lab factory to build, making them very accessible, and their range, movement speed and lock on ability easily shuts down any flying harassment unit completely no matter the race, from early mutas, to oracles, warp prisms, and even banshees. Additionally, the lock on allows them to trade effectively against protoss in the early game. While many people are already claiming they are as broken as the warhound used to be, they actually function quite differently. The warhound was criticized because it essentially didn't have any weak points, and during the entire game there was no reason not to simply mass them with minor support. Cyclones aren't like that, at all. In fact, they lose much of their worth in large engagements, as they are much more easily swarmed by zealots or bio, and their lock on tends to fixate on mediocre targets. Currently the best description for the cyclone is more or less an early game, ground based carrier, meant to take out key targets without scaling well in larger engagements against many units. It's a very odd design, and we generally feel like some changes will be required to make it a truly interesting and unique unit that benefits the Terran arsenal in a healthy way.While cyclones rule the early game in the other two matchups, early game TvZ feels very changed and potentially troublesome. Ravager pushes are devastating for anything that doesn't include a tank drop or maybe quick banshees, seemingly reducing the number of viable builds; ravagers just feel incredibly powerful compared to how early on they are available. However, tank drops shut them down convincingly, and seem to force the Zerg into quick two base muta builds with extra queens. While powerful, this mechanic currently feels reasonably balanced, and possibly even enough to make marine/tank the go to TvZ composition again.The mentioned difference in economy vs tech is very easily felt in TvZ early game. While tank drops are quick enough that they pose a decent threat, the traditional hellion/banshee pressure comes out at a much later timing, to the point where it can't pressure nearly as effectively as in the past.Finally, when playing TvZ bio the combination of buffed cracklings and ultras with nerfed marauders effectively puts the Terran on a clock. Bio can't really transition into the lategame, and now can't beat ultralisks at all.Before this timing and in the other two matchups, bio feels stronger than in HotS. This is likely to its ability to be on the map and pressure with cheap units while expanding; bio vs mech and bio vs protoss feel significantly easier than in HotS in the midgame, when the power of bio already peaked. The changes to the economy are so drastic that TvP feels much too easy even without building a single cyclone.As a final quality of life note, many of the maps have weirdly shaped ramps that can't be walled with 2 depots and a rax; this is also happening on the TLMC maps that were previously wallable normally.Zerg is probably the race that benefits the most from the economic changes. They are designed to make many cheap units quickly, and the ability to get the extra third hatchery so much faster than the other races means they don't mine out as quickly as either Protoss or Terran. All in all, the focus on raw unit numbers rather than tech also make the race feel very strong. The new timings and economy aren't entirely positive however. Overlord scouting in particular is much weaker - an overlord takes longer to cross the map compared to how quickly builds develop, meaning you can get at most one scout off before the opponent has enough units to deny any further attempt, or a build is already fully developed and there isn't time to react to it.The new units drastically change the way every Zerg matchup is played. Ravagers are incredibly powerful, especially as part of rushes, and they also drastically change the dynamics of ZvZ in particular: both sides are forced to split and reposition correctly to avoid the artillery shots, making roach wars more interesting and micro intensive than ever. Because the ravager shot is so slow, mutalisk switches also seem to have potential in the matchup. Finally, the buff to burrowed roaches is absolutely massive: the tech is very accessible, as it comes online very quickly and roaches are as easily massable as ever. Other than for early game rushes, Ravagers are incredibly devastating in PvZ. Their dps is higher than that of a hydralisk, and they are available much earlier on. The ability to destroy forcefields also appears incredibly powerful, possibly too much so early on in the game. A lair requirement along with a roach warren morph, like for Lurkers, might be necessary.Lurkers are a fairly straight up units, as their design is essentially unchanged from bw. Their aoe appears to be very effective against most kinds of infantry units, and getting an iconic Zerg unit in the game just feels right. The only complaint we found so far about them is regarding their attack animation: it's extremely hard to see, especially in big battles, and often times it's really hard to realize that the reason an army is getting shredded is because there's lurkers underneath the roach/hydra/ravager forces.After our first look, the most problematic issue for Zerg currently is their ability to mass units or drones through inject larva, while having a mobile army capable of securing a large number of expansions. The lack of photon overcharge (and possibly the buffed nydus worm) very early in the game makes one base cheeses incredibly powerful, and the Zerg ability to massively drone or make units through inject larva greatly favours them over the slower Protoss. The basic roach/ravager/zergling army currently appears to be so strong that the tech switches that have defined PvZ since the nerf to infestor/broodlord - and that are still very possible - aren't even necessary. Mutalisk/viper in particular appears to be incredibly powerful on paper against phoenix flocks, but it's hard to find situations in which the game develops that far. At this point, the game is so new that any kind of lategame consideration like that is too premature.TvZ is also very changed. The midgame of muta/ling/bling against bio seems reasonably close to the current situation, minus the fact that hellion/banshee pressure is replaced by tank drop pressure, and that upgrades are harder to get and thus play a lesser role. It's hard to say just how much that changes the matchup. However, the sheer power of ultras completely appears to nullify any kind of bio play in the lategame, and many Terran players are trying to mech instead; however, it's hard to say wether the style truly is viable in the current economy model. As a final note, proxy rax bunker rushes seem to be destined to disappear: by the time they hit any hatch first build will already have at least completely the spawning pool, making defense much more comfortable and thus giving Zerg more room to breathe in the early game.As we said in the introduction, the changes to the economic model are so massive that they warrant an in-depth article of their own; so far all we can say confidently is that while the basic premises of expanding more aggressively and getting in the game faster are valid goals, this first iteration appears problematic, and a lot more testing will be required to find a truly satisfying model.The unit design overall seems valid on the other hand. While the numbers themselves are all over the place as expected, the basic mechanics of most units are convincing. The only unit that gets a question mark from us is potentially the cyclone, but we feel like with some retooling - like shifting its power away from the early game into a lategame "key unit" sniper, or removing some of its early power against air units - it could find a place in the Terran arsenal. Mussolini Mod Protoss all-ins are like a wok. You can throw whatever you want in there and it will turn out alright.
[PkF] Wire Profile Joined March 2013 France 20658 Posts #2 I second the question mark about the cyclone, and I like the suggestion to make it more of a lategame unit than an early game unit with little to no counterplay.
Antonidas Profile Joined August 2014 United States 105 Posts #3 A good read... as long as there is Starcraft, life is good *insert propaganda here*
digmouse Profile Blog Joined November 2010 China 5165 Posts #4 Agree on the expansion part, it feels very much unlike in BW or even HotS where you should be planning to expand to benefit from it, it actually feels rushy to expand just because you are 100% going to die if you do not. Translator If you want to ask anything about Chinese esports, send me a PM or follow me @nerddigmouse.
TheDwf Profile Joined November 2011 France 19632 Posts #5 forced mistakes = increased randomness. Strategy relies on planning, which means enough time to think. If the RT part of RTS is violently compressed then the S withers away too by force. Where the delicate balance and tangle between “mechanics” and “strategy” relies on making sure that mistakes occur both from the user (reasonably) and his opponent (whose main job is to actively try to force more mistakes from his second nemesis), the current direction LotV is taking is very dangerous. The new environment skews the original allocation to the point that players will essentially defeat themselves by their simple activity… of playing (here, during the explosive development phase). The interaction between players that creates the game and its tension is at an active risk of being laminated. With the current LotV rhythm Blizzard is actually killing the very genre of Starcraft.
All of this stems from the fact that Blizzard has still not understood at all the dual root of all the current issues. How ironic considering they had every material needed within the SC1 experience. All they had to do was to load one of those things called “fast maps” and think. Actually, I'm now almost sure that's what they did, but they forgot that in RTS “time” is interconnected with “strategy”. The oldest of us may remember that the SC1 official ladder was originally set on “fast” instead of “fastest,” making it unbearably slow and sluggish (yet, in a pleasant way, with more control in the advanced phases of the game). That is, before bots and cheating completely ruined it.
The SC2 user economy only revolves around three aspects, which are Accuracy, Attention and Knowledge. All of them are tested through the trial of Time. Metagaming is the manipulative application of one's reflection about this economy (not “the current standardization of the Knowledge,” despite the confusion of the common sense).
Multitasking is the primary and highest “skill stretcher” because of the time constraint combining those elements. This is why camping into 1a out of zero attention tools is universally despised. But the fundamental problem is neither “aggression” nor “defense”. Blizzard has understood nothing of why aggression can be good or defence can turn bad, which is why they have given birth to various horrors that mutilate the game because of their unbeatable operational effectiveness in either of those sides. Similarly, they have not understood that over-contracting time can only disfigure the necessary RTS equilibrium between “total control” (pure strategy) and “zero control” (pure luck).
SC2 already suffered a lot because of the wildness of the increased rhythm. The “excitement doctrina” ended up trying to artificially conceal the shallowness of its new strategic conceptions with a violent contraction of time, just like the immense plot holes of all the bad blockbusters of today are partially hidden by shiny “new” special effects and sheer propaganda. They call this bogus approach “innovation”. In their fantasy, it's probably supposed to look flash. LotV is currently going even further this way, with the consequence that the competition will further collapse thanks to the narrowing of the array of skill. The theoretical skill ceiling shall be higher than ever, yet of course absolutely unreachable; thus the practical skill gap, i.e. what humans can achieve best in reality, will crumble.
This is what happens to skill when you contract time.
“Skill gap” is the height of the area between the “skill floor” and the “practical skill ceiling”. The theoretical skill ceiling is considered infinite and unreachable, and thus does not matter at all; you could indeed always micro each of your individual Zealots but the absolutely massive diminishing returns make it worthless in practice. What matters is thus the practical skill ceiling, i.e. how much you get for what you invest. Contracting time does raise the skill floor but it decreases the practical skill ceiling too. Therefore, it contracts the skill gap itself.
Think about driving a car. What happens at 30 km/h? You're still in control. Now increase to 50? Still fully doable, but your margin of error does decrease. Now increase to 70, 100, 150, 300, 500—at some point the accident can no longer be avoided and even the best drivers enter the realm of the “unforgivable”. The simple fact that you maintain your driving activity makes the crash unavoidable. This mechanism is “the contraction of time”. Blitz chess is a dazzling example of that: pressured by time, world-caliber players start making absolutely grotesque, newbie-like blunders. Contracting time decreases the quality of play, even if the competition can somewhat stand for a while (though increasingly turned inwards, towards oneself). Should you proceed for too long in that direction, skill itself would start to disappear, replaced with the functional equivalent of luck. Since SC2 is already an RTS, the “time factor” is retroceded elsewhere. Speed of development is the name of the game. In LotV, the primary banner of this mechanism is embodied in economy.
I hope people don't get dumb and the crude attempts at diverting users from the potential massive decrease in the quality of the game with shiny gimmicks don't succeed. The classic balance debates between Protoss, Terran, and Zerg are, for instance, absolutely irrelevant regarding this general movement. Dumb users shall be jealous of “the shiny tools others get” and will ask Blizzard the same for “their camp,” failing to realize that they're completely falling into the oldest trap on Earth called “divide and rule”. People should instead unite and camp Blizzard's door so they have a playable RTS first. Otherwise, they will only get (1) an even worse game, (2) an even worse competitive scene, (3) an even worse balance.
Playability and thus “enjoyability” come from control over various aspects. This is why people involved in games of pure chance systematically develop absurd habits and beliefs in order to recreate the control they no longer have.
Contracting time = less control. Always, everywhere. Sometimes it is needed, sometimes not. Control doesn't have to be absolute, but there are thresholds to respect. There are different temporalities within the game and Blizzard has apparently failed to identify them. The quality of the game flows from its “control architecture”.
May I kindly mention that there were people who warned people from this all along? They were deliberately confused with “elitists” and mocked for being “neophobic” or “nostalgic”. Yet we see who was right at the end of the journey. But the journey is not completely done. Therefore, some people will find it smart to fall again and again into the old traps of “one game vs the other” or the very fruitful “give them time, it's only beta” attitude which sows expectations to inevitably reap disappointment. Delighted with the delicate scent of novelty, some will perhaps be naive enough to trust again the holy name of the Brand, as if those topics weren't years old, as if similar problems hadn't arisen before in other games, as if other sectors weren't concerned, as if those issues weren't significant of a more global movement.
At any rate, what do users have to lose in making their voices heard?
Since when do words kill? Contracting time = less control from the user, always. Contracting time = less control = moremistakes = increased randomness. Strategy relies on planning, which means enough time to. If the RT part of RTS is violently compressed then the S withers away too by force. Where the delicate balance and tangle between “mechanics” and “strategy” relies on making sure that mistakes occurfrom the user (reasonably)his opponent (whose main job is to actively try to forcemistakes from his second nemesis), the current direction LotV is taking is very dangerous. The new environment skews the original allocation to the point that players will essentially defeat themselves by their simple activity… of playing (here, during the explosive development phase). The interaction between players that creates the game and its tension is at an active risk of being laminated. With the current LotV rhythm Blizzard is actually killing the very genre of Starcraft.All of this stems from the fact that Blizzard hasnot understood at all the dual root of all the current issues. How ironic considering they had every material needed within the SC1 experience. All they had to do was to load one of those things called “fast maps” and think. Actually, I'm now almost sure that's what they did, but they forgot that in RTS “time” iswith “strategy”. The oldest of us may remember that the SC1 official ladder was originally set on “fast” instead of “fastest,” making it unbearably slow and sluggish (yet, in a pleasant way, with more control in the advanced phases of the game). That is, before bots and cheating completely ruined it.The SC2 user economy only revolves around three aspects, which are Accuracy, Attention and Knowledge. All of them are tested through the trial of Time. Metagaming is the manipulative application of one's reflection about this economy (“the current standardization of the Knowledge,” despite the confusion of the common sense).Multitasking is the primary and highest “skill stretcher” because of the time constraint combining those elements. This is why camping into 1a out of zero attention tools is universally despised. But the fundamental problem is neither “aggression” nor “defense”. Blizzard has understood nothing of why aggressionbe good or defenceturn bad, which is why they have given birth to various horrors that mutilate the game because of their unbeatable operational effectiveness in either of those sides. Similarly, they have not understood that over-contracting time can only disfigure the necessary RTS equilibrium between “total control” (pure strategy) and “zero control” (pure luck).SC2 already suffered a lot because of the wildness of the increased rhythm. The “excitement doctrina” ended up trying to artificially conceal the shallowness of its new strategic conceptions with a violent contraction of time, just like the immense plot holes of all the bad blockbusters of today are partially hidden by shiny “new” special effects and sheer propaganda. They call this bogus approach “innovation”. In their fantasy, it's probably supposed to look flash. LotV is currently going even further this way, with the consequence that the competition will further collapse thanks to the narrowing of the array of skill. The theoretical skill ceiling shall be higher than ever, yet of course absolutely unreachable; thus theskill gap, i.e. what humans can achieve best, will crumble.“Skill gap” is the height of the area between the “skill floor” and the “practical skill ceiling”. The theoretical skill ceiling is considered infinite and unreachable, and thus does not matter at all; youindeed always micro each of your individual Zealots but the absolutely massive diminishing returns make it worthless in practice. What matters is thus theskill ceiling, i.e. how much you get for what you invest. Contracting time does raise the skill floorit decreases the practical skill ceiling too. Therefore, it contracts the skill gap itself.Think about driving a car. What happens at 30 km/h? You're still in control. Now increase to 50? Still fully doable, but your margin of error does decrease. Now increase to 70, 100, 150, 300, 500—at some point the accident can no longer be avoided and even the best drivers enter the realm of the “unforgivable”. The simple fact that you maintain your driving activity makes the crash unavoidable. This mechanism“the contraction of time”. Blitz chess is a dazzling example of that: pressured by time, world-caliber players start making absolutely grotesque, newbie-like blunders. Contracting time decreases the quality of play, even if the competition can somewhat stand for a while (though increasingly turned inwards, towards oneself). Should you proceed for too long in that direction, skill itself would start to disappear, replaced with the functional equivalent of luck. Since SC2 is already an RTS, the “time factor” is retroceded elsewhere. Speed of development is the name of the game. In LotV, the primary banner of this mechanism is embodied in economy.I hope people don't get dumb and the crude attempts at diverting users from the potential massive decrease in the quality of the game with shiny gimmicks don't succeed. The classic balance debates between Protoss, Terran, and Zerg are, for instance, absolutely irrelevant regarding this general movement. Dumb users shall be jealous of “the shiny tools others get” and will ask Blizzard the same for “their camp,” failing to realize that they're completely falling into the oldest trap on Earth called “divide and rule”. People should instead unite and camp Blizzard's door so they have aRTS first. Otherwise, they will only get (1) an even worse game, (2) an even worse competitive scene, (3) an even worse balance.Playability and thus “enjoyability” come fromover various aspects. This is why people involved in games of pure chance systematically develop absurd habits and beliefs in order to recreate the control they no longer have.Contracting time = less control. Always, everywhere. Sometimes it is needed, sometimes not. Control doesn't have to be absolute, but there are thresholds to respect. There are different temporalities within the game and Blizzard has apparently failed to identify them. The quality of the game flows from its “control architecture”.May I kindly mention that there were people who warned people from this all along? They were deliberately confused with “elitists” and mocked for being “neophobic” or “nostalgic”. Yet we see who was right at the end of the journey. But the journey is not completely done. Therefore, some people will find it smart to fall again and again into the old traps of “one game vs the other” or the very fruitful “give them time, it's only beta” attitude which sows expectations to inevitably reap disappointment. Delighted with the delicate scent of novelty, some will perhaps be naive enough to trustthe holy name of the Brand, as if those topics weren'told, as if similar problems hadn't arisen before in other games, as if other sectors weren't concerned, as if those issues weren't significant of a more global movement.At any rate, what do users have toin making their voices heard?Since when do words
[PkF] Wire Profile Joined March 2013 France 20658 Posts #6 On April 05 2015 04:05 digmouse wrote:
Agree on the expansion part, it feels very much unlike in BW or even HotS where you should be planning to expand to benefit from it, it actually feels rushy to expand just because you are 100% going to die if you do not.
I hope they hear this concern. Rewarding expanding is NOT punishing not expanding. I hope they hear this concern. Rewarding expanding is NOT punishing not expanding.
[PkF] Wire Profile Joined March 2013 France 20658 Posts Last Edited: 2015-04-04 19:18:14 #7 On April 05 2015 04:09 TheDwf wrote:
They call this bogus approach “innovation”. In their fantasy, it's probably supposed to look flash
Your post is amazing, very interesting, extremely well-written and thorough -please, Blizzard, read this-, but I had to highlight that superb line . Your post is amazing, very interesting, extremely well-written and thorough -please, Blizzard, read this-, but I had to highlight that superb line
Teoita Profile Blog Joined January 2011 Italy 11453 Posts Last Edited: 2015-04-04 19:17:23 #8 Dwf man have you ever thought about a career in politcs? Good post though, i agree and as we wrote in the post we're going to analyze the economy really in depth in our next article because it's absolutely crazy Mussolini Mod Protoss all-ins are like a wok. You can throw whatever you want in there and it will turn out alright.
KingAlphard Profile Blog Joined August 2012 Italy 1704 Posts #9 On April 05 2015 04:05 digmouse wrote:
Agree on the expansion part, it feels very much unlike in BW or even HotS where you should be planning to expand to benefit from it, it actually feels rushy to expand just because you are 100% going to die if you do not.
I think it's too early to draw conclusions on that. People have yet to figure out how to make timings/all ins work with the new economy and units. Once that will happen, people will stop doing crazy greedy stuff all the time. I think it's too early to draw conclusions on that. People have yet to figure out how to make timings/all ins work with the new economy and units. Once that will happen, people will stop doing crazy greedy stuff all the time. hots/lotv gm protoss - tesgaming.com
Teoita Profile Blog Joined January 2011 Italy 11453 Posts Last Edited: 2015-04-04 19:20:34 #10 Sure, but the key is that there is strictly less time to do anything at all, which is just different from how BW in particular played. In fact, it's the opposite. Mussolini Mod Protoss all-ins are like a wok. You can throw whatever you want in there and it will turn out alright.
ZeromuS Profile Blog Joined October 2010 Canada 12804 Posts #11 On April 05 2015 04:05 digmouse wrote:
Agree on the expansion part, it feels very much unlike in BW or even HotS where you should be planning to expand to benefit from it, it actually feels rushy to expand just because you are 100% going to die if you do not.
Give us another day or two and we will have part 1 of an article on the LotV economy examining this issue specifically with some in game numbers to support it.
Part 2 will examine the 12 worker start.
I personally believe that there is a viable alternative economic model that supports rewarding expansion based play and offering deeper strategic choices while also speeding up the early game without artificially cutting out the extreme early game. (The 6-12 worker period of time).
Give us another day or two and we will have part 1 of an article on the LotV economy examining this issue specifically with some in game numbers to support it.Part 2 will examine the 12 worker start.I personally believe that there is a viable alternative economic model that supports rewarding expansion based play and offering deeper strategic choices while also speeding up the early game without artificially cutting out the extreme early game. (The 6-12 worker period of time). Strategy Overwatch is awesome | Support is the best role | @TL_ZeromuS | www.twitch.tv/Zeromus_
Wildmoon Profile Joined December 2011 Thailand 4137 Posts #12 Good post. Looking forward to the next part and how the beta will play out.:D "A man is what he chooses to be"
[PkF] Wire Profile Joined March 2013 France 20658 Posts Last Edited: 2015-04-04 19:26:10 #13 On April 05 2015 04:21 ZeromuS wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 05 2015 04:05 digmouse wrote:
Agree on the expansion part, it feels very much unlike in BW or even HotS where you should be planning to expand to benefit from it, it actually feels rushy to expand just because you are 100% going to die if you do not.
Give us another day or two and we will have part 1 of an article on the LotV economy examining this issue specifically with some in game numbers to support it.
Part 2 will examine the 12 worker start.
I personally believe that there is a viable alternative economic model that supports rewarding expansion based play and offering deeper strategic choices while also speeding up the early game without artificially cutting out the extreme early game. (The 6-12 worker period of time).
Give us another day or two and we will have part 1 of an article on the LotV economy examining this issue specifically with some in game numbers to support it.Part 2 will examine the 12 worker start.I personally believe that there is a viable alternative economic model that supports rewarding expansion based play and offering deeper strategic choices while also speeding up the early game without artificially cutting out the extreme early game. (The 6-12 worker period of time).
Thanks for taking all that time in the hope that it'll be beneficial for SC2. Hell, it's depressing to have to concede I'd be far more confident for the future of SC2 if TL was in charge of LotV instead of Blizzard... Thanks for taking all that time in the hope that it'll be beneficial for SC2. Hell, it's depressing to have to concede I'd be far more confident for the future of SC2 if TL was in charge of LotV instead of Blizzard...
OtherWorld Profile Blog Joined October 2013 France 17328 Posts Last Edited: 2015-04-04 19:28:18 #14 On April 05 2015 04:09 TheDwf wrote:
+ Show Spoiler + forced mistakes = increased randomness. Strategy relies on planning, which means enough time to think. If the RT part of RTS is violently compressed then the S withers away too by force. Where the delicate balance and tangle between “mechanics” and “strategy” relies on making sure that mistakes occur both from the user (reasonably) and his opponent (whose main job is to actively try to force more mistakes from his second nemesis), the current direction LotV is taking is very dangerous. The new environment skews the original allocation to the point that players will essentially defeat themselves by their simple activity… of playing (here, during the explosive development phase). The interaction between players that creates the game and its tension is at an active risk of being laminated. With the current LotV rhythm Blizzard is actually killing the very genre of Starcraft.
All of this stems from the fact that Blizzard has still not understood at all the dual root of all the current issues. How ironic considering they had every material needed within the SC1 experience. All they had to do was to load one of those things called “fast maps” and think. Actually, I'm now almost sure that's what they did, but they forgot that in RTS “time” is interconnected with “strategy”. The oldest of us may remember that the SC1 official ladder was originally set on “fast” instead of “fastest,” making it unbearably slow and sluggish (yet, in a pleasant way, with more control in the advanced phases of the game). That is, before bots and cheating completely ruined it.
The SC2 user economy only revolves around three aspects, which are Accuracy, Attention and Knowledge. All of them are tested through the trial of Time. Metagaming is the manipulative application of one's reflection about this economy (not “the current standardization of the Knowledge,” despite the confusion of the common sense).
Multitasking is the primary and highest “skill stretcher” because of the time constraint combining those elements. This is why camping into 1a out of zero attention tools is universally despised. But the fundamental problem is neither “aggression” nor “defense”. Blizzard has understood nothing of why aggression can be good or defence can turn bad, which is why they have given birth to various horrors that mutilate the game because of their unbeatable operational effectiveness in either of those sides. Similarly, they have not understood that over-contracting time can only disfigure the necessary RTS equilibrium between “total control” (pure strategy) and “zero control” (pure luck).
SC2 already suffered a lot because of the wildness of the increased rhythm. The “excitement doctrina” ended up trying to artificially conceal the shallowness of its new strategic conceptions with a violent contraction of time, just like the immense plot holes of all the bad blockbusters of today are partially hidden by shiny “new” special effects and sheer propaganda. They call this bogus approach “innovation”. In their fantasy, it's probably supposed to look flash. LotV is currently going even further this way, with the consequence that the competition will further collapse thanks to the narrowing of the array of skill. The theoretical skill ceiling shall be higher than ever, yet of course absolutely unreachable; thus the practical skill gap, i.e. what humans can achieve best in reality, will crumble.
This is what happens to skill when you contract time.
“Skill gap” is the height of the area between the “skill floor” and the “practical skill ceiling”. The theoretical skill ceiling is considered infinite and unreachable, and thus does not matter at all; you could indeed always micro each of your individual Zealots but the absolutely massive diminishing returns make it worthless in practice. What matters is thus the practical skill ceiling, i.e. how much you get for what you invest. Contracting time does raise the skill floor but it decreases the practical skill ceiling too. Therefore, it contracts the skill gap itself.
Think about driving a car. What happens at 30 km/h? You're still in control. Now increase to 50? Still fully doable, but your margin of error does decrease. Now increase to 70, 100, 150, 300, 500—at some point the accident can no longer be avoided and even the best drivers enter the realm of the “unforgivable”. The simple fact that you maintain your driving activity makes the crash unavoidable. This mechanism is “the contraction of time”. Blitz chess is a dazzling example of that: pressured by time, world-caliber players start making absolutely grotesque, newbie-like blunders. Contracting time decreases the quality of play, even if the competition can somewhat stand for a while (though increasingly turned inwards, towards oneself). Should you proceed for too long in that direction, skill itself would start to disappear, replaced with the functional equivalent of luck. Since SC2 is already an RTS, the “time factor” is retroceded elsewhere. Speed of development is the name of the game. In LotV, the primary banner of this mechanism is embodied in economy.
I hope people don't get dumb and the crude attempts at diverting users from the potential massive decrease in the quality of the game with shiny gimmicks don't succeed. The classic balance debates between Protoss, Terran, and Zerg are, for instance, absolutely irrelevant regarding this general movement. Dumb users shall be jealous of “the shiny tools others get” and will ask Blizzard the same for “their camp,” failing to realize that they're completely falling into the oldest trap on Earth called “divide and rule”. People should instead unite and camp Blizzard's door so they have a playable RTS first. Otherwise, they will only get (1) an even worse game, (2) an even worse competitive scene, (3) an even worse balance.
Playability and thus “enjoyability” come from control over various aspects. This is why people involved in games of pure chance systematically develop absurd habits and beliefs in order to recreate the control they no longer have.
Contracting time = less control. Always, everywhere. Sometimes it is needed, sometimes not. Control doesn't have to be absolute, but there are thresholds to respect. There are different temporalities within the game and Blizzard has apparently failed to identify them. The quality of the game flows from its “control architecture”.
May I kindly mention that there were people who warned people from this all along? They were deliberately confused with “elitists” and mocked for being “neophobic” or “nostalgic”. Yet we see who was right at the end of the journey. But the journey is not completely done. Therefore, some people will find it smart to fall again and again into the old traps of “one game vs the other” or the very fruitful “give them time, it's only beta” attitude which sows expectations to inevitably reap disappointment. Delighted with the delicate scent of novelty, some will perhaps be naive enough to trust again the holy name of the Brand, as if those topics weren't years old, as if similar problems hadn't arisen before in other games, as if other sectors weren't concerned, as if those issues weren't significant of a more global movement.
At any rate, what do users have to lose in making their voices heard?
Since when do words kill? Contracting time = less control from the user, always. Contracting time = less control = moremistakes = increased randomness. Strategy relies on planning, which means enough time to. If the RT part of RTS is violently compressed then the S withers away too by force. Where the delicate balance and tangle between “mechanics” and “strategy” relies on making sure that mistakes occurfrom the user (reasonably)his opponent (whose main job is to actively try to forcemistakes from his second nemesis), the current direction LotV is taking is very dangerous. The new environment skews the original allocation to the point that players will essentially defeat themselves by their simple activity… of playing (here, during the explosive development phase). The interaction between players that creates the game and its tension is at an active risk of being laminated. With the current LotV rhythm Blizzard is actually killing the very genre of Starcraft.All of this stems from the fact that Blizzard hasnot understood at all the dual root of all the current issues. How ironic considering they had every material needed within the SC1 experience. All they had to do was to load one of those things called “fast maps” and think. Actually, I'm now almost sure that's what they did, but they forgot that in RTS “time” iswith “strategy”. The oldest of us may remember that the SC1 official ladder was originally set on “fast” instead of “fastest,” making it unbearably slow and sluggish (yet, in a pleasant way, with more control in the advanced phases of the game). That is, before bots and cheating completely ruined it.The SC2 user economy only revolves around three aspects, which are Accuracy, Attention and Knowledge. All of them are tested through the trial of Time. Metagaming is the manipulative application of one's reflection about this economy (“the current standardization of the Knowledge,” despite the confusion of the common sense).Multitasking is the primary and highest “skill stretcher” because of the time constraint combining those elements. This is why camping into 1a out of zero attention tools is universally despised. But the fundamental problem is neither “aggression” nor “defense”. Blizzard has understood nothing of why aggressionbe good or defenceturn bad, which is why they have given birth to various horrors that mutilate the game because of their unbeatable operational effectiveness in either of those sides. Similarly, they have not understood that over-contracting time can only disfigure the necessary RTS equilibrium between “total control” (pure strategy) and “zero control” (pure luck).SC2 already suffered a lot because of the wildness of the increased rhythm. The “excitement doctrina” ended up trying to artificially conceal the shallowness of its new strategic conceptions with a violent contraction of time, just like the immense plot holes of all the bad blockbusters of today are partially hidden by shiny “new” special effects and sheer propaganda. They call this bogus approach “innovation”. In their fantasy, it's probably supposed to look flash. LotV is currently going even further this way, with the consequence that the competition will further collapse thanks to the narrowing of the array of skill. The theoretical skill ceiling shall be higher than ever, yet of course absolutely unreachable; thus theskill gap, i.e. what humans can achieve best, will crumble.“Skill gap” is the height of the area between the “skill floor” and the “practical skill ceiling”. The theoretical skill ceiling is considered infinite and unreachable, and thus does not matter at all; youindeed always micro each of your individual Zealots but the absolutely massive diminishing returns make it worthless in practice. What matters is thus theskill ceiling, i.e. how much you get for what you invest. Contracting time does raise the skill floorit decreases the practical skill ceiling too. Therefore, it contracts the skill gap itself.Think about driving a car. What happens at 30 km/h? You're still in control. Now increase to 50? Still fully doable, but your margin of error does decrease. Now increase to 70, 100, 150, 300, 500—at some point the accident can no longer be avoided and even the best drivers enter the realm of the “unforgivable”. The simple fact that you maintain your driving activity makes the crash unavoidable. This mechanism“the contraction of time”. Blitz chess is a dazzling example of that: pressured by time, world-caliber players start making absolutely grotesque, newbie-like blunders. Contracting time decreases the quality of play, even if the competition can somewhat stand for a while (though increasingly turned inwards, towards oneself). Should you proceed for too long in that direction, skill itself would start to disappear, replaced with the functional equivalent of luck. Since SC2 is already an RTS, the “time factor” is retroceded elsewhere. Speed of development is the name of the game. In LotV, the primary banner of this mechanism is embodied in economy.I hope people don't get dumb and the crude attempts at diverting users from the potential massive decrease in the quality of the game with shiny gimmicks don't succeed. The classic balance debates between Protoss, Terran, and Zerg are, for instance, absolutely irrelevant regarding this general movement. Dumb users shall be jealous of “the shiny tools others get” and will ask Blizzard the same for “their camp,” failing to realize that they're completely falling into the oldest trap on Earth called “divide and rule”. People should instead unite and camp Blizzard's door so they have aRTS first. Otherwise, they will only get (1) an even worse game, (2) an even worse competitive scene, (3) an even worse balance.Playability and thus “enjoyability” come fromover various aspects. This is why people involved in games of pure chance systematically develop absurd habits and beliefs in order to recreate the control they no longer have.Contracting time = less control. Always, everywhere. Sometimes it is needed, sometimes not. Control doesn't have to be absolute, but there are thresholds to respect. There are different temporalities within the game and Blizzard has apparently failed to identify them. The quality of the game flows from its “control architecture”.May I kindly mention that there were people who warned people from this all along? They were deliberately confused with “elitists” and mocked for being “neophobic” or “nostalgic”. Yet we see who was right at the end of the journey. But the journey is not completely done. Therefore, some people will find it smart to fall again and again into the old traps of “one game vs the other” or the very fruitful “give them time, it's only beta” attitude which sows expectations to inevitably reap disappointment. Delighted with the delicate scent of novelty, some will perhaps be naive enough to trustthe holy name of the Brand, as if those topics weren'told, as if similar problems hadn't arisen before in other games, as if other sectors weren't concerned, as if those issues weren't significant of a more global movement.At any rate, what do users have toin making their voices heard?Since when do words
This is the greatest post I ever read on TL. It is truth, and it is written beautifully. I wish TL would make an article out of it to put it on the front page and maybe, hopefully, have it reach Blizzard's ears.
This is the greatest post I ever read on TL. It is truth, and it is written beautifully. I wish TL would make an article out of it to put it on the front page and maybe, hopefully, have it reach Blizzard's ears. On April 05 2015 04:17 Teoita wrote:
Dwf man have you ever thought about a career in politcs? Good post though, i agree and as we wrote in the post we're going to analyze the economy really in depth in our next article because it's absolutely crazy
Plz no, I don't want him to become corrupt ]: Plz no, I don't want him to become corrupt ]: Used Sigs - New Sigs - Cheap Sigs - Buy the Best Cheap Sig near You at www.cheapsigforsale.com
ZeromuS Profile Blog Joined October 2010 Canada 12804 Posts #15 I think the most important takeaway from dwf's post is that we need to be critical of the beta.
Not necessarily negative but we need to try and look at the impacts of decisions have in the beta. Luckily its so early in the beta big drastic changes can be made.
Everyone rallies against the HotS economic model and I get that. The question is whether or not we enjoy the LotV model. Rather we should be asking what kind of strategic options does it provide AND exactly what do we like about the model?
Is it different that the game starts quickly? With 12 workers yes its different. Is it better? Who knows as is always the case in Starcraft we will adapt.
But are the strategic options s expanded by it? I'm not so sure. And if the issue is the first 3 real time minutes of hots being slow then do 12 workers change that? What if a build was 8 pylon 11 gate instead of 9 pylon 13? Is that speeding up the early game quick enough or do we really need a full 12 workers to achieve the effect we desire?
All things to ask and examine closely. Strategy Overwatch is awesome | Support is the best role | @TL_ZeromuS | www.twitch.tv/Zeromus_
Cricketer12 Profile Blog Joined May 2012 United States 12627 Posts #16 Although I do understand the stance Dwf has taken, for me personally, the game has become stale with its passivity, legacy has changed that. I will agree strategy is not as prevalent in beta as in hots, yet I believe this will change as time goes on and the game gets more and more balanced.
"What do the cars run on here, racism?" l SC2 Liquibet Season 17 Winner
[PkF] Wire Profile Joined March 2013 France 20658 Posts #17 On April 05 2015 04:42 Cricketer12 wrote:
Although I do understand the stance Dwf has taken, for me personally, the game has become stale with its passivity, legacy has changed that.
Any change would have be refreshing, the beta is only around for 3 days. What matters most is the strategic depth and level of competition LotV will be able to have since it's, no pun intended, the legacy of SC2. Any change would have be refreshing, the beta is only around for 3 days. What matters most is the strategic depth and level of competition LotV will be able to have since it's, no pun intended, the legacy of SC2.
ZeromuS Profile Blog Joined October 2010 Canada 12804 Posts #18 On April 05 2015 04:42 Cricketer12 wrote:
Although I do understand the stance Dwf has taken, for me personally, the game has become stale with its passivity, legacy has changed that. I will agree strategy is not as prevalent in beta as in hots, yet I believe this will change as time goes on and the game gets more and more balanced.
It is important to note that passivity and a timer forcing you tonexpand are two different things.
Units like the swarmhost previously and tank raven (with long pdd) as well as high numbers of force fields really contribute to passive play. In addition to this the economic cap of 3 mineral mining bases and only needing a 4th for gas also play a huge role.
It doesn't matter in hots if you have 12 bases to 3. If the 3 base army is cost efficient enough it can trade and starve out the opponent through passive play so long as they maintain 3 mining bases.
LotV drops the bases tobhalf efficiency forcing the passive player to acquire more bases sooner as a punishment.
On the flip side, in broodwar mining was not capped at 3 bases and the more bases you took the more efficient your mining (and overall income) became. This means that even if you turtle to a big ball of doom in BW if your opponent has 12 bases no amount of cost effective trades will result in your winning the game because even if you replaced the mined out main you had been outpaced so thoroughly already you may as well GG or hope for an opponent to misplay terribly.
This meant that choosing to stay on 2 or 3 bases was a strategic choice, and your job was not necessarily to take a third or fourth with no map control but rather harass and try to slow the economic advantage of your opponent while you reached some break point in tech or army composition to be able to contest map control and either r expand or try to win the game or do a timing etc.
It is important to note that passivity and a timer forcing you tonexpand are two different things.Units like the swarmhost previously and tank raven (with long pdd) as well as high numbers of force fields really contribute to passive play. In addition to this the economic cap of 3 mineral mining bases and only needing a 4th for gas also play a huge role.It doesn't matter in hots if you have 12 bases to 3. If the 3 base army is cost efficient enough it can trade and starve out the opponent through passive play so long as they maintain 3 mining bases.LotV drops the bases tobhalf efficiency forcing the passive player to acquire more bases sooner as a punishment.On the flip side, in broodwar mining was not capped at 3 bases and the more bases you took the more efficient your mining (and overall income) became. This means that even if you turtle to a big ball of doom in BW if your opponent has 12 bases no amount of cost effective trades will result in your winning the game because even if you replaced the mined out main you had been outpaced so thoroughly already you may as well GG or hope for an opponent to misplay terribly.This meant that choosing to stay on 2 or 3 bases was a strategic choice, and your job was not necessarily to take a third or fourth with no map control but rather harass and try to slow the economic advantage of your opponent while you reached some break point in tech or army composition to be able to contest map control and either r expand or try to win the game or do a timing etc. Strategy Overwatch is awesome | Support is the best role | @TL_ZeromuS | www.twitch.tv/Zeromus_
TheDougler Profile Joined April 2010 Canada 8015 Posts #19 Just want to say how much I appreciate this. I haven't had enough time to watch streams so a comprehensive write up like this is perfect, great work! I root for Euro Zergs, NA Protoss* and Korean Terrans. (Any North American who has beat a Korean Pro as Protoss counts as NA Toss)
digmouse Profile Blog Joined November 2010 China 5165 Posts Last Edited: 2015-04-04 20:53:46 #20 On April 05 2015 04:21 ZeromuS wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 05 2015 04:05 digmouse wrote:
Agree on the expansion part, it feels very much unlike in BW or even HotS where you should be planning to expand to benefit from it, it actually feels rushy to expand just because you are 100% going to die if you do not.
Give us another day or two and we will have part 1 of an article on the LotV economy examining this issue specifically with some in game numbers to support it.
Part 2 will examine the 12 worker start.
I personally believe that there is a viable alternative economic model that supports rewarding expansion based play and offering deeper strategic choices while also speeding up the early game without artificially cutting out the extreme early game. (The 6-12 worker period of time).
Give us another day or two and we will have part 1 of an article on the LotV economy examining this issue specifically with some in game numbers to support it.Part 2 will examine the 12 worker start.I personally believe that there is a viable alternative economic model that supports rewarding expansion based play and offering deeper strategic choices while also speeding up the early game without artificially cutting out the extreme early game. (The 6-12 worker period of time).
I would prefer keeping a relatively high starting worker count but keep the HotS resource count, 8-10 worker start maybe? I don't think it is realistic to expect Blizzard to change more fundamental things like mining speed tho.
Under the current model expanding and macro doesn't feel like RTS "resource management", because you only want to expand fast, instead of expand smart and strategically. When expanding becomes a attempt at survival instead of actually "expanding" your economy, the game basically imbalances itself. I would prefer keeping a relatively high starting worker count but keep the HotS resource count, 8-10 worker start maybe? I don't think it is realistic to expect Blizzard to change more fundamental things like mining speed tho.Under the current model expanding and macro doesn't feel like RTS "resource management", because you only want to expand fast, instead of expand smart and strategically. When expanding becomes a attempt at survival instead of actually "expanding" your economy, the game basically imbalances itself. Translator If you want to ask anything about Chinese esports, send me a PM or follow me @nerddigmouse.
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Malcolm Jenkins continues to prove his worth to the Philadelphia Eagles.
It goes way beyond the millions he'll earn.
The free agent safety recorded an interception for the third straight game, this time stepping in front of a Colin Kapernick pass and going 53 yards through traffic for a touchdown.
Jenkins' score wasn't enough in a 26-21 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
This much is obvious through the first four games: Jenkins was the right player to add to their secondary.
Jenkins' pick gave the Eagles a 14-10 lead.
"It was just a coverage where, sometimes we can pass things off and have guys fall off into windows that the quarterback isn't expecting and I kind of fell off into a 'slant' window and he wasn't expecting me," Jenkins told Philadelphiaeagles.com. "From there, I got some great blocks by teammates who were really hustling to get me into the end zone."
The last Eagles safety to come up with interceptions in three consecutive games?
Try Brian Dawkins in 2004.
Ironically, Jenkins is the hardest-hitting safety the Eagles have featured since Dawkins left via free agency following the 2008 season.
Jenkins is also showing similar leadership qualities as well as the ability to make big plays.
"It's a mentalilty that, yeah, every time we have the ball we want to score. We're the defense and we don't touch the ball that much," Jenkins said. "Every time we touch it, we want to score. That's why you see guys turning and blocking and trying to escort the ballcarrier into the end zone. It's a big deal when we're able to do that and hopefully turn a game around." |
The loneliest man in Austin may very well be a Budweiser rep. Recently at an Eastside bar, patrons hell-bent on reaching optimal buzz ignored his offering of free beer to pay $5 or more a pint. Austinites know their brew. It's no wonder that so many entrepreneurs are leveraging Austin's thirst for a thriving craft beer culture.
After a combined 11,000 hours of labor, brainstorming, and sweat, business partners Jeff Young and Suzy Shaffer (both Black Star Co-op alums) along with mechanical engineer Davy Pasternak and Bitch Beer's Jessica Deahl (the designer of the beer labels and accompanying poster art) will open the first and only sour mash brewery in the country. With more hires expected in the coming months, Blue Owl Brewing aims to bring sour beer to the masses by creating approachable styles that are relatively affordable (a six-pack will retail for under 10 bucks).
While there are plenty of barrel-aged sours on the market, they're often expensive and infamously inconsistent. The inconsistency isn't necessarily a negative – making sours is a longstanding art form, after all, and there's a beauty in creating something a bit unruly and a bit disruptive. Blue Owl's objectives and operation, while equally imaginative, are quite simply different.
Instead of using a barrel process that takes months or years, Blue Owl utilizes a quicker method to achieve the sour flavor desired in the beer. "We use naturally occurring bacteria found on our barley on our brew-day and allow it to thrive in our wort until we achieve the desired level of acidity for the individual beer," explains Young. "This takes usually between 18 hours and 72 hours. After the inoculation of the wort is complete, we continue to boil, cool, and ferment very similar – but with differences – to typical beers."
Where the normal brewing process changes course is in the MIU (pronounced "mew" and designed by Young) or Modular Inoculation Unit. A proprietary and closely guarded secret, what happens in the MIU, stays in the MIU. After leaving the mash/lauter tun, the wort drains into the kettle/sour tun. The MIU, a subchamber of the sour tun, introduces lactobacilli into the wort. It's then held in the sour tun for 18-72 hours before being boiled and hopped. At that point, the wort moves into the fermenter, where it becomes alcohol. Then it's off to the bright tank to be carbonated and held for canning or kegging.
"The whole system is all just trying to get a clean sourness with some complexity so it's clean in that it doesn't have the gross ... like feet ... or putrid kinds of things that a lot of people get when they're trying to do sour mashes," Young says. "You can get some weird shit, and it's pretty easy to do that. You really have to go out of your way to make it not taste like feet, so all of this was designed in order to avoid those things, but since it is wild, there's still some complexity to it," he adds.
This complexity is palpable in the brewery's four flagship offerings, which include Little Boss, a sour session wheat not unlike a Berliner weisse; Van Dayum!, a sour red ale with notes of caramel and dark fruit; Spirit Animal, a citrusy and hoppy sour pale ale; and Professor Black, a sour cherry stout, both chocolatey and roasty and incredibly luscious. In addition, the brewery will produce a seasonal. Though still in the alpha stage, the deceptively high-ABV Dapper Devil – a sour raspberry Belgian strong ale – is on the road map for late summer or fall.
Intellect and wit is attached to the entire production. Every component, from the recipes and tasting room to the overall design and packaging, has an immense attention to detail. This ethos is exemplified by the Deahl-designed artwork. The cans are simple with consistent owl branding, but they're also modern and quirky. Each pattern and color is calculated, but it looks playful, not forced.
The screenprinted poster art, one for each beer, will be sold as merchandise at the brewery and offered to accounts. "With all of them, we're trying to personify obviously and also just make it something different from the can design," says Deahl. "Like if there were a gig poster for each beer, this is what it would be." For example, the poster for Little Boss presents a Marfa-inspired desert background with an intentionally ambiguous sunrise (or is it sunset?) with a mechanical desert owl in the foreground, an homage to Clash of the Titans. The imagery for Professor Black reflects Young's chemistry background and features a studious-looking gentleman with a magnifying glass, a mortar and pestle, and a book spine with a title that reads a formula Young created in number theory as an undergrad. A bro brewery this is not. Instead, it's a thoughtful and interesting collaboration of great beer and art that tells a story. And part of that story revolves around the brewery's location.
While most breweries are relegated to industrial parts of town, it was not the direction Blue Owl wanted to go. "We really wanted to be an urban brewery," says Young of the location at the corner of Cesar Chavez and Pedernales Street. "Austin is our biggest inspiration, and we needed to be part of it. Since we're not a huge facility, it's nice to fit into a dynamic part of town, become part of the neighborhood, and be accessible to folks all over Austin." Part of the accessibility is an educational component that Shaffer describes as vital to the success of the brewery. "We want everyone to feel unintimidated by our beers and beer culture in general," she says. "It's about creating a foundation." Indeed, self-guided tour sheets featuring the basics of sour beer, information about each of the brewery's offerings, and notes on how to taste a beer (look, swirl, sniff, sip) abound.
The tasting room itself is welcoming, with a retro vibe and decorated with upcycled materials and nostalgic touches throughout – a hand-built bar here, a repurposed vending machine there. It's less of a showroom than a living room, where patrons can comfortably congregate with beer in hand. Blue Owl plans to be open to the public Wednesday through Sunday with weekday evening hours and extended hours on the weekend. "There's a whole lotta love in here. A whole lotta sweat," says Shaffer. "We want people to feel welcome and charmed." |
Ladieeeees… (Photo by Robert Jacob Lerma)
This is the unkindest cut of all.
South Carolina state Sen. Thomas Corbin reportedly explained that you can make fun of women because “Well, you know God created man first. Then he took the rib out of man to make woman. And you know, a rib is a lesser cut of meat.”
I have a beef with this line of thinking. I would like to shank him or knee him in the tender loin. This is a grisly thing to say, and I don’t want to meat cute. I never heard such a thing, or sausage a thing.
Ahem. It’s nice to be objectified in a way that makes me feel like actual meat rather than metaphorical meat. You know that if this gentleman stares at your rack, it is because he is thinking about barbecue.
In context, it might have made more sense if Corbin had quickly added, “Everyone knows that human ribs taste terrible!” then offered everyone more Chianti and fava beans. But no. It seems this was not a poignant confession of cannibalism, but a gross butchery of a Biblical metaphor.
If you view it as literally true, though, it makes a lot more sense. If we had only been cut out of a different part of the original man-meat, how different women’s history might have been! I assume the diagram looks something like this.
Seems about right. |
More Details Emerge As States' Attorneys General Seek To Hold Back Innovation On The Internet
from the this-is-a-bad-idea dept
the unintended consequence of Section 230 in that "you've essentially given these guys immunity" when state criminal laws are broken.
One avenue prosecutors may seek to explore is the statute’s vague definition of an intermediary versus a content provider, Reidenberg suggested. During discussion after the panel presentations, Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood pressed that angle, asking the panelists what acts by a site operator might be sufficient to categorize it as a content provider, not simply an intermediary.
Hood zeroed in on autocomplete in particular, saying, “We know they manipulate the autocomplete feature.” He is concerned about search engines, particularly Google, where for example a user entering “prescription drugs online” is given “prescription drugs online without a prescription” as an autocomplete option.
We already wrote about how various states' attorneys general (AGs) are seeking to get Congress to give them an exception to Section 230 of the CDA, which would let them pin liability on internet companies for the actions of their users. Now, more details are coming out , as reported in TechHive. The effort is apparently being led by South Dakota's attorney general, Marty Jackley, with help from AGs Bob Ferguson of Washington and Chris Koster of Missouri. Ferguson being included is a bit of a surprise, since Washington state has some big internet companies, and it's bizarre that he'd push for a law that would create so much harm to the internet. In the article, Jackley is quoted as complaining about:Except, that's wrong. Section 230grant them immunity ifbroke state criminal laws. It gives them immunity if theirbroke state criminal laws. And that's, because the AGs should be, not the company who made the tools they used. In fact, since many companies will cooperate with legitimate law enforcement requests, having a good relationship with these companies shouldthese AGs catch criminals. That is, rather than blame Craigslist for criminals using it, they should be working with them to use information on the site to catch criminals . But I guess actually catching a pimp is less exciting than falsely calling Craigslist a pimp-enabler and attacking them in the press.Meanwhile, some other AGs are looking to completely reinterpret section 230 to their liking. We already noted just recently that Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood is trying to blame Google because he could search and find counterfeit goods for sale (by others). In comments, at the NAAG meeting, Hood is now trying to argue that because of Google's "autocomplete," it shouldn't be subject to 230 safe harbors.Except that if Hood actually understood how autocomplete worked, he'd know that's ridiculous. Google is not creating that content. It's just showing you what terms others are searching for. That is, it's. That information could actually be useful to Hood, if he wanted to actually do his job and go after those who are selling the counterfeit drugs, rather than stupidly attacking the platform that would be a big help in tracking down the criminals. But, apparently, stopping truly rogue pharmacies is less headline grabbing than going after Google, even if Google has nothing to do with the actual sale of the counterfeit drugs.
Filed Under: attorneys general, bob ferguson, chris koster, innovation, jim hood, marty jackley, secondary liability, section 230, states |
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Oh Je-rem-y Cor-byn was this summer’s greatest political hit but his Left-wing supporters are frantically preparing for life after their bearded messiah.
Trade union general secretaries tell me they’re in knife-edge negotiations with the Labour leader’s office over rewriting the rules at the party conference in Brighton to make it easier for the next Corbyn to be crowned.
Jezza has declared himself fit, healthy and eager to be the party’s frontman at the next General Election.
Yet there’s plenty of time for him to change his mind when that poll could be as distant as June 2022.
And, at the venerable age of 73, he might find himself up against a new Tory kid on the block.
How confident the Corbyn camp feels will dictate whether it seeks to reform radically the party permanently – strengthening the position of those who share his brand of socialism – when risking defeat if the votes on the conference floor don’t add up next week isn’t an option for his team.
The backing of the Unite trade union and from Unison and the GMB is considered crucial.
But I’m told also there’s also a groundswell among new members in a party topping 550,000 – exceeding every other British political party combined, including the Conservatives, Libs, Greens, SNP and DUP – to release the stranglehold of MPs over who is able to run for the top job.
Reducing from 15% to 5% the nominations needed from MPs and (while they exist) MEPs would perpetually enfranchise the Corbyn Left when he’s an accidental leader under the existing constitution.
He scrambled to beg and borrow endorsements to be on the ballot paper from those such as former Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, who swiftly regretted agreeing.
Introducing a requirement to secure nominations from constituency parties and trade unions would further weaken the grip of a Parliamentary Labour Party which 12 months ago tried to ditch Corbyn.
According to one of the union general secretaries involved: “Now is the moment to stick or twist. We change the rules or keep the rules.
“There are pluses and minuses in doing both – but there’s only a downside if, year after year, we talked to ourselves about internal democracy instead of speaking to the electorate about why we need a Labour Government.”
Labour divisions remain real but suddenly it resembles a tea party compared with Conservatives descending into Brexit civil war.
Oh Je-rem-y Cor-byn won’t last for ever. Judgements on what sound like arcane rules determine who and what comes next. |
The digital age is slowly reaching behind prison walls. So much so that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation recently began implementing cell phone blocking technology around its prisons. MIM(Prisons) regularly receives emails from comrades behind bars via state-run email systems for prisoners. While we have long promoted careful study and practice around the use of computers for revolutionary work, we have generally felt this material had little immediate relevance for our comrades behind bars. This is changing.
While pointing to resources for further study and giving pointers on what the risks of using computers and cell phones are, we have historically veered away from recommending certain technology. This was partly due to a desire to prevent the state from building a profile of the technologies that we rely on, and partly because there are organizations more focused on these questions that will have more up-to-date and in-depth information to offer. While the latter is still true, there are a few technologies that are so standard that we see little risk in mentioning them by name.
Another thing we want to touch on here is imposing higher standards for our electronic communications from other revolutionary organizations. Recent communications we've received have reinforced to us the need for diligence in having secure communication networks. So let us begin with some basic principles.
Assuming that we have a practical interest in developing communications with another revolutionary organization, there are three political questions that we must ask about the organization: 1) what is their political line? 2) what practice can we see to prove they are consistent in implementing that political line? 3) can we confirm that we are talking to someone that represents the organization? Once we decide to communicate with an organization we must then be concerned with who knows that we are communicating and who knows what we are saying to each other.
On our website we have our public email address, a form to submit anonymous messages, and our public GPG key to encrypt messages to us. Our website has been online for over 5 years and has material dating back that far demonstrating our work and our political line. We believe this is a good model that would allow another group to confirm who we are and communicate with us securely and anonymously via the internet.
The downside to the public email address is that it is easily targeted for monitoring, allowing the state to know who is contacting us. This is why we have the anonymous form and why we tell people to email us from addresses that are not linked to them persynally. For prisoners, one may think that one's mail is monitored anyway, so emailing is no greater risk than sending a letter. However, there is an increased risk in that digital communications provide for permanent documentation of who you communicate with and what you say, allowing for easy data mining of that information later. This is possible with snail mail, but it requires more effort by the state and is not done consistently; at least for most people. Emailing is convenient, and is a fine way for prisoners to contact us, but be aware of the increased ease of surveillance. If you are using non-state-sponsored technology, then you should consider using the tools we mention below if you have access to them.
For other revolutionary organizations, if our only communication is via anonymous email then we need a way to confirm who you are. Having an established website with your public email address and public GPG key on it and then using that GPG key to encrypt all email is a way to do this. GNU Privacy Guard (GPG) encryption should be used for all communications. Not only does it prevent a snooper from reading intercepted messages, it allows the receiver to confirm the identity of the sender if they have a trusted GPG key from that party. Email addresses are easy to spoof, while it is practically impossible to spoof GPG signatures.
One of the documents we link to on this subject is titled Surveillance Self-Defense. We think this is an appropriate title, and we need comrades to think beyond fists and guns when they think about "security" and "self-defense." Even if you don't use computers or cell phones at all, then you must have a basic understanding of the risks to come to that decision (unless you are in prison and have no choice in the matter). While martial arts are great in many ways, we do not see hand-to-hand combat as a decisive aspect of the struggle at this time. And since we have assessed our strategic stage to be one where armed struggle would be a fatal mistake, we do not require or promote weapons training. We do require regular study, review and practice of anti-surveillance technology of our members. And we hold those we relate to to similar standards. The worse your security practice, the more risk you are to us, and the less we will interact with you. Simple as that.
While being effective in self-defense requires further study than this document, we want to give some simplified recommendations here to get people started:
When you carry a cellphone it is easy for the state to know where you are and to electronically record sound and even video of your surroundings, even if your phone is off
Encrypt your data, if possible encrypt your whole drive including your operating system; there are different tools to do this effectively, but TrueCrypt is a popular cross-platform tool
When connecting to a website or your email you can be identified by your IP address; the best way to hide this is through The Onion Router via the Tor Browser Bundle, the TAILS operating system or Orbot for Android cell phones
As discussed above use GPG to encrypt messages and confirm who messages are from
Of course, prisoners using state-owned computers will not have the option to use any of these technologies, so it is mostly just a question of using email or snail mail. But if you are looking forward to a release date and hope to keep in touch with MIM(Prisons) then it would be worth learning more about these technologies and tactics to protect yourself.
How we approach self-defense is very much informed by our political line. Our line leads us to focus more on the First Amendment than the Second. But ultimately there are no rights, only power struggles. Currently, we do not have the ability to defend the movement militarily, but we do have the ability to defend it with a well-informed electronic self-defense strategy. And just as computer technology, and the internet in particular, was a victory for free speech, it has played a role in leveling the battlefield to the point that the imperialists recognize computer warfare as a material vulnerability to their hegemony. The Obama administration has gone so far as to call journalist Julian Assange a "terrorist" after WikiLeaks published documents that the United $tates did not want the world to see.(1) As the means of production advance, we must learn to utilize the emerging technologies for both offense and defense in the interests of the international proletariat. |
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a frequent critic of Donald Trump, met with the president for lunch on Tuesday to find common ground.
In a statement, Graham told reporters that the lunch went so well that he gave the president his “NEW cell phone number,” referring to the old cell phone number, which Trump publicly gave out during his presidential campaign after the Senator criticized him.
“I had a great lunch meeting with President Trump today,” he said. “He is strongly committed to rebuilding our military, which is music to my ears.”
Graham didn’t mention Russia or Syria — issues on which The President and the South Carolina senator differ considerably. But he did appear to welcome Trump’s committment to working with Congress.
“President Trump is in deal-making mode, and I hope Congress is like-minded,” he said. |
UPDATE:
I continue to be overwhelmed. Tonight, I’m off shopping by 9s with the $2692 you gave. Please don’t stop. There so much more we can do.
What could you NOT live without? Your kitchen MUST have? Tweet me @cynthiastrawson and I’ll add it to the list.
I can believe how amazing you are. This reinforces to me the cumulative power of many small acts.
Thank you to all, for your donations via PayPal…$1,502 has come in from across Canada and I recognize fewer than half the names! Supplies dropped off at my house, at my office, phone calls. It’s not stopping, nor do I want it to. My mom brought 9 bottles of hand moisturizer. My friend and esthetician donated 9 eyebrow waxes.
First shopping round done. Wrapping party on Sunday. Delivery on Monday. Whew!
What can a girl say that hasn’t already been said?
—
Since November 12, 2012, eight Slow Food Edmonton volunteer chefs and foodies (including myself and a volunteer Registered Dietitian) have held hands-on cooking classes each Monday night at LaSalle Shelter, a down town Edmonton woman’s shelter.
The shelter kindly provides childcare during the class time (4-6) and then the children and staff join us for a communal meal from 6-7.
For a month, I have proudly watched 9 mothers learn how to cook healthy, cost effective meals using local ingredients. In my heart I know that when we teach women how to care for themselves, we are uplifting a whole family and a whole community. This is my greatest joy.
Last night was our fourth class and penultimate class. We made cheesy polenta (which many women had never had) and served it with a soft poached egg, spinach and homemade tomato sauce. Mary Bailey and Maria Iacobelli, our guest chefs, taught us how to make baked apples. The apples were devoured by the families, and even the 5-year olds got involved by helping scoop ice cream and (generously) dispense whipped cream.
I love the laughter and chatter and sharing in the room. What a gift to share in this time of a woman’s life when she has taken the most difficult step towards empowering herself. Women at many shelters – this shelter included – have left homes of violence. Some walk out the doors of their homes with nothing but slippers, pyjamas & their children in their arms. I can’t imagine more courage, and more heart.
We are re-building a community around food. We share stories and experiences about food. We focus on getting local food into people’s hands, show them how to make healthy meals, and live by example the belief that it is better to eat together.
I’m a Nutrition MSc student at the U of A (as well as leader of Slow Food Edmonton) and so last night we discussed eggs and how the colour of the yolk changes depending on the chicken’s feed (this is an interesting topic for the women who are new to Canada as “Canadian” eggs have very pale yolks compared with European yolks which are much darker owing to the enhanced level of betacarotene in the chicken’s feed); the science behind “omega 3 eggs”; identifying the chalazae, yolk, and albumen; how to identify when an egg has gone bad; nutritional qualities of albumen and yolk.
We have pickled carrots and beets, made vegetable soup from scratch, made roasted root vegetable lasagna and churned our own butter (using the butter milk to make baking powder biscuits!).
The series wraps up on December 10 where we’ll learn to cook a turkey. At that time, I would dearly love to present the participating women with a basket of kitchen tools we have used throughout the series so they can continue to cook from scratch after they move on to their new homes. (One woman mentioned during the baking powder biscuit class that she didn’t have a measuring cup, nor did she know the difference between a teaspoon and a tablespoon!!)
As a survivor of family violence in my youth, I feel a strong connection to these women and to the value it creates for our whole community. Every woman deserves the tools she needs to transition to a life on her own, the agency and confidence to feed herself and her family.
I estimate that with $2500 we could get everything on the list of items below for 9 women. If you can help, thank you.
MY WISH LIST (9 of each) for what I dream about as a Kitchen Transition Kit of Empowerment!!
• Dish towel
• Tea towel
• Measuring spoons
• Measuring cups
• Cutting board (preferably wooden)
• Can opener
• Wooden spoon
• Silicon spatula
• Paring knife
• Vegetable peeler
• Liquid measuring cup (2 cup, pyrex)
• Cookie sheet, aka Jelly Roll Pan (10 x 15, up to 3/4″ deep, here’s great post on what makes a good one)
• Cake pan (9 x 13)
• Slotted spoon (for lifting pasta or poached eggs out of boiling water)
• Serving spoon (for dishing out the goods!)
• Ziplock containers (for leftovers)
• Frying pan (non stick or cast iron)
• Whisk
• Cheese grater
• Sauce brush (I use a blue silicon one for spreading oil or bbq sauce or butter)
• Roasting pan
• Parchment paper
• Laundry hamper or Rubbermaid box for carrying it all
• Food processor (Gotta dream big!!)
• Italian herb blend
• Slow Food Edmonton apron
• Hot pot holder
• Flipper/turner
• Soup Pot
• Cookbook
• Trivet
The stuff at the top is a higher priority. I’ll cross items off the list (see bottom of post) as they’re purchased or someone has committed to buying them.
How you can help
I’m looking for help in two ways
1) Buying 9 of any one item
2) Cash donations
If you would prefer to donate cash, I will collect your name and address so that Catholic Social Services can issue you a tax receipt. Just tell me how much you’re donating and I’ll take it into account when I shop for things later this week.
Contact me
Email: cynthia.strawson@ualberta.ca
Twitter: @cynthiastrawson
Office: Cash can be dropped at my University of Alberta office at Enterprise Square (1-050, 10230 Jasper Avenue in Edmonton)
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Swift alleges that a DJ in Colorado lifted her skirt and grabbed her butt during a VIP photo op in 2013. The DJ claims her accusations are false and cost him his career. Now a jury will decide.
Gary Miller / Getty
Taylor Swift is set to take the stand to face the radio DJ she alleges reached under her skirt in 2013 and grabbed her butt backstage during a photo op. BuzzFeed News will be in Denver to cover the trial when it kicks off with jury selection on Monday. Here's a rundown on how we got here. LEGAL CLAIMS The case was ignited in 2015, when the DJ, David "Jackson" Mueller, sued Swift, blaming her for damaging his reputation and for the loss of his $150,000-a-year job at radio station KYGO after she brought the groping allegations to his employer. Mueller — who cohosted a show called Ryno and Jackson — maintains he was wrongfully accused.
Twitter: @RynoandJackson Ryno (left) and Jackson (right).
At the time of the alleged incident, the response from Swift’s team was, well, swift. She reported the alleged groping to her tour manager and security team. Mueller was then tracked down, kicked out of the event, and banned from Swift’s shows for life. KYGO then fired Mueller, citing the morality clause in his contract, after executives determined he had lied about the incident and changed his story, according to court documents. Swift, who was 23 at the time, might have left it at that, but when Mueller filed his lawsuit blaming her for his financial woes, she fired back with her own countersuit, alleging assault and battery. In court documents, the singer said she was “shocked and distressed by Mueller’s harmful and offensive physical conduct.” Attorneys for neither Mueller nor Swift returned BuzzFeed News' requests for comment ahead of the trial. WHAT’S AT STAKE The trial will be a rare case of a global superstar taking the stand in a case that most celebrities would prefer to keep out of the limelight. But after two years of litigation, Swift has said in court documents that she wants to "serve as an example to other women who may resist publicly reliving similar outrageous and humiliating acts." Swift has also said in court documents that any money she wins will be donated to nonprofits that are “dedicated to protecting women from similar acts of sexual assault and personal disregard.” For Mueller, the stakes are also high, with his reputation and future career on the line. In court documents, Mueller said he spent 20 years building a résumé in radio interviewing hundreds of celebrities, including Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Beyoncé, and Jennifer Lopez. He claims all of that was ruined as a result of Swift’s accusations and is seeking nearly $3 million in damages. WHO WILL TESTIFY? At least 17 witnesses, including Swift and Mueller, are expected to take the stand. Swift is expected to testify that Mueller lifted up her skirt and grabbed her bare butt at her preconcert fan meet-and-greet. In court documents, she also described how the alleged encounter caused her to suffer extreme anxiety.
Graham Denholm / Getty Images Taylor Swift performs during her 1989 world tour in 2015.
The singer has also argued that she had never previously met Mueller and had no reason to accuse him of touching her inappropriately. Swift’s mother, Andrea, is expected to testify about her daughter’s reaction to the alleged assault and discuss why they went to radio station execs and not the police — a move some celebs take to avoid getting mired in court proceedings. Mueller is expected to testify about the impact that his termination and the accusations have had on him. He will also have an economist testify about the loss of income he has suffered as a result. Other witnesses will likely include Swift’s tour manager, the photographer who took the backstage photo, Mueller’s girlfriend, who posed with him in the picture with Swift, and Mueller’s former boss. Swift's team plans to bring a professor of women’s studies to discuss how the singer’s reaction to the alleged groping is consistent with someone who has been sexually assaulted. BURDEN OF PROOF The burden of proof for jurors in a civil trial does not have to meet the same beyond-a-reasonable-doubt threshold as they would in a criminal case. Federal civil cases have a much lower threshold of proof in that the juries must only be convinced by a “preponderance of the evidence” in order for one side to prevail. Charles Harder, who has represented Hulk Hogan and Melania Trump, said that burden of proof equates to just over 50%, or as he put it, "50% and a feather." Jurors, however, must be unanimous in their decision on each count. KEY EVIDENCE Swift’s attorneys point to a photo of Mueller with a grin on his face and his hand behind the singer’s butt as “damning” proof.
Taylor Swift -- The 'Sexual Assault' Photo I Wanted to Keep Secret (PHOTO) https://t.co/qT5FRZLo4T
"Ms. Swift is absolutely certain of what Mueller did,” her attorney states in court documents, adding that the singer has “never been so sure of anything in [her] life.”
Harder said the photo of Mueller with Swift at the meet-and-greet will likely be key evidence in the case, but he doesn’t think it's a smoking gun. “I assume both sides will try to use that photo to its advantage, but it is not a smoking gun for either side,” he said. “It does not look to me that his hand is under her dress at that moment, but it does show his hand at her behind, and I don't see any reason for his hand to be there.”
Josiah Kamau Taylor Swift and her bodyguards.
Howard King, who has represented Dr. Dre, Metallica, and Lil Wayne, told BuzzFeed News the photo does depict Mueller’s hand behind Swift’s butt, however, the DJ could offer reasonable explanations on the stand. For example, Mueller could say that at the moment the picture was taken, he put his hand behind her back and it slid down. In his lawsuit, Mueller's attorneys also pointed out that the circumstances of how the photo unfolded would make proving the alleged groping practically impossible. "The contention that Mr. Mueller lifted up Ms. Swift's skirt and grabbed her bottom, while standing with his girlfriend, in front of Ms. Swift's photographer and Ms. Swift's highly trained security personnel, during a company sponsored, VIP, backstage meet-and-greet, is nonsense, particularly given that Ms. Swift's skirt is in place and is not being lifted by Mr. Mueller's hand in the photograph," the lawsuit states.
King also noted that the photo will be just one of many facts the jury will consider. Of equal importance will be the testimony of other eyewitnesses and any other collaborating evidence that will provide a fuller picture of what happened that day. LOST EVIDENCE However, Mueller didn’t do himself any favors when he told the court he spilled coffee on, and eventually lost, a laptop that allegedly contained a two-hour audio file of a phone call he recorded with his employers the day after he was informed of Swift’s allegations. Mueller did keep a copy of the audio file on an external hard drive, but he later reported that even that device had “stopped working.” The judge overseeing the case said he also found it troubling that Mueller “threw out” his cell phone, which may have been used to record the call, months after filing his lawsuit. Instead of issuing sanctions against Mueller for the lost evidence, the judge will allow Swift’s team to question Mueller on the stand about what happened to the electronic devices. James Sammataro, an experienced entertainment attorney and partner at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, said the loss of evidence will likely leave a bad impression with jurors. “When you have a litigation, the minute you know a complaint is filed, you have a legal obligation to preserve all evidence,” Sammataro said. “When evidence goes missing, like a laptop or a phone, and it’s not excusable, it leads to a negative inference. And when you are weighing credibility and one party is going to be very abruptly and certainly attacked for missing evidence, it certainly casts a black mark on their credibility.” THE CREDIBILITY ISSUE As with many civil cases involving allegations of sexual assault, the outcome will largely hinge on credibility. And on that front, Mueller enters the arena going up against Swift's wholesome reputation. “I would not want to be on trial against Taylor Swift or any other star,” King said. “Stars win. She is ‘America’s Sweetheart.’” However, star power alone doesn’t necessarily guarantee a win, especially if jurors are turned off by the celebrity, Sammataro said.
Raymond Hall / GC Images Taylor Swift in New York City in 2016. |
The Boys is a big middle finger to superheroes and all they stand far. It’s a gruesome, immature, often very good, and often cringe-worthy comic series that finds writer Garth Ennis indulging his worst habits while also finding opportunities to remind us that there’s a rockstar of a storyteller underneath all of the gore and dick jokes. It’s almost become a movie on several occasions. Last year, we heard that The Boys was heading to television instead. Now, it looks like it’s going to be a series on Cinemax, shepherded to the screen by many of the same folks who are bringing Preacher (another Ennis comic) to AMC.
Deadline reports that Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and Neal Mortiz will produce the series alongside Pavun Shetty, Ori Marmur, James Weaver, Ken Levin, and Jason Netter. Rogen and Goldberg, who directed the Preacher pilot for AMC as well as films like This is the End and The Interview, will helm the pilot. Most promising of all is the news that Eric Kripke, the creator of Supernatural, will pen the pilot script (he is also on the laundry list of producers). The project is still early in development, so beyond this big group of names, there’s nothing especially huge to report.
But this is very interesting news, indeed. Cinemax has become an increasingly promising destination for off-kilter shows like Banshee and The Knick, so I’m very curious to see how they handle a deliberately offensive and grotesque series like The Boys. At the very least, a network like Cinemax will allow Kripke, Rogen, Goldberg and the rest of the crew to utilize the comic’s nastiest elements. Seriously, have you seen what they get away with on The Knick?
The Boys was created by Garth Ennis and artist Darick Robertson in 2006 and it ran for 72 issues, concluding in 2012. The series follows a team of super-powered CIA agents who secretly police the world of superheroes, who are portrayed as menaces, drug addicts, sexual deviants, and power-hungry maniacs. When “heroes” step out of line, the Boys take care of the problem with extreme prejudice. It’s one helluva hook and the series is often gripping and dramatic and effective…when Ennis isn’t resorting to the lowest common denominator, which is far too often.
The comic was controversial from the start, getting cancelled after its first story arc at Wildstorm before finding a new home at Dynamite. It’s easy to see why a comic book publisher would be wary of The Boys – it hates superheroes with a fiery passion and tears them down at every possible moment. It’s a comic book that has no love for its industry’s bread and butter.
Anchorman and The Big Short director Adam McKay tried to get a film version of The Boys made for years, only to find that the material was too extreme for every studio in town:
I was trying to do Garth Ennis’ The Boys at one point, and I took it to every studio, every production financing place in town. And they were always like, ‘No.’ I had this crazy pre-viz reel that I’d done, and it was insane, like superheroes doing cocaine. And they all said, lazily, ‘So it’s like Watchmen?’ And then eventually I started realizing that no one was going to do it, and I started pitching the craziest aspects of it, embracing the fact that they hated it.
If The Boys makes it to series, it’ll probably need to follow the path of Preacher and change certain elements just so it will be palatable on the screen. Some changes are necessary because the comic really is that twisted. Some changes are necessary because the comic is really full of that many eye-rolling moments. For now, all we can do is wait and see what happens next. |
There has to be a better way, says east-end resident Pamela Trudel. She wants the TTC and city council to find a better solution to what’s shaping up to be a long, fragmented commute along Queen St. E. this summer. The Kingston Rd. area commuter is collecting signatures she hopes will pressure transit and city officials to at least provide better bus service for riders on the 502 and 503 streetcars that travel from Kingston Rd. and along Queen and King Sts., respectively, into the downtown.
Transit users, inconvenienced by track and watermain work on Queen St. between Greenwood and Coxwell Aves., have started a petition. Transit users are being relegated to buses on an already slow, overcrowded trip. ( RICHARD LAUTENS / TORONTO STAR )
Track and water main work on Queen St. between Greenwood and Coxwell Aves., means that the 501, 502 and 503 streetcars are being replaced east of Leslie St. with shuttle buses. The routes are being detoured along Eastern Ave. and Leslie. Because all the buses are then being turned back at Parliament St., the TTC is asking riders to transfer to the 501 streetcar anywhere between Leslie and Broadview Ave., or to the 504 streetcar at Broadview only, to continue their journey downtown.” There is no way to avoid that transfer during the construction that is expected to continue through October. Add that to the general overcrowding on the Queen and King cars and you’ve got chaos, says Trudel.
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She is not alone in her frustration. “I now have to wait for a vehicle three times each way,” wrote Elise Brunet on Trudel’s petition. “At an average of 10 minutes per wait (that’s if I’m lucky, if the vehicle is not being short-turned or so packed that you can't get on), that means that 30 minutes into my trip I haven't moved an inch. My colleagues at work are in Oshawa in 45 minutes. Tell me there isn't something wrong with that.” The TTC doesn’t have enough drivers to operate a continuous 502 or 503 route into the downtown because it also needs drivers on buses replacing the 510 Spadina streetcars between June and November for track work there, said chief customer service officer Chris Upfold. It’s too much work to be covered by overtime and too short a period to justify hiring more operators, he said. “If we did a full route of the 502 and 503 we couldn’t sustain that after we start to run Spadina,” said Upfold. The TTC is loath to start the buses along Queen and then pull them off, even though it is keenly aware that an added transfer is painful for riders.
Meantime, transit officials have been trying to smooth the Queen commute with more route supervision and flyers to let riders and businesses know what’s happening. The Queen St. construction was originally scheduled for last summer but was delayed at the request of Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon (Beaches-East York), who said local businesses were concerned they wouldn’t survive another year of roadwork.
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McMahon said she was never told the Queen work would bump up against the Spadina track replacement. “It’s frustrating as hell,” she said, adding that she’s working toward a compromise. Some motorists are happy, however. They claim the buses allow traffic to move more quickly, said McMahon. TTC CEO Andy Byford said he regrets the inconvenience to riders. “I do not like having to do this to the 502 and 503 customers,” he said. “I’m challenging my team to make sure there’s no more we can do. Can we get the works finished earlier?” |
30 Days of Giveaways Day 15: Homeschool Outerwear
Having outerwear that performs in the elements and is comfortable, yet stylish is paramount, and while many brands out there are trying, some are simply doing it better than others. Homeschool Outerwear is one of those brands, and they're offering up a full technical kit as part of our 30 Days of Brand Giveaways. Here's your chance to win the Universe Jacket, the most technical jacket in its class, that comes with a 3.5 L Shell and is super breathable, while withstanding the elements. Also up for grabs are the Heavy Days Pants which pair with the jacket, and are built to perform on even the gnarliest days on hill. Technical outerwear needs to be backed with the best baselayers, which is why Homeschool is also giving away their Hardcore Days baselayer shirt and Softcore Nights baselayer bottoms, along with the Cinder Reversible Flannel. The flannel can be worn while riding, or while out at the bars, and is the perfect addition to this stacked prize pack. Enter below.
About Homeschool:
Homeschool Outerwear founder Daniel Clancey grew up in Kailua, Hawaii wearing flip flops and boardshorts. At 19 he moved to the Mainland, started snowboarding, and became intrigued by the idea that—with the right outerwear—a person could be comfortable in the gnarliest of conditions. After 15 years in the industry, he branched out on his own, hence the name Homeschool—learning by doing. Call it crazy, call it passionate; Clancey left the Hawaiian Islands for good to make some of the best outerwear available.
Together with a small but exceptional team, Clancey has been creating innovative outerwear with timeless style since 2011. Every Homeschool piece carries with it the creative vision of the team—no answering to corporate heads. Also, through small run, high-end manufacturing it offers the kind of consistent quality only a small company can produce. Looking for something between a neon hamburger print and a dully-designed alpinist piece, Homeschool landed on a "clean and mean" aesthetic. It's straightforward without being boring or excessive. Inimitable design elements like the Wind Hater Hood set Homeschool apart from other brands. The raised cheek panels were conceived during a gnarly windstorm at Mt. Hood. They provide face and neck coverage without compromising peripheral vision.
On the technical side, Homeschool's focus has always been about optimally balancing breathability and durability to protect riders from the elements. 37.5 Technology™ is made with naturally derived materials. Homeschool was the first in the business to use it, and it currently runs through the entire Baker series. 37.5 Technology™ helps achieve the breathability/durability balance via activated carbon particles infused in material fibers. They work to speed up the process of moisture evaporation and increase breathability by at least 40%. By layering the base layer, mid-layer and shell, 37.5 Technology™ works even more efficiently to keep riders dry.
Homeschool's team of rippers can genuinely vouch for the functionality of the gear because they have worn it extensively in the crazy conditions of the Northwest mountains. The gear holds up in pelting rain, deep snow, and fog, or as they like to say, "If it works here, it can work anywhere."
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www.homeschool.com
About 30 Days of Brand Giveaways 2015 presented by The House
Returning in all of its gift-giving glory is the 2015 edition of our annual 30 Days of Giveaways. We're handing out all sorts of snowboarding gear including boards, bindings, outerwear kits, accessories, softgoods, and even a heli trip. All you need to do is follow along during the month of November for the chance to win a different prize each day for the next 30 days. Keep an eye on TWSNOW.com, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter for the daily prize packs and your shot to enter. With just a couple clicks, you could get seriously kitted out for the season.
See the full 30 Days of Giveaways Calendar HERE
Nov 15 – Homeschool Outerwear Kit : 30 Days of Giveaways 2015 |
By Daniel J. McGraw
Before we got on our bikes, I had asked just about everyone I could how long it would take to get where we were going, and what route we would take to get there. I asked the guys selling t-shirts and they didn’t know. I asked some riders who looked like they might know – folks with nice bikes and good gear and mirrors on their helmets—but no, they didn’t know either. One guy said “No one knows,” and laughed like I was some freshman in high school asking the seniors where the cafeteria was.
[blocktext align=”left”]“No one knows.”[/blocktext]This was the most recent Cleveland Critical Mass bicycle ride, held on the last Friday of every month, beginning at Public Square around 7 p.m., and ending a few hours later at a predetermined location. On this ride, the end point was Rivergate Park off Merwin Avenue down in the Flats, less than a mile from the starting point, as the crow flies. I mainly wanted to know how we were getting there because I had heard the ride might be two hours or so, and I don’t like riding my bike at night if I don’t need to, and live about a half hour west. I mostly wanted to figure out if I should peel off and head home at some point.
But that’s not how the Cleveland Critical Mass does things. So off we went at 7 p.m., heading east on Euclid, closing off that street with what police estimate was 500-800 riders. As we hit the busy E. Ninth Street intersection, a policeman on motorcycle blocked traffic, along with “corkers,” volunteers from the group that ride ahead and keep cars from moving through intersections so the bikes can. Then past Playhouse Square, under the new chandelier, and moving through theater-goers trying to cross the street and valet parkers trying to move cars. A few blocks away, the toothbrush lights were on and the Cleveland Indians game was beginning at Progressive Field.
[blocktext align=”right”]A nice ride, with some disturbing, anarchic aspects. [/blocktext]From there it was down to Cleveland State University, north to Superior Avenue, over the Detroit-Superior Bridge (both lanes westbound closed to car traffic as the bikes crossed), through Ohio City and Tremont before ending up in the Flats. A nice ride for the most part, a little less than two hours, with some people waving as we passed, others with arms folded at intersections looking frustrated by their wait. Got to ride and talk to some friends I haven’t seen in a few years.
But there were also some disturbing, anarchic aspects to this ride. Over the course of the ride, the bike line got strung out pretty far, and fits and starts made it difficult to keep things moving through intersections. Clogging streets and blocking intersections in a busy downtown at 7 p.m. on a Friday night seemed to almost be the point. Several times ambulances had to get by the mass of riders. As the group passed the fire station near E. 18th St. and Superior Ave., a fire truck was leaving on a call.
[blocktext align=”left”]This is the conundrum of the Critical Mass movement.[/blocktext]The organizers had no permit, had no pre-arranged route on file with the city, and blocked major intersections for what amounted to little more than a street party. Despite this, the Cleveland police were involved in two very odd ways. At the front of the pack, a squad car and a motorcycle cop were blocking intersections along with the corkers. But at the back of the line, another officer was writing tickets to riders for running red lights. The city says three tickets were written during the ride.
This is the conundrum of the Critical Mass movement, which now numbers about 300 rides across the country. Most started out as an act of civil disobedience, a demonstrative pavement power play for bicyclists to show their city that they had as much right to the roadways as cars. The hipster anarchists were the starting point, thinking that planning and permits and working with government officials was very much a part of the problem. It’s a spontaneous political act, I was told by several on the ride, and we can’t be spontaneous if we plan it out.
[blocktext align=”right”]Hipster-anarcho-cool eventually evolves into “family friendly” these days.[/blocktext]But hipster-anarcho-cool eventually evolves into “family friendly” these days, and that is what has happened to most of the Critical Mass rides over the years. In an interview with the SF Weekly last year, one of the San Francisco founders of their event, which was the first in 1992, lamented that the monthly counterculture gathering of bicyclists was now “more like an amusement park ride.” The crowd at the Cleveland event last week reiterated that notion, with many kids riding with parents and the millennials checking each other out.
But the key question I had before I went on the ride remains unanswered: If the purpose of this monthly ride is to increase awareness that bikes are equal to cars on the roadways, why block cars at intersections on a Friday night to make your point?
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[blocktext align=”left”]“We have a right to ride our bikes in the roads. We don’t have to earn it through good behavior.”[/blocktext]The fact that bicyclists on the Critical Mass ride were ticketed by police drew fury from many riders and blew up on Facebook. When it was suggested by some that maybe the ride would work better with permits and pre-publicized route, there was a lot of disdain: “We have a right to ride our bikes in the roads,” said one. “We don’t have to earn it through good behavior.”
The city released a statement this week indicating they might be re-evaluating the rides, which have been going on for about eight years: “A portion of the May 30th event took riders through downtown Cleveland during early evening traffic, including vehicular and pedestrian traffic for citizens attending a Cleveland Indians home game. During the critical mass event there were 3 bicyclists ticketed by members of Division of Police Bureau of Traffic enforcement for a red light violation.”
“While participating in the event, these riders failed to obey traffic signals and created a hazardous situation for themselves, motor vehicle operators and pedestrians. While we welcome and encourage the participants of this event, we remind them that the traffic laws must be obeyed by all in order to ensure traffic safety for all.” (Emphasis theirs)
The CPD didn’t explain why they were escorting at the front and ticketing in the back, but have said they will meet with bike advocates this week to find out if perhaps more coordinated planning might be needed. Jacob VanSickle, executive director of Bike Cleveland, says that this type of reaction by police happens as the Critical Mass rides age in each city. “There needs to be a balance struck,” VanSickle said. “There obviously was some confusion in that you had police escorting the front of the riders through traffic lights, and police at the back end writing tickets.”
[blocktext align=”right”]Is the ride is a mass political protest, or a family-friendly bike ride? Can it be both?[/blocktext]“I think the Critical Mass ride is an important positive for the city, and they use videos of the ride in their tourism campaign,” he continued. “The ride is very good about getting the message out that more people riding bicycles is a positive for Cleveland, but maybe we need a conversation with the police on how cyclists should be treated while they are using the roads.”
VanSickle was riding with his 16-month son, Milo, during the Critical Mass last week. And therein lies part of the conundrum. Is the ride is a mass political protest, where the riders say eff you to the powers that be, and take over the roads for a few hours? Or is it a family-friendly bike ride where you hang with friends and ride for a few miles and then meet for a few drinks at the end point? The problem right now is that it is a little of both.
[blocktext align=”left”]“We are just making people more aware that we have a right to the road when we do this ride.”[/blocktext]Krissie Wells, who works for a social service non-profit agency in Cleveland, and was working as one of the corkers on last weeks’ ride, said she rides “because I want to make people aware that the system of transportation is working against me because I am riding a bicycle and not in a car,” she said. “And the group that rides is very diverse in terms of race and age and economics, and it is rare for that to happen in Cleveland. I don’t see any advantage to pre-planning. Cars have to get out of the way of fire trucks. Funeral processions go through lights. We are just making people more aware that we have a right to the road when we do this ride.”
But Amanda Harland, an accountant and a board member of Bike Lakewood, which advocates on bicycle policy in that city, shared a different perspective on Facebook.
While I understand the CCM rides are supposed to be a political statement in regards to sharing the road and recognizing cyclists there are a few things I do not understand. Why is not possible to work with the City on route plans? I realize the point is take the roads back, but is it necessary to add to already traffic jammed streets and delay travel to evening destinations for Concerts /Theaters/ or Sporting events where traffic and pedestrians are already backed up? It seems as though the message being relayed in those instances is that we are purposefully discourteous and I don’t think that is the message the cycling community is attempting to spread…
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[blocktext align=”right”]Is it time for some of Cleveland’s bike advocates to grow up?[/blocktext]In essence, some of the bike advocates in Cleveland may need to grow up a bit. In the political world, you initially slap the hierarchy in the face to let them know you exist, but over time, you realize that you need to get beyond face-slapping and down to discussions and bargaining and horse-trading and all that. In effect, the hipster anarchists have to give up their “I’m not a part of anything” creed.
And maybe my take on these rides has to do with my age and history cycling. I started cycling in the mid-eighties, inspired by an American who won the Tour de France three times without performance enhancing drugs. I’ve ridden 65 mph on Interstate 40 in the Texas Panhandle drafting behind a truck, and I’ve had pickups try to swerve and hit me and throw trash at me. I’ve broken ribs in spills, and love city riding much more than the open spaces in the country. I still ride about 80-100 miles a week, and do lots of errands on my bike, like riding to the grocery store or going to meetings downtown by bike.
But through all these years, there has been one theme I have fought against. People who don’t like bikes on the roadway think bike riding is a “hobby” and that we shouldn’t spend any public money to make bike riding more accepted and safer and easier. Someone recently told me that if I want to ride my bike, I should just go use the park trails. I told them the grocery stores aren’t located on the park trails. She seemed confused.
[blocktext align=”left”]“Oh you’re one of them.”[/blocktext]Last year about this time, I was shopping at the West Side Market in Cleveland, and my bike was locked on Lorain Avenue. When I came out, a group ride was going by; the riders coming out of the Tremont neighborhood, dressed like 1890s folks with handlebar mustaches and knickers riding old bikes, some with little trailers on the back for kids to ride in. A guy standing on the sidewalk looked at me as I was moving toward my bike and said “these bicycle riders think they can take over the roads.” I nodded and moved over to my bike.
When the guy saw me unlocking my bike and putting my purchases in my bike bags, he said, “Oh you’re one of them.” I shook my head, and looked out on what seemed like an endless line of costume wearing hobbyists, and told him, “No, I’m just waiting for them to get through so I can get back home too.”
Maybe that’s my problem on all of this. I don’t ride for fun or to make a political statement or to socialize on Friday night. I ride to get from point A to point B, to run my errands and do my work, go to the park or to some family member’s house. Nothing more than that. My bicycle is transportation, not a lifestyle statement. And I always thought that should be the goal in policy and the way we look at bikes as part of the overall transportation network. I just don’t think blocking automobile traffic downtown on a busy night does much to do that.
Daniel J. McGraw is Senior Writer at Belt.
Photo by Daniel J. McGraw
Update: This article has been amended to reflect accurate versions of Amanda Harland and Krissie Wells’ comments on Critical Mass. |
Terry Firma
Fed up with the violence from Muslim terror groups like Boko Haram, Nigerian Christians aren’t exactly turning the other cheek. Their solution: kill Islamic clerics, and bomb mosques.
The latest terrorist threats to come out of Nigeria aren’t being propagated by Boko Haram, the militant Islamist group bent on eradicating Christianity (and other Western influences). Instead, the threats from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) are being made “in defense of Christianity.”
MEND, a militant group operating out of the country’s oil-rich Niger Delta, says it intends to attack Muslims in order to protect Nigeria’s “hapless Christian population.” The planned attacks, which MEND says will begin on May 31, will include mosque and hajj bombings and assassination attempts against Muslim clerics.
If it seems like just tough talk, look closer. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom noted in a response to the MEND statement that there have been “ongoing attacks and retaliations by Muslims and Christians” in Nigeriah, and that Boko Haram has used “Christian attacks on Muslims to justify its attacks on Christians.”
USCIRF also says Boko Haram has “killed more Muslims than Christians over the past few years.”
[image via Aaron Niequist] |
Maritime rescue services have saved a Polish sailor stranded off the French island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean, according to reports.
The 54-year-old seafarer was discovered after drifting for seven months between the Maldives and Mauritius.
The Franceinfo agency reported that the sailor, identified only as Zbigniew, had set off from the Comoros archipelago, located between Madagascar and East Africa, in May.
He set sail for South Africa, where he intended to take up work. However, his boat was severely damaged on the way, leaving the sailor without navigation and communication systems.
The rescue operation took place on Monday evening, Alain Djeutang, from Reunion’s maritime rescue services, told the media.
The undernourished man had subsisted on one pack of instant noodle soup per two days and now needs food to regain strength.
Djeutang added that the Pole also needed money and help in administrative procedures.
The Polish sailor was accompanied by his cat, which survived despite the harsh conditions. (aba/gs)
Source: IAR |
Many historians, most of the general public, and even many economists think of Herbert Hoover, the president who preceded Franklin D. Roosevelt, as a defender of laissez-faire economic policy. According to this view, Hoover’s dogmatic commitment to small government led him to stand by and do nothing while the economy collapsed in the wake of the 1929 stock market crash. The reality is quite different. Far from being a bystander, Hoover actively intervened in the economy, advocating and implementing polices that were quite similar to those that Franklin Roosevelt later implemented. Moreover, many of Hoover’s interventions, like those of his successor, caused the great depression to be “great”—that is, to last a long time.
Hoover’s early career
Hoover, a very successful mining engineer, thought that the engineer’s focus on efficiency could enable government to play a larger and more constructive role in the economy. In 1917, he became head of the wartime Food Administration, working to reduce American food consumption. Many Democrats, including FDR, saw him as a potential presidential candidate for their party in the 1920s. For most of the 1920s, Hoover was Secretary of Commerce under Republican Presidents Harding and Coolidge. As Commerce Secretary during the 1920-21 recession, Hoover convened conferences between government officials and business leaders as a way to use government to generate “cooperation” rather than individualistic competition. He particularly liked using the “cooperation” that was seen during wartime as an example to follow during economic crises. In contrast to Harding’s more genuine commitment to laissez-faire, Hoover began one 1921 conference with a call to “do something” rather than nothing. That conference ended with a call for more government planning to avoid future depressions, as well as using public works as a solution once they started. Pulitzer-Prize winning historian David Kennedy summarized Hoover’s work in the 1920-21 recession this way: “No previous administration had moved so purposefully and so creatively in the face of an economic downturn. Hoover had definitively made the point that government should not stand by idly when confronted with economic difficulty.” Harding, and later Coolidge, rejected most of Hoover’s ideas. This may well explain why the 1920-21 recession, as steep as it was, was fairly short, lasting 18 months.
Interestingly, though, in his role as Commerce Secretary, Hoover created a new government program called “Own Your Own Home,” which was designed to increase the level of homeownership. Hoover jawboned lenders and the construction industry to devote more resources to homeownership, and he argued for new rules that would allow federally chartered banks to do more residential lending. In 1927, Congress complied, and with this government stamp of approval and the resources made available by Federal Reserve expansionary policies through the decade, mortgage lending boomed. Not surprisingly, this program became part of the disaster of the depression, as bank failures dried up sources of funds, preventing the frequent refinancing that was common at the time, and high unemployment rates made the government-encouraged mortgages unaffordable. The result was a large increase in foreclosures.
The Hoover presidency
Hoover did not stand idly by after the depression began. To fight the rapidly worsening depression, Hoover extended the size and scope of the federal government in six major areas: (1) federal spending, (2) agriculture, (3) wage policy, (4) immigration, (5) international trade, and (6) tax policy.
Consider federal government spending. (See Fiscal Policy.) Federal spending in the 1929 budget that Hoover inherited was $3.1 billion. He increased spending to $3.3 billion in 1930, $3.6 billion in 1931, and $4.7 billion and $4.6 billion in 1932 and 1933, respectively, a 48% increase over his four years. Because this was a period of deflation, the real increase in government spending was even larger: The real size of government spending in 1933 was almost double that of 1929. The budget deficits of 1931 and 1932 were 52.5% and 43.3% of total federal expenditures. No year between 1933 and 1941 under Roosevelt had a deficit that large. In short, Hoover was no defender of “austerity” and “budget cutting.”
Figure 1
Shortly after the stock market crash in October 1929, Hoover extended federal control over agriculture by expanding the reach of the Federal Farm Board (FFB), which had been created a few months earlier. The idea behind the FFB was to make government-funded loans to farm cooperatives and create “stabilization corporations” to keep farm prices up and deal with surpluses. In other words, it was a cartel plan. That fall, Hoover pushed the FFB into full action, lending to farmers all over the country and otherwise subsidizing farming in an attempt to keep prices up. The plan failed miserably, as subsidies encouraged farmers to grow more, exacerbating surpluses and eventually driving prices way down. As more farms faced dire circumstances, Hoover proposed the further anti-market step of paying farmers not to grow.
On wages, Hoover revived the business-government conferences of his time at the Department of Commerce by summoning major business leaders to the White House several times that fall. He asked them to pledge not to reduce wages in the face of rising unemployment. Hoover believed, as did a number of intellectuals at the time, that high wages caused prosperity, even though the true causation is from capital accumulation to increased labor productivity to higher wages. He argued that if major firms cut wages, workers would not have the purchasing power they needed to buy the goods being produced. As most depressions involve falling prices, cutting wages to match falling prices would have kept purchasing power constant. What Hoover wanted amounted to an increase in real wages, as constant nominal wages would be able to purchase more goods at falling prices. Presumably out of fear of the White House or, perhaps, because it would keep the unions quiet, industrial leaders agreed to this proposal. The result was rapidly escalating unemployment, as firms quickly realized that they could not continue to employ as many workers when their output prices were falling and labor costs were constant.
Of all of the government failures of the Hoover presidency—excluding the actions of the Federal Reserve between 1929 and 1932, over which he had little to no influence—his attempt to maintain wages was the most damaging. Had he truly believed in laissez-faire, Hoover would not have intervened in the private sector that way. Hoover’s high-wage policy was a clear example of his lack of confidence in the corrective forces of the market and his willingness to use governmental power to fight the depression.
Later in his presidency, Hoover did more than just jawbone to keep wages up. He signed two pieces of labor legislation that dramatically increased the role of government in propping up wages and giving monopoly protection to unions. In 1931, he signed the Davis-Bacon Act, which mandated that all federally funded or assisted construction projects pay the “prevailing wage” (i.e., the above market-clearing union wage). The result of this move was to close out non-union labor, especially immigrants and non-whites, and drive up costs to taxpayers. A year later, he signed the Norris-LaGuardia Act, whose five major provisions each enshrined special provisions for unions in the law, such as prohibiting judges from using injunctions to stop strikes and making union-free contracts unenforceable in federal courts. Hoover’s interventions into the labor market are further evidence of his rejection of laissez-faire.
Two other areas that Hoover intervened in aggressively were immigration and international trade. One of the lesser-known policy changes during his presidency was his near halt to immigration through an Executive Order in September 1930. His argument was that blocking immigration would preserve the jobs and wages of American citizens against competition from low-wage immigrants. Immigration fell to a mere 10 to 15% of the allowable quota of visas for the five-month period ending February 28, 1931. Once again, Hoover was unafraid to intervene in the economic decisions of the private sector by preventing the competitive forces of the global labor market from setting wages.
Even those with only a casual knowledge of the Great Depression will be familiar with one of Hoover’s major policy mistakes—his promotion and signing of the Smoot-Hawley tariff in 1930. This law increased tariffs significantly on a wide variety of imported goods, creating the highest tariff rates in U.S. history. While economist Douglas Irwin has found that Smoot-Hawley’s effects were not as large as often thought, they still helped cause a decline in international trade, a decline that contributed to the worsening worldwide depression.
Most of these policies continued and many expanded throughout 1931, with the economy worsening each month. By the end of the year, Hoover decided that more drastic action was necessary, and on December 8, he addressed Congress and offered proposals that historian David Kennedy refers to as “Hoover’s second program, ” and that has also been called “The Hoover New Deal.” His proposals included: • The Reconstruction Finance Corporation to lend tax dollars to banks, firms and others institutions in need. • A Home Loan Bank to provide government help to the construction sector. • Congressional legalization of Hoover’s executive order that had blocked immigration. • Direct loans to state governments for spending on relief for the unemployed. • More aid to Federal Land Banks. • Creating a Public Works Administration that would both better coordinate Federal public works and expand them. • More vigorous enforcement of antitrust laws to end “destructive competition” in a variety of industries, as well as supporting work-sharing programs that would supposedly reduce unemployment.
On top of these spending proposals, most of which were approved in one form or another, Hoover proposed, and Congress approved, the largest peacetime tax increase in U.S. history. The Revenue Act of 1932 increased personal income taxes dramatically, but also brought back a variety of excise taxes that had been used during World War I. The higher income taxes involved an increase of the standard rate from a range of 1.5 to 5% to a range of 4 to 8%. On top of that increase, the Act placed a large surtax on higher-income earners, leading to a total tax rate of anywhere from 25 to 63%. The Act also raised the corporate income tax along with several taxes on other forms of income and wealth.
Whether or not Hoover’s prescriptions were the right medicine—and the evidence suggests that they were not—his programs were a fairly aggressive use of government to address the problems of the depression. These programs were hardly what one would expect from a man devoted to “laissez-faire” and accused of doing nothing while the depression worsened.
The views of contemporaries and modern historians
The myth of Hoover as a defender of laissez-faire persists, despite the fact that his contemporaries clearly understood that he made aggressive use of government to fight the recession. Indeed, Hoover’s own statements made clear that he recognized his aggressive use of intervention. The myth also persists in spite of the widespread recognition by modern historians that the Hoover presidency was anything but an era of laissez-faire.
According to Hoover’s Secretary of State, Henry Stimson, Hoover argued that balancing the budget was a mistake: “The President likened it to war times. He said in war times no one dreamed of balancing the budget. Fortunately we can borrow.” Hoover himself summarized his administration’s approach to the depression during a campaign speech in 1932: Some might dismiss this as campaign rhetoric, but as the other evidence indicates, Hoover was giving an accurate portrayal of his presidency. Indeed, Hoover’s profligacy was so clear that Roosevelt attacked it during the 1932 Presidential campaign.
Roosevelt’s own advisors understood that much of what they created during the New Deal owed its origins to Hoover’s policies, going as far back as his time at the Commerce Department in the 1920s. Thus the quote at the start of this article by Rex Tugwell, one of the academics at the center of FDR’s “brains trust.” Another member of the brains trust, Raymond Moley, wrote of that period: Decades later, Tugwell, writing to Moley, said of Hoover: “[W]e were too hard on a man who really invented most of the devices we used.” Members of Roosevelt’s inner circle would have every reason to disassociate themselves from the policies of their predecessor; yet these two men recognized Hoover’s role as the father of the New Deal quite clearly.
Nor is this point lost on contemporary historians. In his authoritative history of the Great Depression era, David Kennedy admiringly wrote that Hoover’s 1932 program of activist policies helped “lay the groundwork for a broader restructuring of government’s role in many other sectors of American life, a restructuring known as the New Deal.” In a later discussion of the beginning of the Roosevelt administration, Kennedy observed (emphasis added):
Conclusion
Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, from Hoover’s own beliefs to his actions as president to the observations of his contemporaries and modern historians, the myth of Herbert Hoover’s presidency as an example of laissez-faire persists. Of all the presidents up to and including him, Herbert Hoover was one of the most active interveners in the economy.
About the Author Steven Horwitz is the Charles A. Dana Professor of Economics at St. Lawrence University
Footnotes |
The slow rollout of MyMagic+ has reached a milestone as Walt Disney World has begun offering the advance ride and show booking abilities of FastPass+ to all guests, whether staying on property or not.
The system is no longer exclusive to hotel guests or even annual passholders, with day guests who register at MyDisneyExperience.com also given access to reserve FastPass+ selections in advance of arriving.
Day guests won’t automatically receive MagicBands like hotel guests and annual passholders do, but the MagicBands are not necessary to use the system, as all tickets have the built-in technology required to register. MagicBands are now available for purchase in the parks for those who wish to own one.
Disney Parks chairman Tom Staggs provided the update online today.
In addition, Staggs notes that nearly 3.5 million guests have been part of Disney’s testing of MyMagic+ and they will soon change their rules based on feedback, adding park hopping as well as a chance to get more than 3 FastPass+ selections per day.
“We’ve heard from a number of guests that they would like the opportunity to add additional FastPass+ entitlements during their visit, in addition to the three they can plan in advance. So, we’re working on providing them with the ability to add and enjoy additional entitlements on the day of their visit. Once they’ve used the three they’ve booked, we’ll enable them to select another at kiosks in the parks. And once they’ve used the fourth, they can select another, and so on. We also heard that other guests liked the fact that with the FastPass+ service they could use FASTPASS when they park hopped. So we’re working on a service enhancement to add that feature to FastPass+ as well.”
The full MyMagic+ system is expected to officially roll out within the coming weeks. |
Telugu Desam Party MP from Ananthapur, J C Diwakar Reddy created a ruckus at the Visakhapatnam airport after allegedly being denied a boarding pass on Thursday. Reddy reportedly arrived late to board an Indigo flight to Hyderabad. After being denied a boarding pass, he allegedly damaged airport property.
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A grainy video recording of the incident showed Reddy arguing with the airline officials. The staff later complained to the airport authorities after Reddy damaged a boarding pass printing machine, according to reports. Indigo said that it is currently investigating the incident. “We are investigating the matter, no comments to offer till completion of a thorough investigation,” IndiGo said in a statement.
In a similar incident in 2016, Reddy created ruckus at the Vijayawada Airport after arriving late.
By the end of June, a “national no-fly list” will be unveiled by the Ministry of Aviation. Unruly passengers can be banned from flying for a minimum of three months. The no-fly list, which is still in drafting stages, will classify offences into three categories. At level one, misdemeanours including physical gestures, verbal harassment and unruly behaviour because of inebriation will attract a minimum ban of three months.
Level 2 comprises physically abusive behaviour such as pushing, hitting, grabbing, inappropriate touching or sexual harassment. This carries a ban of six months. Level 3 consists of life-threatening behaviour such as damage to aircraft operating system, physical violence such as choking or murderous assault and attempted breach of flight crew compartment. This will carry a flying ban of two years or more without limit.
If a passenger repeats the same degree of offence he/she will be banned for twice the period of the previous ban.
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Earlier this year, Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad was temporarily banned by airlines from flying after allegedly assaulting an Air India staffer. |
LONDON (Reuters) - Six more people in China have been confirmed as infected with the new H7N9 strain of bird flu and one of them has died, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday.
Three of the other five patients are in either a serious or a critical condition in hospital, while the remaining two have mild symptoms, the United Nations health agency said in a disease outbreak update.
H7N9 bird flu emerged last year in China and has infected around 150 people so far there and in Taiwan and Hong Kong, killing at least 46 of them.
The latest death was a 38-year-old man from China’s Fujian Province who became ill with H7N9 on January 3, was admitted to hospital on January 8 but died 2 days later. He had underlying illnesses, including tuberculosis and pneumoconiosis.
China’s state news agency Xinhua reported another death from H7N9 in the southwestern Guizhou province on Monday, but this has yet to be confirmed by the WHO.
A 65-year-old man infected with H7N9 also died in Hong Kong, the government said on Monday.
The WHO reiterated there is no evidence as yet of any easy or sustained person-to-person transmission of the strain, and that the source of the human infections is still under investigation.
Researchers in the United States said last month that while it is not impossible that H7N9 could become easily transmissible between people, it would need to undergo multiple mutations to do that. Scientists around the world are keeping a watchful eye, on alert for any sign the virus might develop that potential and start to spread rapidly. |
Translation of Peter Lendvai’s interview with former Raiffeisen CEO Péter Felcsuti appearing in fuhu.hu on November 27th, 2017.
For most European countries democracy is as natural as air. We Hungarians, however, like an airless country, says Péter Felcsuti, economist and one-time president of the Hungarian Bank Alliance. He believes we feel good with a leader who–and Viktor Orbán does this perfectly–works on resentment, pettiness, provinciality, and boasts of his own accomplishments. Felcsuti claims that Orbán is a perfect power engineer whose values know no compromise, only defeating the opponents, and regards everyone outside his immediate family as such in a broader sense. The economist believes that lean decades will characterize our economic situation, as well as our social relations, which will remain this way unless the country experiences shock, if only because the democratic opposition has deeply underperformed politically, intellectually and morally.
How do we live these days?
There are those who live well and many who do not. Hungarian society today is seriously divided in the sense that part lives well in a material sense and is satisfied with what it experiences; they constitute a sizable minority. A larger part of society lives poorly, but their circumstances are such that they have no way or desire to contemplate what the cause of this is and what can be done to change it. And there is a third group that cannot be ignored that, regardless of their material situation, is very unhappy with what is happening in the country.
Do you seriously believe that there are people in the country that are not in a position to reflect on what is happening around them?
Yes. I am not only thinking about those living in dire poverty, but the hundreds of thousands of those who have fallen from the middle class, with diploma in hand and poor-paying jobs, who worry whether their household’s money will last through the end of the month and whether they can pay their utility bills or credit installments coming due.
In order for a society to mobilize itself, is it necessary for the upper classes to also be dissatisfied and to live badly?
No society is homogeneous. It is a mistake to approach this question by assuming the existence of common values or interests. There are none, or there are only few, and those only last a short while (as in the case of the national pride in those rare moments of sports success). For this reason it is really possible for a bad balance to form in which a politically active social group is satisfied with its situation while others who are not are not active enough, or organizations or leadership are not good enough to be able to offer an acceptable alternative.
The regime maintains this imbalance with clever politics that divide social groups with rewards and punishments and the creation of enemies.
A number of economists, yourself included, continually predict that the politics followed by the Orbán government will bankrupt the country . . .
With due respect, I do not think that is the situation, which I support here with a quote from something I wrote together with my son that appeared on index.hu in 2011.
“We often think that there are two conditions in which our country operates: either it is flowering or it is in crisis. In reality a third state–stagnation–is also possible. It is precisely this danger which Hungarian society is facing today. More precisely, we are threatened with vegetating for another decade, having progressively slipped towards the periphery of the European Union.” Perhaps we erred at the end in thinking that it would only last a decade.
Is this the era of vegetating?
I think this is the case both economically and socially. Growth depends on money called down from the EU. In any case this will not be enough to close the gap (with the more developed countries-tran.). An even greater problem is that in looking at society as a whole, prosperity, consumption, health, life expectancy, and the life prospects of future generations, which is actually the goal of economic growth, is either not improving or seriously unbalanced.
Might the Orbán government have followed a different path?
That is entirely for sure. One might be deeply conservative and nationalistic and still, for example, believe in European nation-states and oppose political integration. Who could doubt Great Britain or Sweden’s commitment to democracy? Illiberal democracy, the Soros campaign, and corruption must not necessarily accompany nationalism.
It is also perfectly legitimate following the 2008 crisis if somebody talks about rethinking the role of the state, or raises the issue of to what extent foreign capital plays a positive role in a developing economy. It is possible to hold a worthwhile debate about this, or for voters to choose conditions for changes to political economy.
However, that is not what we are talking about in our case, tragically. Orbán represents a different kind of values. I think there is a given family, naturally in a broader sense, and that anyone outside the family is the enemy, that connections and loyalty should be the bases, and that a strong hierarchy is needed where there is a boss and subordinates, and where the boss takes care of his subordinates, even if they make mistakes, so long as they remain loyal. Well, this is also a kind of value system, which others call a mafia state. I don’t really like the latter term. But one must acknowledge that this politics has a social and cultural embeddedness in Hungary. Many subscribe to the concept that you should reward those who stand beside you and punish those who turn against you, and that every match is a zero sum game in which either you or I am the winner, and that there is no such cooperation that results in both of us winning. In answer to your question I might even say that we have hard luck. We could have had a Viktor Orbán arriving on the political scene with a different type of cultural determination, say with the value system of a József Antall (it’s ironic how nostalgically the left wing thinks back on József Antall, but his commitment to the west and its value system cannot be doubted), coming not from a small settlement but a large city with an intellectual background, but regardless of that possessing a world view accepting of others built on nation-state concepts.
You said you were mistaken when you foresaw only a decade-long slump, that it would be better to make peace with it to have even a new ten years…
I don’t mean for this discussion to be so dead serious, but it’s important to speak about this. Many are inclined to view society as a relatively simply structure. Society, however, in which ten million people struggle ten million ways every day connected with one another, is a very complex organization that does not move in a linear manner but is rather characteristically unpredictable and cannot be modeled. For a long time nothing happens, then comes an unexpected shock that changes the conditions. So when I speak about the stagnation lasting longer than ten years, then I assume there won’t be any unpredictable shocks. By the way, a shock can be anything. It can arrive from abroad or internally. The point is that it upsets the organism from its state of rest. However, unless something like this happens, then I think the Orbán regime is sustainable during this period. Incidentally, another reason I speak of only ten years is that in the meantime a new generation comes of age that does not know how to react to what it sees happening around it. It can also react by leaving the country, and we can already feel a preface to this, and from this follows the shock. But those born into this can also accept the current situation as given and then everything can remain as it is.
I see that you are somewhat more permissive of the Orbán regime than, say, the European Union.
I don’t think I’m permissive. I rather seek to understand it. I do not want to accept that simplified point of view driven by feelings and desire often experienced on this side. By the way, if I understand what is happening, then perhaps I can live more easily with these phenomena.
What is clear is that if I am seething helplessly every day, as many people are by seeing and hearing about petty crimes, I don’t get very far, and it can even make me sick. As the country gets sick, and there are more and more pathological signs showing–see the tragi-comical events that have taken place in certain villages.
You mentioned two things: understanding, and the pathological reaction. But there would be a third, and that is struggle . . .
Naturally, struggle is important. In my own way I try to do so in a manner consistent with my conscience. I think I have made the most of the opportunity for struggle that is offered to me. I write, speak out, and if given the opportunity I protest if there is a reason to do so, and I cooperate in the domestic publication of important social policy books. If opportunities for political struggle were to open that offered any hope, I would certainly not stay in my room. However, at present there are none.
I consider the greatest disaster the manner in which the democratic opposition deeply underperforms politically, intellectually and morally. They say of the current situation, of the Orbán regime, that it is an authoritarian system whose main characteristic is that it allows formal democracy but cannot be replaced using democratic means. This what János Kornai, who I greatly respect, says, and he is certainly correct, but I think this assertion has yet to be proven. If the opposition parties were able to defeat the governing parties in an election either together or separately, and those governing parties were to employ every means to obstruct a change in government, then that would be real proof of this. For the time being, however, that is not the case given that support for the opposition does not come close to that of Fidesz and the fact that the ability and willingness for cooperation is completely missing.
So you are saying there is no chance of there being a change in government?
Yes. But I think the main reason for this is because the opposition does not avail itself of the opportunity that the regime has left it.
Is the European Union completely powerless in the face of such autocracy?
I think so. On the one hand, because it is struggling with its own political and economic crisis, and on the other hand it is not prepared for someone simply discarding the democratic value system it considers axiomatic. For the vast majority of European countries, democracy is air itself, and it is natural that they exist in it. It is impossible for them to grasp what is happening in a country they believed to be democratic which in reality is sliding into autocracy.
The conclusions from this is that we are happy living in an airless country as this is what we managed to create for ourselves “over the past forty years.”
That is so.
Countries have historical lines of development, just as our country would try from time to time to break out, but it systematically returns to this condition, that is, progressing with difficulty, looking inward, working on the basis of resentment, provinciality, viewing the outside world with suspicion, and boasting of its own accomplishments.
There have been wonderful moments in our history, but we always fall back to the state about which I am speaking. In this regard we are not alone in the world. If we look around there are a lot of countries that bring constant failure.
So from time to time we find a leader that takes the country in this direction.
That’s right. I am convinced that in a different kind of world, a talented politician like Viktor Orbán would be a leader deeply committed to democracy, but now he is saying what the Hungarian people need and giving it to them because he needs power and, not least of all, money, not what is needed to advance the country. This is what differentiates Orbán, the excellent power engineer, from our Ferenc Deák or even Nelson Mandela, who had moral strength and courage to say no to their own people. |
Fears grow for Ebtisam al-Saegh, who was detained in raid following tweet criticising kingdom’s ruler and security forces
Bahrain has rearrested a prominent human rights advocate who has accused the country’s security services of torturing and sexually assaulting her during her previous arrest in May.
Ebtisam al-Saegh, who works for Salam for Human Rights and Democracy, was detained during a night-time raid on Monday by about 25 security officers after she tweeted criticism of the country’s ruler and security forces, according to Amnesty International.
Al-Saegh’s arrest comes amid a renewed crackdown on dissent in Bahrain, which is one of four countries behind the Saudi-led blockade of Qatar.
Her rearrest has raised concern among human rights groups, including Amnesty, that she is at risk of torture.
Samah Hadid, director for Campaigns at Amnesty International in the Middle East, said: “The Bahraini authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Ebtisam al-Saegh, whose only crime is speaking up against a government committed to crushing all forms of dissent.
“We are deeply concerned about Ebtisam’s wellbeing. When she was arrested in May 2017, she was beaten and sexually assaulted by members of the Bahraini National Security Agency. Bahraini authorities have failed to investigate those claims and we fear that she is at high risk of torture as long as she remains in custody.”
In her account of her previous arrest in May, Al-Saegh told how she had been summoned to the National Security Agency offices and on arrival she was immediately blindfolded, before being sexually assaulted and beaten.
“They beat me on my nose and they kicked me in the stomach, knowing that I had undergone surgery on my nose and that I was suffering from my colon,” she told Amnesty.
“I could hear an electric device next to me, which was to scare me. I was made to stand up for most of the time, except for 10 minutes when they wanted to eat something.
“I fainted twice and was woken up with cold water thrown on me. They sat me on a chair only for a few seconds while still interrogating me. I was threatened that they would harm my family and that they would bring my husband and torture and electrocute him.
“The men told me ‘no one can protect you’. They took away my humanity, I was weak prey to them.”
During her interrogation, Al-Saegh was questioned about Diraz, where security forces clashed with demonstrators on 23 May, killing five people, and about other human rights defenders she knew, as well as about her participation at the UN human rights council in Geneva last March, where she spoke out about violations in Bahrain. |
Matteo Darmian in action for Italy during the Euro 2016 Qualifier against Bulgaria.
Manchester United have agreed a fee with Torino for Italy international right-back Matteo Darmian, according to Sky Italia sources.
Talks between the clubs have been ongoing and, after rejecting United's first two bids, sources understand United have now met an asking price of £12.7m for the prized defender.
Darmian is a versatile defender who is capable of playing in either full-back spot, though his favoured position is on the right, but also has experience at centre-half and at 6ft tall offers a strong aerial presence.
Louis van Gaal was acutely aware of United's vulnerability at set-pieces last season and it cost the team on more than one occasion, including in the 1-1 draw with Chelsea in October, when 5ft 7in Rafael was left marking Didier Drogba at a corner with costly results.
Speaking in November, van Gaal said: "In set plays, it is very difficult but that is because of the height of the team - maybe you can advise me to buy tall players."
United have made upgrading their right-back position a priority this summer after Antonio Valencia - who has spent the majority of his career in midfield - was forced to assume the role last season.
Chelsea's Didier Drogba jumps above Rafael to score against Manchester United.
Brazilian right-back Rafael featured just 11 times for United last season after struggling with injury and subsequently falling out of favour with van Gaal.
The club are now willing to listen to offers for the 24-year-old, according to Sky sources, and Galatasaray, Napoli and Fiorentina have all shown an interest in signing him.
Dani Alves was linked with a move to Old Trafford before signing a new contract with Barcelona while United also maintained an interest in Everton defender Seamus Coleman but now van Gaal has identified Darmian as the man to anchor the right side of his defence next season. |
Thousands of French Nazi collaborators to be exposed as official reports are published online for the first time
Thousands of French people who collaborated with the Nazis are to be unmasked as secret files from 70 years ago are finally made public.
The records, which include information passed on to the Gestapo by those who lived during the Occupation of 1940-44, will be published online.
The archive will give survivors and their relatives an opportunity to discover what happened to their loved ones - and if any countrymen played a part in their betrayal.
Tragic end: The only photo French Resistance fighters facing the firing squad at Mont Valerien outside Paris
Since the liberation of Paris, all documentation relating to the Second World War has been kept in cardboard boxes in the basement of the city's Police Museum.
A museum spokesman said: 'They include notes from interrogations, as well as information passed on to the authorities willingly.'
The archive includes every police log from stations across France, as well as details of every arrest, fine and interview.
In addition to shedding light on the work of the Gestapo across France, the files will illuminate the role of the Brigade Speciale, which tracked down resistance fighters and other 'enemies' of the Nazi regime.
Victory march: German troops parade down the Champs-Elysees in Paris following their victory
All of the paperwork is officially protected by a 75 -year classification order issued by the post-war government.
But work has started on digitising them, with the 1940 material publicly available in 2015 and the rest to follow over the subsequent four years.
At least 77,000 Jews were deported to their deaths from French transit camps between 1942 and the end of the German occupation in December 1944.
Of these, around a third were French citizens and more than 8,000 were children under 13.
The French police, led by Rene Bosquet, played an important role in this work, with SS boss Heinrich Himmler describing the Frenchman as a 'precious collaborator within the framework of police collaboration'.
Bosquet initially managed to disguise his crimes after the war and was not brought to justice until many years later.
He was shot dead in June 1993, just before his trial for crimes against humanity was due to begin.
In a dramatic ruling last year, the Council of State, France's highest judicial body, said the Vichy government of the period held ' responsibility' for deportations. |
DUBLIN (Reuters) - China has agreed to lift its ban on Irish beef, Ireland’s Prime Minister Enda Kenny said on Friday, making it the only European country to be allowed to export beef to both the United States and China.
Ireland last month became the first European Union country to regain access to the lucrative U.S. market, 17 years after Washington banned EU imports over the mad cow disease, or BSE, epidemic that spread from Britain to mainland Europe.
“I’m delighted to announce this evening that we have now reached agreement with China on lifting the ban on Irish beef,” Kenny told his Fine Gael party’s annual conference, in a speech pitched at struggling rural Ireland, just a year out from parliamentary elections.
Demand for red meat in China, the world’s second-largest economy, has risen strongly in recent years due to rising incomes and a richer diet. Beijing started inspections of meat export facilities in Ireland in December as Dublin bid for the ban to be lifted.
Only a few countries, such as Australia, Argentina, Canada and New Zealand, have had access to the Chinese market. China also banned beef imports from European countries following the BSE outbreak.
Ireland, whose food exports to China have more than doubled to 620 million euros since 2011, said Chinese veterinary inspectors would begin to approve processing plants for export following the formal lifting of the ban. |
Alexanderplatz (Alexander Square) was once a vibrant tourist attraction visited yearly by thousands of people; now, however, it has become a crime ridden hive it would be smart to avoid.
On average there are more than 18 crimes per day at Alexanderplatz. The number of crimes for the first ten months of 2017 totalled 5,631.
Trotz Polizeipräsenz passieren am Alexanderplatz im Schnitt täglich 18 Straftaten. Vor allem freitags und samstags gilt der Alexanderplatz als Treffpunkt für Flüchtlinge und Drogendealer. https://t.co/oXCmBtKYCr pic.twitter.com/naJVd7cKEv — BZ Berlin B.Z. (@bzberlin) November 16, 2017
Despite an increased police presence theft and assaults, as well as drug crimes, have all gone up. It has officially been classified as the most crime ridden area in all of Germany.
Just this weekend 61 people were arrested there; multiple cases of underage drinking and one sexual assault had occurred. The police are now allowed to check for ID without suspicion of a crime.
Especially on the weekends, Alexanderplatz has become synonymous as a haunt of migrants and as an area where drug dealing is rife. Knife attacks and mass brawls, once a rarity, are now almost a daily occurrence.
The only silver lining is that police hope to stem the tide of crime with larger and larger operations there and make the area once more conducive to tourism; as a consequence they have been able to lower pickpocketing by 46% which is the only silver lining.
In total 5,980 people have been arrested there from January – October this year. Of those, 1,662 have been given deportation orders and 118 were detained in prison.
Fünf gegen zwei: Polizei sucht Schläger vom Alexanderplatz https://t.co/JucpE9ajbm pic.twitter.com/mUdU9XlR7A — BZ Berlin B.Z. (@bzberlin) November 10, 2017
List of crimes 2016 is in ( ):
Shoplifting: 1353 advertisements (1337)► Pickpocketing: 728 (1345)► Theft: 617 (707)Personal injury: 583 (404)►? Coercion / threat: 62 (52)► robbery: 53 (39)► Black driving: 444 (239)►? Drug offenses: 425 (167)► Fraud: 349 (377)Property damage: 115 (116)Insult: 159 (112); on a sexual basis: 4 (26)► Rape / severe sexual assault: 6 (1)► Sexual abuse of children: 3 (2)► Other Sexual Offenses: 27 (14)► Trespassing: 151 (134)► Bicycle theft: 58 (115)► Theft from car: 18 (36)► Theft of motor vehicles: 6 (1)► Crimes against the Asylum Act: 60 (30)► Resistance to Enforcement Officials: 53 (37)► murder / attempted manslaughter: 1 (0)
By Stan M |
Capcom has detailed the SmartGlass functionality of Dead Rising 3 for the Xbox One. It seems like our hero Nick will be able to pick a smartphone early in the game and this will be used for the basis of SmartGlass functionality.
Players will be able to receive phone calls and text messages from in-game characters and this will result in new missions, that will be exclusive to SmartGlass users. You can get new weapons or additional support apps for your PDA by finishing these missions.
Dead Rising 3 is a upcoming Xbox One exclusive and it seems to be heavily relying on SmartGlass functionality to add “optional” new features to the game. It’s original reveal was during E3 2013 and Capcom demoed SmartGlass use there, by using it to call air strikes for zombies. Now it seems like that there is a whole new side to this SmartGlass functionality and it definitely seems to add to the game. The changes were detailed in a blog post on official site.
Not only we will get exclusive missions that will reward us with exclusive weapons, it seems like we are able to see the whole map of Los Perdidos in real-time and it will show the location of our character along with co-op character.
The news ticker, that is featured prominently in previous Dead Rising games, is also supported for SmartGlass functionality and will show us the latest stuff that is happening around Los Perdidos.
We can also use the ZDC Military Support Application to request help like Air Strikes or Military flares for distracting zombies. There is even an Item Finder app and a Backup app to call for support in tight situations or boss battles.
What do you think of this SmartGlass functionality? Let us know in the comments below.
Stay tuned to GearNuke for latest news and info on Dead Rising 3. |
The Apache Log4j 2 team is pleased to announce the Log4j 2.4 release! Apache log4j is a well known framework for logging application behavior. Log4j 2 is an upgrade to Log4j that provides significant improvements over its predecessor, Log4j 1.x, and provides many other modern features such as support for Markers, property substitution using Lookups, and asynchronous Loggers. In addition, Log4j 2 will not lose events while reconfiguring. This is the eighth GA release. It contains several bugfixes and new features. As of this release Log4j now requires a minimum of Java 7. GA Release 2.4 Changes in this version include: New features: o LOG4J2-635: Add support for configuration via Properties. o LOG4J2-952: Add ConfigurationBuilder. o LOG4J2-599: Added support for Java 8 lambda expressions to lazily construct a log message only if the requested log level is enabled. o LOG4J2-1118: Updated Logger wrapper generator tool to add Java 8 lambda support for custom log levels. o LOG4J2-1107: New Appender for Apache Kafka. Thanks to Mikael Ståldal. o LOG4J2-1113: New publisher Appender for ZeroMQ (using JeroMQ). Thanks to Gary Gregory. o LOG4J2-1088: Add Comma Separated Value (CSV) layouts for parameter and event logging. Thanks to Gary Gregory. o LOG4J2-1090: Add Core Configurator APIs to change a logger's level. o LOG4J2-1105: Add API org.apache.logging.log4j.Level.isInRange(Level, Level). Thanks to Gary Gregory. o LOG4J2-1106: Add a LevelRangeFilter class. Thanks to Gary Gregory. o LOG4J2-1076: Added support for system nanosecond time in pattern layout. o LOG4J2-1075: Added support for compressing to bzip2 format on file rollover. o LOG4J2-1077: Support additional Apache Commons Compress compression formats on rollover: Deflate, Pack200, XY. o LOG4J2-767: New module for Liquibase integration. Thanks to Mikael Ståldal. o LOG4J2-1023: New RewritePolicy for changing level of a log event. Thanks to Mikael Ståldal. o LOG4J2-1015: Add a way to route messages based on the %marker in Layout for RoutingAppender. Thanks to Daniel Marcotte. o LOG4J2-1050: Add a Log4jLookup class to help write log files relative to log4j2.xml. Thanks to Adam Retter. o LOG4J2-1057: Add API org.apache.logging.log4j.LogManager.getFormatterLogger(). o LOG4J2-1066: Expose Log4jContextFactory's ShutdownCallbackRegistry. Thanks to Charles Allen. Fixed Bugs: o LOG4J2-1121: Fixed potential race condition on reconfiguration. Introduced ReliabilityStrategy to facilitate switching between different mechanisms for preventing log events from being dropped on reconfiguration. o LOG4J2-1123: Core Configurator.initialize(String, ClassLoader, String) fails to work when config location is a file path. Thanks to Gary Gregory. o LOG4J2-1117: OutputStreamManager in ConsoleAppender leaking managers. Thanks to Marcus Thiesen. o LOG4J2-1044: Write pending events to Flume when the appender is stopped. o LOG4J2-1108: NullPointerException when passing null to java.util.logging.Logger.setLevel(). Thanks to Mikael Ståldal. o LOG4J2-1110: org.apache.logging.log4j.jul.CoreLogger.setLevel() checks for security permission too late. o LOG4J2-1084: Misleading StatusLogger WARN event in LogManager with java.util.Map. Thanks to Philipp Schneider. o LOG4J2-1051: NoClassDefFoundError when starting app on Google App Engine. Thanks to Lukasz Lenart. o LOG4J2-684: ExtendedThrowablePatternConverter does not print suppressed exceptions. Thanks to Joern Huxhorn, Mauro Molinari. o LOG4J2-1069: Improper handling of JSON escape chars when deserializing JSON log events. Thanks to Sam Braam. o LOG4J2-1068: Exceptions not logged when using TcpSocketServer + SerializedLayout. Thanks to Andy McMullan. o LOG4J2-1067: ThrowableProxy getExtendedStackTraceAsString throws NPE on deserialized nested exceptions. Thanks to Sam Braam. o LOG4J2-1049: AsyncAppender now resets the thread interrupted flag after catching InterruptedException. Thanks to Robert Schaft. o LOG4J2-1048: FileConfigurationMonitor unnecessarily calls System.currentTimeMillis() causing high CPU usage. Thanks to Nikhil. o LOG4J2-1037: Backward compatibility issue in log4j-1.2-api NDC pop() and peek(). Thanks to Marc Dergacz. o LOG4J2-1025: Custom java.util.logging.Level gives null Log4j Level and causes NPE. Thanks to Mikael Ståldal. o LOG4J2-1033: SimpleLogger creates unnecessary Map objects by calling ThreadContext.getContext() instead of getImmutableContext(). Thanks to Mikael Ståldal. o LOG4J2-1026: HighlightConverter does not obey noConsoleNoAnsi. o LOG4J2-1019: ZipCompressAction leaves files open until GC when an IO error takes place. o LOG4J2-1020: GzCompressAction leaves files open until GC when an IO error takes place. o LOG4J2-1038: Incorrect documentation for layout default charset. Thanks to Gili. o LOG4J2-1042: Socket and Syslog appenders don't take timeout into account at startup. Thanks to Guillaume Turri. o LOG4J2-934: Circular suppressed Exception throws StackOverflowError. Thanks to Kenneth Gendron. o LOG4J2-1046: Circular Exception cause throws StackOverflowError. Thanks to Kenneth Gendron. o LOG4J2-982: Use System.nanoTime() to measure time intervals. Thanks to Mikhail Mazurskiy. o LOG4J2-1045: Externalize log4j2.xml via URL resource. Thanks to Günter Albrecht. o LOG4J2-1058: Log4jMarker#contains(String) does not respect org.slf4j.Marker contract. Thanks to Daniel Branzea. o LOG4J2-1060: Log4jMarker#contains(Marker) does not respect org.slf4j.Marker contract. o LOG4J2-1061: Log4jMarker#remove(Marker) does not respect org.slf4j.Marker contract. o LOG4J2-1062: Log4jMarker#add(Marker) does not respect org.slf4j.Marker contract. o LOG4J2-1064: org.apache.logging.slf4j.Log4jMarker does not implement org.slf4j.Marker.equals(Object) org.slf4j.Marker.hashCode(). o LOG4J2-889: Header in layout should not be written on application startup if appending to an existing file. Fixes LOG4J2-1030. Thanks to Maciej Karaś, Kenneth Leider. o LOG4J2-918: Clarify documentation for combining async with sync loggers. o LOG4J2-1078: GelfLayout throws exception if some log event fields are null. Thanks to Mikael Ståldal. Changes: o LOG4J2-1017: Update Java platform from Java 6 to 7. From this version onwards, log4j 2 requires Java 7. o LOG4J2-812: PatternLayout timestamp formatting performance improvement: replaced synchronized SimpleDateFormat with Apache Commons FastDateFormat. This and better caching resulted in a ~3-30X faster timestamp formatting. o LOG4J2-1097: PatternLayout timestamp formatting performance improvement: predefined date formats (and variants using a period '.' millisecond separator instead of ',') are now formatted ~2-10X faster than other date formats. o LOG4J2-1096: Improved performance of ParameterizedMessage::getFormattedMessage by ~2X. o LOG4J2-1120: LoggerConfig performance improvements: avoid unnecessary lock acquisition, use more efficient data structure. o LOG4J2-1125: PatternLayout performance improvement by caching and reusing a ThreadLocal StringBuilder. o LOG4J2-1114: Add thread name to status logger layout. o LOG4J2-1010: Pass log event when interpolating logger properties. o LOG4J2-1044: Support batchSize in FlumeAvroManager. o LOG4J2-1065: Define org.apache.logging.log4j.Marker.equals(Object) and org.apache.logging.log4j.Marker.hashCode(). o LOG4J2-1063: Avoid creating temporary array object in org.apache.logging.slf4j.Log4jMarker.iterator(). o LOG4J2-890: log4j-web-2.1 should workaround a bug in JBOSS EAP 6.2. Thanks to Hassan Kalaldeh, Robert Andersson, Remko Popma. o LOG4J2-403: MongoDB appender, username and password should be optional. Thanks to Poorna Subhash P, Jeremy Lautman. o LOG4J2-1035: Log4j2 tries to SystemClassLoader when running on Google AppEngine. o LOG4J2-1022: Allow a list of keys to be specified in the MDC pattern converter. o LOG4J2-959: Fix FindBugs DM_DEFAULT_ENCODING bug in SimpleLogger.logMessage() and simplify code. o LOG4J2-1036: Update Apache Flume from 1.5.2 to 1.6.0. o LOG4J2-1041: Update MongoDB driver from 2.11.2 to 2.13.2. o LOG4J2-1018: Update database tests from H2 1.3.175 to 1.3.176. o LOG4J2-1070: Update Java Mail from 1.5.2 to 1.5.4. o LOG4J2-1079: Update Jackson from 2.5.3 to 2.5.4. o LOG4J2-1879: Update Jackson from 2.5.4 to 2.6.0. o LOG4J2-1092: Update Jackson from 2.6.0 to 2.6.1. o LOG4J2-1104: Update Apache Commons Compress from 1.9 to 1.10. Removed: o Removed experimental interface LevelLogger which got committed to master by mistake. Apache Log4j 2.4 requires a minimum of Java 7 to build and run. Log4j 2.4 and greater requires Java 7, version 2.3 required Java 6. Basic compatibility with Log4j 1.x is provided through the log4j-1.2-api component, however it does not implement some of the very implementation specific classes and methods. The package names and Maven groupId have been changed to org.apache.logging.log4j to avoid any conflicts with log4j 1.x. For complete information on Apache Log4j 2, including instructions on how to submit bug reports, patches, or suggestions for improvement, see the Apache Apache Log4j 2 website: http://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.x/ <http://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.x/> |
The team behind Electronic Arts' upcoming Battlefront II published a blog post today announcing they'll be lowering the cost players will pay (in virtual currency) to unlock specific heroes in the game by 75 percent.
It's a direct response to some fan outcry over the weekend about the game's virtual currency economy, and it may help give fellow devs a bit more insight into what players are willing to tolerate when it comes to rewards in a full-priced multiplayer game.
While the game doesn't launch until Friday, a brouhaha erupted over the weekend after a player who had early access to the game (via EA's Access program) published data to Reddit which suggested it would take an average of 40 hours of time spent playing multiplayer to earn enough virtual currency (60,000 credits) to unlock a top-tier hero character like Darth Vader or Luke Skywalker.
Yesterday, someone representing EA's community management team responded to the Reddit thread by thanking the community for the feedback and explaining that "the intent is to provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment for unlocking different heroes. We selected initial values based upon data from the Open Beta and other adjustments made to milestone rewards before launch."
The same account made a similar reply in another thread complaining about the pricing scheme; that reply has since become the most unpopular post (in terms of "downvotes" to "upvotes") in the history of Reddit. At least one person who claims to be with EA (and who has since locked down his Twitter account) stated publicly this morning that he'd received "7 death threats and over 1,600 personal attacks" as a result of the fracas.
"There’s been a lot of discussion around the amount of in-game credits (and time) it takes to unlock some of our heroes," reads an excerpt of today's company blog post. "We used data from the beta to help set those levels, but it’s clear that more changes were needed. So, we’re reducing the amount of credits needed to unlock the top heroes by 75 percent."
The post goes on to make it clear that the dev team plans to continue tweaking the game over time, making a point of celebrating how quickly a live game like Battlefront II can be updated to respond to player feedback.
This echoes the team's efforts last month to rework how the game's loot box system works after players of the Battlefront II open beta complained that the loot boxes (which could effectively be purchased with real money) unbalanced the multiplayer game in favor of people who spent more money. |
According to Fudzilla’s unnamed, “well-placed” sources, Intel could have already launched a 10nm CPU, but they are waiting until yields get better. This comment can be parsed in multiple ways. If they mean that “yeah, we could have a 10nm part out, but not covering our entire product stack and our yields would be so bad that we’d have shortages for several months” then, well, yeah. That is a bit of a “duh” comment. Intel can technically make a 10nm product if you don’t care about yields, supply, and intended TDP.
If, however, the comment means something along the lines of “we currently have a worst-case yield of 85%, but we’re waiting until we cross 90%” then… I doubt it’s true (or, at least, it’s not a whole truth). Coffee Lake is technically (if you count Broadwell) their fourth named 14nm architecture. I would expect that Intel’s yields would need to be less-than-mediocre to delay 10nm for this long. Their reactions to AMD seems to be a knee-jerk “add cores” with a little “we’re still the best single-threaded tech” on the side. Also, they are looking like they have fallen behind the other fabs, which mostly ship 10nm in mobile.
I doubt Intel would let all that stigma propagate just to get a few extra percent yield at launch.
Of course, I could be wrong. It just seems like the “we’re waiting for better yields” argument is a little more severe than the post is letting on. They would have pushed out a product by now if it was viable-but-suboptimal, right? That would have been the lesser of two evils, right? |
Trump-hating punk rock band Greed Day has come under fire for performing at the Mad Cool Festival Friday night in Spain mere moments after an acrobat died after falling over 100 feet during a performance.
The performer, Pedro Aunión Monroy, fell to the ground in front of about 35,000 frightened festivalgoers. Paramedics rushed to the scene and administered first aid but Monroy died on the scene, The Mirror reports. He was 42. Monroy was performing at tribute to Prince’s hit song “Purple Rain.”
Video of the horrific and deadly accident can be seen below.
Green Day, the event’s headliner, took the stage and performed after a short delay.
Several fans took to social media and slammed the band — who later said they were unaware of Monroy’s death — for performing.
Im leaving the #madcool after an acrobat died mid show, and noone in the organization said anything.#GreenDay shouldn't be playing right now — Markinho Curi (@markinhocuri) July 7, 2017
@GreenDay ashamed of you. An artist died just 20 meters from you and you still play. Worst band on the planet. #MadCool — Javier Erquiaga (@jerquiag) July 7, 2017
I was at #Madcool tonight & saw what happened. The organisers can say it was for security but IMO, they put economics ahead of decency. — Jackie Willcox (@JackieWillcox1) July 8, 2017
The band later tweeted their condolences and said that they learned of the performer’s tragic death after their set.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends — Green Day (@GreenDay) July 8, 2017
Mad Cool festival organizers were also criticized for what some people said was a lack of safety at the show and for allowing the Green Day to perform after the incident.
A guy just died and all you guys care about is getting your money back. But then you criticise the event for wanting money. #MadCool — Eddy @ Please don't talk to me unless it's jjba (@hissingmisery) July 8, 2017
If #GreenDay truly didn't know about the accident shame on #MadCool — Sophie 🌊 (@SophieSparksFly) July 8, 2017
Yes it was a tragedy, but i blame the lack of safety at madcool and the fact they didnt even tell green day what had happend — Sophie 🌊 (@SophieSparksFly) July 8, 2017
Rock band Slowdive, however, did not perform and said it would not be appropriate to do so after Monroy’s death.
Due to the tragic event at Mad Cool this evening we felt it was not appropriate to play. Our thoughts go out to those affected. — Slowdive (@slowdiveband) July 8, 2017
Mad Cool organizers said in a statement released on Saturday that it “regrets the terrible accident,” adding that Green Day was allowed to perform for “security reasons.”
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson |
For generations, many in the Diaspora have been frustrated by the ineffectiveness of Israeli hasbara, feeling that they could explain Israel’s position better themselves. Today many supporters of Israel worldwide are becoming Digital Ambassadors. The internet is transforming the battle lines of Israel’s public relations war.
Israel is no longer solely reliant on its often ineffective spokespeople to explain its position. It is recruiting anybody with a computer or a smart phone to help in the campaign. The iphone and the ipad, Youtube and Twitter are the new weapons in the PR war. And as the internet grows, so does the potential impact of Israeli hasbara
As Hasbara becomes a grassroots movement, the very essence of the relationship between Israel and Diaspora Jewry is being transformed. Israel has lost the monopoly over its PR image, and therefore the sole responsibility. Israel’s image is no longer that of a country, but of the whole Jewish people.
There are still problems with the institutionalized Hasbara 2.0. Israel’s Deputy Foreign Ministry Danny Ayalon has produced a number of sleek YouTube clips on the West Bank, Refugees, and the Conflict. Ayalon’s clips, while excellent, can easily be dismissed by cynics as government propaganda.
Prime Minister Netanyahu’s YouTube Page is less popular, with most video clips receiving only a few hundred views.
The IDF has been more successful in its campaign and most of its video clips have been viewed by hundreds of thousands of visitors worldwide. Unfortunately, the IDF still has little idea what is needed for effective public relations.
The IDF’s YouTube page has an overwhelming tendency to upload videos of Israel bombing Hamas sites, and appears to be aimed at boosting morale on the home front rather than promoting a positive campaign. Few are aware of the need for accurate and timely video clips. Last year, film footage of IDF troops landing on the flotilla sailing toward Gaza and being attacked by activists received over a million hits. Unfortunately, the video was released twelve hours too late to really sway opinion.
The internet has become a battleground for public opinion, and Israel is not alone in its attempts to utilize the power of the net. Palestinians often broadcast live at times of crisis, and during the Flotilla incident activists were broadcasting live from the Mamara.
The internet provides for both sides a means to spread a message uncensored, direct and circumventing traditional media.
Israel’s hasbara seems to be becoming more dynamic, as the Diaspora takes responsibility. Even day schools and MASA programs have been conscripted to the task. For example, the following video was produced by the Golda Och Academy:
Low budget, grassroots Hasbara 2.0 has come of age. The internet-based HonestReporting, for example, has an impressive track record keeping track of media bias. The secret weapon of this small non-profit is simple: a database of tens of thousands of supporters who will email papers expressing opinions in support of Israel.
The downside to digital diplomacy is that Israel is losing control over a centralized message. Only time will tell whether this is detrimental or a blessing in disguise. |
Manchester City’s Head of Sports Medicine spoke to Catapult Sports a few days ago on what makes a successful academy, early specialisation, his philosophies and career transition, and whether academy roles are becoming more desirable.
Grant Downie
Downie joined Manchester City Football Club nearly five years ago following a spell as Head of Sports Medicine at this seasons Championship promoted side Middlesbrough FC. He has also been the Head of Physiotherapist at this seasons Scottish Championship winners, Rangers, where he worked alongside Walter Smith and Dick Advocaat.
Earlier this year Grant spoke to the official Manchester City website about his 25 years’ experience in professional football. CLICK HERE to read the article.
In 2012 Grant was told he would receive the Order of the British Empire for his services to Physiotherapy in Sport and to Young People.
‘It`s very touching, very humbling – it’s one of those things you just don’t believe and takes time to process,’ he said upon receiving news of the OBE.
‘I knew nothing about it until I got an official letter through the post from the cabinet explaining that I was to be recognised on the Honours list with The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
‘I was reading it, thinking, ‘is this real?”
Vital Man City on:
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Join Vital Man City
It’s easy to REGISTER HERE, simply click the link and enjoy getting involved! |
Fury as Baillieu rams through pro-discrimination law
Updated
The Victorian Government has cast the rules of Parliament aside to reintroduce a bill that will allow faith-based groups to discriminate on grounds such as religion, marital status or gender.
In a historic move, the Government used its numbers to suspend the rules of Parliament and conduct a second vote on the Equal Opportunity Amendment Bill, which was defeated last week.
Despite attempts by the Opposition to stop the second vote on changes to the laws, the bill was passed on Wednesday night.
The controversial amendment was defeated last week when Community Services Minister Mary Wooldridge missed the vote.
Labor tried to prevent the second vote, saying it was an unprecedented move.
But the bill passed the Lower House 43 votes to 42, following 18 speakers and almost three-and-a-half hours of debate. The bill will proceed to the Upper House, where the Government also has a slim majority.
A bitter debate ensued in the Lower House, with Premier Ted Baillieu labelled Jeff Kennett's "Mini-me" and Attorney-General Robert Clark accused of being homophobic.
Deputy Opposition Leader Rob Hulls said Ms Wooldridge deliberately missed the vote last week on what is a "rotten" bill.
"It was a deliberate meeting with members of her department," he said.
"This cock and bull about 'it was an accident - accidentally didn't front, accidentally didn't turn up' is absolute nonsense."
Mr Hulls said the Government's move to have a second vote on a bill that had already been voted down by the Parliament was an abomination.
"It is a corruption of the democratic process in this state," he said.
Mr Hulls urged Liberal Speaker Ken Smith to seek advice from the Solicitor-General about whether the bill would stand up to legal challenge once it becomes law.
But Attorney-General Robert Clark said the initial defeat of the bill did not reflect the will of the Parliament.
He said the Lower House was justified in looking to Federal Parliament rules, which allow for a bill to be voted on again if an MP accidentally misses a vote.
"It's clearly recognised by the Commonwealth Parliament that in cases where there is a misadventure, where there is a missed vote, it is appropriate for the question to be again put," Mr Clark said.
Opponents of the bill gathered outside Parliament House to protest.
Liberty Victoria described the proposed changes to the equal opportunity laws and the way the bill has been dealt with in the Parliament as "a tragedy".
The organisation's vice-president Jamie Gardiner said the bill would wind back the protections of the Equal Opportunity Act and increase inequality.
- ABC/AAP
Topics: state-parliament, community-and-society, discrimination, government-and-politics, parliament, states-and-territories, melbourne-3000, vic
First posted |
I can't bay-leaf it: Supermarket spice game peppering shelves with rude words
It's a shelf stacker's worst nightmare.
Facebook users have been re-arranging spices on supermarket shelves to spell out rude words.
The game - dubbed Supermarket Scrabble - drives store staff mad as they have to hurriedly re-arrange the letters to remove the rude words.
What a curry-on: Rude word spelt with spices on Tesco shelf I can't bay-leaf it: Saucy word spelt out of spices on a Morrisons shelf and uploaded onto the internet
Shoppers have re-arranged spices on shelves to spell out rude words like 'balls', 'bint' and 'slapper' - and posting the images on Facebook.
The group - called Supermarket Scrabble - says: 'To make trips to the shops more fun, try arranging things on the shelves to make new, amusing and even rude words, images or sculptures.'
One user wrote on the website: 'Ha ha - this is ace!'
Other players have moved beyond the spices aisle and switched round birthday cards and other items with large letters on the front.
Lavender blue: In this impressive effort seven different spices are used to spell out a cheeky word |
Even if you haven't seen Frozen, there is no way you can't have heard about it.
The Disney animation was released at the end of 2013, but its impact has lasted through the whole of this year and plans for spinoffs, musicals, and sequels are already underway to cash in on the cultural phenomenon.
Disney
Frozen has grossed over $1 billion and is the highest-grossing animated movie of all time, winning the Best Animated Feature accolade at the Oscars.
A new Channel 4 documentary - Frozen at Christmas - will explore how this movie moved beyond being "just another" Disney princess tale and captured the imaginations of millions.
The film will also explore fan obsessions with the movie and the effect that it has had on their lives.
Channel 4's press release about the documentary reads:
"This one-off special for Channel 4 tells the whole story behind the film and its fans, celebrating its highlights and examining all aspects of the Frozen phenomenon. It hears from filmmakers, performers, celebrities, critics and, most of all, from UK fans who have made Frozen such a success. It also looks forward to the future of Frozen and what new Frozen events 2015 might bring."
Ken McKay/ITV
Frozen is being adapted into a Broadway musical. It has spawned its own 'Frozen On Ice' skating show tour, and the success of singalong screenings has prompted the re-release of the movie on DVD and Blu-ray in singalong form.
The movie's producers have said that it is "too early" to discuss a full sequel, but short film Frozen Fever will be released in 2015 featuring the movie's characters Anna, Elsa and Kristof.
Frozen at Christmas is part of Channel 4's seasonal programming, which was announced earlier today (November 26). |
Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII Review
The very first thing I want to make clear about this title is that it is not for everyone. If you don’t have previous knowledge of the Three Kingdoms period, or if you are not a big fan of strategy games then this is sadly not going to be the game to pull you into them. That being said I personally found this to be an entertaining and interesting game that I can see being a time sink for me way into the future.
I have been a huge fan of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms story for many, many years now and I love just about everything I can get my hands on that deals with the time period and the tales of the heroes and villains of that era. Imagine how excited I was when I discovered that Koei Tecmo was bringing a version to Playstation 4 for the franchise’s 30th anniversary and I was finally going to get the opportunity to step into the period and live a fantasy life from 700 (yes I did say 700) of characters that the game has available.
The story is immensely rich and detailed and is one that is well known in Asia but might not be as familiar to everyone else. It focuses on the Han dynasty and the struggle to overthrow the corrupt court to establish a new regime. The main instigators in the story; Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Sun Jian (later his son Sun Qian) establish three kingdoms of their own causing there to be a period of constant battles and wars. Each of the kingdoms has a huge cast of characters available to the player which can offer a great deal of enjoyment to someone who loves the history of the period.
The game has two different main modes available to play which are slightly different depending on the experience of the player. Hero Mode tells the story of the Three Kingdoms via short battles and events that occur throughout the history of the Three Kingdoms. This offers a tutorial type gameplay to ease the new player into the action gradually so they can get used to the style of game properly. The other mode is Main mode which gives a set of scenarios for the player to choose and then play to try and unify the land under one banner,
The gameplay itself is menu based and offers a good amount of options to develop culture, commerce and farming. Each of the cities under your control needs to have a steady mix of all of these things to be successful and micro-managing the three options is the key to resource management for the military aspect of the game. Once you have built up a decent set of resources you can then invest them in military by hiring new officers, training new troops or by patrolling the territories you control to increase loyalty in your military. It is through these options and sub-menus with their various actions that the game can become overwhelming very quickly. The highly experienced strategy game player will relish the sheer volume of controls they have at their disposal, however, a newcomer to the genre may find that there is too much to think about even just to make a single decision. This is why the Hero mode is a stroke of genius because it has been developed to expertly take the newbie through the gameplay step by step in a very friendly and welcoming manner. It takes the gamer by the hand and introduces all of the game mechanics in a gradual process and playing through the timeline in this way puts into context the various events that occur throughout the span of the Three Kingdoms era.
The main focus of both modes falls primarily in the relationship mechanic between the various different characters within your kingdom. You will find yourself walking a fine line between allocating missions, throwing banquets and numerous other options to garner the best relationship you can with your chosen targets. If you manage to pull it off successfully you can even cause opposition forces to defect in the middle of a battle, turning the tide for you to force a win.
This may sound boring and tedious but surprisingly the mechanics are sound and the debates between characters play out more like a one on one battle of wit and intellect.
When it comes to the battlefield the gameplay becomes very simplistic and after a while gets a little monotonous to experience. The amount of units you are allocated in battle depends on your character’s rank. Very little is left for you to control apart from which formation you wish your units to use and when to buff your army which sadly leaves me wanting just a little bit more to get the enthusiasm for the battles going.
There were some performance issues when I played it with movement between cities sometimes dropping fps and stuttering slightly. This was also evident in the battles where the number of units and number of arrows seemingly affecting performance. However, these things didn’t detract from the overall experience too much because the battles weren’t often the focus of my gameplay. My play style was more about the political skulduggery and manipulation of the other leaders.
Ultimately Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII is a decent console version of the game with a great level of detail into the lore and characters of the period. The political and management side of the game is incredibly detailed and allows fantastic customisation by the player. The Hero mode is where the game truly shines in my opinion with a friendly yet comprehensive explanation of the systems used in the game being introduced gradually over time allowing new players to the strategy genre to play without being too overwhelmed with the intricacies. |
KEVIN George Hughes must really hate XXXX beer.
The 49-year-old assaulted a man simply because he was driving a corporate vehicle branded with the XXXX logo.
Hughes pleaded guilty in Ipswich District Court to one charge of common assault.
Crown prosecutor Matt Le Grand said Hughes was driving with a male friend when they spotted the XXXX van at a Redbank Plains Rd intersection.
Mr Le Grand said the two men pulled up behind the vehicle and began shouting abuse while honking their horn.
The pair then drove up next to the van whereby Hughes shouted "XXXX is s**t" to the driver, Troy Corbo.
Hughes then threw a half-full bottle of Tooheys Extra Dry into Corbo's open window, which struck the 27-year-old in the face.
Mr Corbo recorded the car registration details and informed police and Hughes was eventually found and charged.
Mr Le Grand said although Mr Corbo escaped serious injury, there was a need to deter such behaviour on the roads.
During sentencing, Judge Greg Koppenol described Hughes' actions as "reckless behaviour".
"If the vehicles had been travelling quickly at the time of the incident, it could have been a disastrous situation," Judge Koppenol said.
"It's fortunate that greater damage was not caused."
Mr Koppenol said Hughes had a criminal history in both Queensland and New South Wales that spanned 30 years.
Hughes was sentenced to three months jail, suspended for 12 months.
WHAT'S HOT ONLINE TODAY |
The most brütal metal band to ever walk the animated world is coming back to your TV sets in just a few weeks! Dethklok will be brought back on Sunday, October 27th at Midnight EST for a one-hour special entitled Metalocalypse: The Doomstar Requiem A Klok Opera. The special follows the season four finale in which guitarist Toki Wartooth was abducted. With his life in danger, will his four selfish bandmates come to his rescue?
The special will feature guest appearances from Jack Black, Malcolm McDowell, Mark Hamill, and Cannibal Corpse‘s “George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher.
Also, just two days after the special, the original score, which features a 50-piece orchestra, will be released. The orchestral movements will be produced by Dethklok creator Brendon Small and composer Bear McCreary (The Walking Dead).
Head on below for a teaser trailer, comments from Small and McCreary, and the poster for the show.
Creator Brendon Small states, “This is not like anything we’ve ever done. This is a full blown musical- metal combined with symphonic passages, classic musical theatre, high stakes drama, emotional moments, and yes totally ridiculous comedy. I drew from all of my influences to make this the most unique project I could dream of. This is easily the best thing we’ve ever done with the show and the music. I can’t wait for you to hear it.”
Composer Bear McCreary states, “I have been a fan of Metalocalypse for many years, and I am fortunate to call Brendon Small my friend. Metalocalypse: The Doomstar Requiem A Klok Opera provided us the opportunity to collaborate that we’d always been looking for. I had a blast helping Brendon realize his vision for a fully-produced orchestral score to accompany his drop-tuned guitars and pounding double kicks. This opera takes his catchy songwriting to a whole new level, and I was thrilled to help out.”
Got any thoughts/questions/concerns for Jonathan Barkan? Shoot him a message on Twitter or on Bloody-Disgusting! |
It can be hard to find areas of agreement between the presidential candidates on economic or domestic policy. Tuesday night’s debate, though, revealed one exception: energy policy. Alas, what it also revealed is that both President Obama and Governor Romney are making their policies based on a false premise, and they are pandering to Americans’ ignorance instead of telling them the truth.
The second question in the debate at Hofstra University came from audience member Phillip Tricolla, and was directed to Obama: “Your energy secretary, Steven Chu, has now been on record three times stating it’s not policy of his department to help lower gas prices. Do you agree with Secretary Chu that this is not the job of the Energy Department?” The premise that the Energy Department can lower gas prices is incorrect. But Obama chose not to confront Tricolla with the hard truth — that global economic forces have put gasoline prices on a long-term upwards trajectory, and that trajectory is beyond our government’s control.
“The most important thing we can do is to make sure we control our own energy,” said Obama, neglecting to answer the actual question. He went on to boast that domestic production of oil, coal, natural gas and clean energy has increased, while he has also raised fuel efficiency standards. “And all these things have contributed to us lowering our oil imports to the lowest levels in 16 years,” said Obama. “Now, I want to build on that. And that means, yes, we still continue to open up new areas for drilling.”
Romney responded that Obama should not take credit for the increases in oil and natural gas production because they have occurred on private land. Romney promised to drill our way to “North American energy independence.”
“I’ll get America and North America energy independent,” said Romney. “I’ll do it by more drilling, more permits and licenses.”
The candidates then proceeded to argue with one another over whether Obama has or has not increased oil drilling. This might create an illusion of disagreement, but on the underlying premise they agree: drilling is good, because it will help us reach “energy independence.”
To state what should be obvious to anyone with a basic understanding of macroeconomics, and yet seems to elude most politicians: there is no such thing as “energy independence.” Commodities such as oil can be used in China just as easily as Ohio. Therefore, the price is set by the equilibrium between global supply and global demand. Unless we nationalize the oil companies, American consumers will be bidding for gasoline against drivers in other countries. This is how markets work.
That, in turn, means that increased U.S. production of oil will only reduce prices insofar as it increases global supply vis-a-vis global demand. An Associated Press study of 36 years of statistics found, “more U.S. drilling has not changed how deeply the gas pump drills into your wallet…. That’s because oil is a global commodity and U.S. production has only a tiny influence on supply. Factors far beyond the control of a nation or a president dictate the price of gasoline.”
As long as we rely on huge amounts of oil to power our transportation and heat our homes, we will be susceptible to price shocks. Even if we produced exactly the same amount of oil that we burn, a supply disruption in other oil producing countries would still cause prices to spike. As Brad Plumer pointed out in the Washington Post, “Canada is a net oil exporter, a bona fide oil-independent nation. But gasoline prices in Canada still rise and fall in accordance with world events, just as they do in the United States or Japan or Europe.” Gas prices recently spiked in Canada to $5.83 U.S. dollars per gallon.
As long as we drive everywhere, and use an internal combustion engine, the Middle East is going to have priority in our foreign policy. And even if we bought only oil that came out of the ground in Alaska, our high level of total consumption would still indirectly enrich political adversaries that sell a lot of oil, such as Venezuela.
And, for what it is worth, we are not going to produce as much oil as we consume unless we drastically reduce our consumption. The U.S., according to BP’s annual survey, accounts for 9 percent of global output, but it consumes 22 percent of the available oil. No amount of drilling can compensate for that gap.
Republicans tend to be more egregiously dishonest — or, if they actually believe what they are saying, ill-informed — on this topic than Obama is. During the primaries Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich both promised to bring gas prices down to specific amounts within four years, solely by increased drilling. (Bachmann offered $2 per gallon, Gingrich $2.50.) These promises pandered to Americans’ ugliest sense of entitlement to cheap gasoline and their childish expectation that the president will somehow magically suspend the laws of supply and demand to deliver it. Romney, like Gingrich and Bachmann, is offering to achieve the impossible.
Whether the candidates are right to support more drilling depends on how you weigh the jobs it would produce versus the environmental havoc it could wreak. But “energy independence,” that imaginary goal we keep chasing, has nothing to do with it.
PHOTO: Traffic moves on Lincoln Boulevard, near a sign posted with gasoline prices at a Mobil gas station in Santa Monica, California October 4, 2012. REUTERS/Jonathan Alcorn |
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