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CTDP, one of the top modding groups for rFactor, decided to migrate over to Assetto Corsa for their latest mod, International Formula Master 2009 (IFM09). The initial release was plagued with some issues, so CTDP has released a quick update, to remedy some of the problems.
The IFM09 mod, upon first release, had one significant issue that made the car very difficult to drive: only 180 degrees of steering lock. Back in the day, in ISIMotor2-era sims (rFactor, GTR2), many ran a small steering lock (i.e. 270 degrees), so developers made cars that used that best. I don’t know if that was the case for this mod, that old habits die hard, but CTDP has done a quick job fixing it.
Some other adjustments were made to elements of the car, such as the tires, drivetrain, and engine, to make the car as authentic as possible. I will say that CTDP did a great job fixing the issues the car had. The car now feels a lot more believable and enjoyable. For the full list of fixes in the 1.1 release, check out the changelog at this link, or read below.
Have you given CTDP’s latest release a spin yet? What are your thoughts? Let us know!
DOWNLOAD CTDP IFM09 1.1
[accordion_item title=”CTDP IFM09 Mod 1.1 Changelog”]
Bug Fixes
Corrected aero and updated values.
Corrected suspension and pick up points.
Adjusted Steering Lock.
Corrected drive train values.
Corrected Geometry.
Adjusted Engine Values.
Adjusted Tyre values.
Special thanks to Dustin Kutchara (bobskype) for taking the time to help us correct these values and Yagami – Andre for helping with driver animation.
Enhancements
Shaders updated to latest release standards.
Update to ui screen to reflect physic’s corrections.
Fixed hand animation to include more frames.
Known issues
none
[/accordion_item] |
poster="http://v.politico.com/images/1155968404/201605/2199/1155968404_4913508928001_Sequence-09-00-00-15-23-Still002.jpg?pubId=1155968404" true Bill O'Reilly: Black Lives Matter is 'killing Americans'
The #BlackLivesMatter movement is "killing Americans," according to Bill O'Reilly.
“How Black Lives Matter is killing Americans: that is the subject of tonight’s talking points memo," the Fox News host began Wednesday's show.
Story Continued Below
He then quickly pivoted to what he described as a “violent subculture” within African American communities.
“The media will not spotlight that much of the violent crime in America is being committed right now by young black men,” O’Reilly said. “Blacks of all ages commit homicide at a rate of 8 times higher than whites and Hispanics combined. Conclusion: There is a violent subculture in the African American community that should be exposed and confronted.”
O’Reilly then accused the #BlackLivesMatter movement of promoting violence and perpetuating a "false narrative" around police shootings.
“Enter the #BlackLivesMatter crew, which roams around the country promoting a false narrative that American police officers are actively hunting down and killing blacks,” he said.
"In addition, #BlackLivesMatter is also infringing on freedom of assembly and freedom of expression,” O'Reilly said, pointing to a video clip of a protester interrupting a speaker at a recent event at DePaul University in Chicago. |
Image copyright SPL Image caption Grass plants, such as maize, dramatically alter their root structure in order to preserve water in the soil column during droughts, say researchers
Grass species of crops adopt an "austerity" strategy and limits the development of its root system during times of drought, a study has revealed.
The results offer an insight into the little understood biology of roots and could help breeding effort to improve drought tolerance, say scientists.
Many of the world's key food and energy crops belong to the grass family and are often grown in drought-prone areas.
The findings appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"What we were really surprised to see is that under drought stress conditions, there is a fairly simple but dramatic change in the structure of the root system," said lead author Jose Dinneny, a researcher at the Carnegie Institution for Science, based at Stanford University, US.
"If you imagine a grass plant growing in the field, at the base of the plant - the part that interacts with the soil - there are a large number of these specialised roots (crown roots) that penetrate into the soil," he told BBC News.
Roots off
"We were able to find that these particular roots were the target of the drought stress signalling. By analysing their development, we were able to get a very clear view of how the root system changed.
"Initially, this was counterintuitive as we saw, during periods of water deficit or drought, the plant actually reduced the number of roots it produced."
Dr Dinneny, also an assistant professor at Stanford University's department of biology, said this behaviour helped preserve the limited availability of water in the soil.
"When we think of a drought, especially in California, people often turn to using groundwater resources and people can over-extract groundwater, affecting the structure and sustainability of important aquifers," he observed.
"Plants are, essentially, more intelligent than people in periods of drought as they restrict the rate in which they are taking up water and that preserves the lifespan of water in the soil. This is generally known as water banking.
"As the plant reduces its water up take, the water supply lasts for a longer period of time, meaning that the plant will be able to survive for a longer period of time and hopefully enter reproduction and produce seeds."
Dr Dinneny added that the change in the root system's structure was not a permanent one.
"if there is rainfall, the plant has tremendous capacity to switch rapidly into the activation of crown roots and the development of a very large and robust root system," he explained.
'Absolutely critical'
Grass, as a family, include many of the critical food, feed and fibre crops in the world, such as rice, maize, sorghum, millet, wheat and barley.
"To understand how this family responds to changes in water availability is absolutely critical," he said.
"Water is also the most limiting resource in agriculture, so looking at root responses to water was an area we wanted to focus on.
"It is also an area where very little was understood, in part because of the difficulty of accessing the biology of roots in field conditions," Dr Dinneny added.
"Part of the innovation in the research we have published was to develop new methods that allowed us to visualise living root systems and the changes in root growth that occurred in drought stress conditions."
Follow Mark on Twitter. |
The state medical examiner's office will conduct an autopsy Tuesday morning on the body of a woman found dead Monday at a Hood River county recreation area.
Hood River County Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to the Family Man Staging Area at 1 p.m. on a report of suspicious activity said Sheriff Matt English.
The staging area is a starting point for all-terrain vehicle riders, walkers, runners and mountain bikers 6 miles southwest of town, English said, and is maintained by Hood River County. When police arrived they found fresh blood on the snow and a trail of blood leading north out of the parking lot.
About 1/4 mile away deputies found a woman's body, the victim of a homicide, English said.
The Mid-Columbia Major Crimes Team along with investigators with the Oregon State Police Forensics Lab were dispatched to the scene, where they worked into the night on the investigation, English said
English said additional details -- including the woman's name, age, hometown and cause of death -- will be released when it becomes available.
-- Stuart Tomlinson
stomlinson@oregonian.com
503-221-8313
@ORweather |
Image caption Lom (left) starred opposite Peter Sellers in several Pink Panther movies
Actor Herbert Lom, best known for playing Charles Dreyfus in the Pink Panther films, has died aged 95.
The Czech-born, London-based actor starred opposite Peter Sellers in several films as Inspector Clouseau's irritable boss.
Lom appeared in more than 100 films during his 60-year acting career, including such classics as The Ladykillers, Spartacus and El Cid.
His family said he died peacefully in his sleep on Thursday.
Lom also portrayed Napoleon Bonaparte on two occasions. One of them came in the 1956 screen adaptation of Tolstoy's War And Peace, also starring Audrey Hepburn and Henry Fonda.
He first appeared as police chief Dreyfus in 1964's A Shot In The Dark, a character who became increasingly mentally unstable as a result of Clouseau's incompetence as the films went on.
Lom was born Herbert Charles Angelo Kuchacevich ze Schluderpacheru in Prague in 1917, where he grew up and attended the city's university.
He began acting on stage and screen in Czechoslovakia, before leaving for England at the start of World War II.
Image caption Lom's other films included The Ladykillers and The Dead Zone
He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London before making his English language acting debut in 1940 film Mein Kampf - My Crimes.
He was offered a seven-year contract with Twentieth Century Fox and secured several lead roles in the 1940s, including Napoleon in The Young Mr Pitt.
In the 1950s he played opposite Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers in Ealing comedy The Ladykillers and opposite Robert Mitchum and Rita Hayworth in Fire Down Below.
He made a speciality of playing the sinister character in a string of low-budget horror films including a number of Hammer studio productions, playing the Phantom in their production of The Phantom of the Opera.
Those parts persuaded director Blake Edwards to give him his most famous role as Inspector Clouseau's long-suffering boss in several of the Pink Panther movies.
"It was a godsend when I was offered the part," he said of the role. "But it did become a double-edged sword as people started to associate me with Dreyfus."
Lom married Dina Schea in 1948, whom he divorced in 1971, and had a daughter with potter Brigitte Appleby.
He also wrote two novels alongside his acting career: Enter A Spy published in 1971 and Dr Guillotine in 1993.
His later acting career saw him work with director David Cronenberg in a 1983 adaptation of Stephen King novel The Dead Zone, opposite Christopher Walken. |
Thanks to Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, and Laura Poitras, we know the National Security Agency (NSA) is collecting a huge amount of information about American citizens. But what are they doing with it?
Government officials have been quick to deny any "misuse" of this huge data bank – beyond the to-be-expected eavesdropping on spouses, and other anomalous pranks by errant ex-employees – and critics have so far focused on potential misuse. Well, now we know it’s much more than just potential: it’s real, it’s happening, and it’s downright scary.
The rationale for the Surveillance State has always been "the foreign connection." There are these Bad Guys outside the US, you see, who are trying to infiltrate our society and cause violent havoc, so we have to create this huge "haystack" of data and sift through it with a fine-toothed comb – but Americans, we’re told, aren’t the primary targets. It’s them furriners we have to worry about.
This turned out to be a lie. We always knew it was a lie, but now James Risen and Laura Poitras have confirmed it in a recent New York Times article that blows the lid off this rationalization:
"Since 2010, the National Security Agency has been exploiting its huge collections of data to create sophisticated graphs of some Americans’ social connections that can identify their associates, their locations at certain times, their traveling companions and other personal information, according to newly disclosed documents and interviews with officials."
The "foreign connection" was only ever a fig leaf, utilized to get around existing laws forbidding mass surveillance of Americans: this had to be true because, after all, Al Qaeda and its affiliates were and are a foreign group trying to gain entry to our shores and implant its operatives on our soil. Ipso facto, it was deemed necessary to gain access to the entire "haystack" in order to map their success in doing so. The focus isn’t on overseas operatives but on their allies inside the United States who might conceivably be utilized in terrorist attacks. Pushing the legal limits of this mass surveillance, US government officials finally breached the walls of the Constitution in November 2010, when, as Risen and Poitras report, they began to "examine American’s networks of associations."
In an empire such as ours, the distinction between a "foreigner" and an American is increasingly hazy: every empire is a multi-cultural polyglot, by definition, and the American imperium more so than any other, surpassing even the British. For are we not a country of immigrants, an idea more than a nation in the European sense? Americans are connected through a thousand threads to foreign nationals, and once it was deemed "legal" to collect "meta-data" – i.e. records of our phone calls – the rest followed logically and inevitably.
Risen and Poitras report that a January 2011 memo, uncovered by Snowden, authorized the NSA to run "’large-scale graph analysis on very large sets of communications metadata without having to check foreignness’ of every e-mail address, phone number or other identifier, the document said."
And that’s not all:
"The agency can augment the communications data with material from public, commercial and other sources, including bank codes, insurance information, Facebook profiles, passenger manifests, voter registration rolls and GPS location information, as well as property records and unspecified tax data, according to the documents. They do not indicate any restrictions on the use of such ‘enrichment’ data, and several former senior Obama administration officials said the agency drew on it for both Americans and foreigners."
Here is a perfect illustration of how the advancement of government power works: give them an inch or three – access to "meta-data" – and they take a mile. What we wind up with is a perfect framework for a police state. Although we still don’t know how many innocent Americans have been caught up in this dragnet, the old "six degrees of separation" principle certainly applies in this case: anybody can be "linked" to anybody, given the sheer amount of information at the government’s disposal.
When Risen and Poitras asked the NSA about these "graphical analyses" of Americans’ data, a spokeswoman replied:
"All data queries must include a foreign intelligence justification, period. All of N.S.A.’s work has a foreign intelligence purpose. Our activities are centered on counterterrorism, counterproliferation and cybersecurity."
That’s easy enough. For example, when the US government decided that Antiwar.com merited an "investigation," all they had to do was establish a fairly dubious "foreign connection" – one of their terrorist suspects had apparently visited this web site – and the rest followed from there. Since the Internet is global, enabling instantaneous communication worldwide, any web site can be targeted for "terrorist" activities or be characterized – as we were – as an "agent of a foreign power." This is how Americans exercising their First Amendment rights are targeted as "terrorists," spied on, harassed, and smeared by the most powerful government on earth. This is how a police state – operating in the dark – establishes itself, and extends its tentacles in an ever-widening arc of repression.
They can map out your whole life: your friends, your family, your finances, your enemies, your politics, your love affairs, your consultations with a doctor or a psychiatrist, and your location at any given time. They don’t need a warrant: they don’t need a judge: they just need to establish a "foreign connection" – and, as we have seen, that’s real easy.
Furthermore, once this data is obtained, it is stored away for later use: one NSA memo says it can be legally kept for ten years for "historical searches." They should call that one the "Blackmail File."
As Risen and Poitras document, a usurpation of the Constitution initiated by the Bush administration only gathered speed during the reign of the "liberal" Obama: so much for the partisan hacks who defend this administration at all costs.
What the NSA is doing, at the direction of the executive branch, represents a mortal threat to the Constitution. As such, it cannot be "reformed" or ameliorated by any kind of "oversight." As Risen and Poitras point out, the battering ram of "national security" was aimed at the feeble protections proffered by previous legislation – and these fell easily to the NSA’s relentless onslaught. Governments, once given this kind of power, invariably seek to expand it: the only way to stop this invasive process is to abolish that power altogether.
NOTES IN THE MARGIN
You can check out my Twitter feed by going here. But please note that my tweets are sometimes deliberately provocative, often made in jest, and largely consist of me thinking out loud.
I’ve written a couple of books, which you might want to peruse. Here is the link for buying the second edition of my 1993 book, Reclaiming the American Right: The Lost Legacy of the Conservative Movement, with an Introduction by Prof. George W. Carey, a Foreword by Patrick J. Buchanan, and critical essays by Scott Richert and David Gordon (ISI Books, 2008).
Read more by Justin Raimondo |
In an engineering first, Stanford researchers have built a working prototype for a new type of memory chip that has the potential to store more data, using less space, than the flash memory chips found in smart phones, tablets and laptops today.
This new chip uses a technology called resistive random access memory or RRAM. Resistance slows down electrons. Conductivity lets electrons flow. By applying tiny jolts of voltage to carefully chosen materials, the Stanford engineers can toggle their RRAM chip between resistive and conductive states to create and store digital zeroes and ones.
In addition to creating a working RRAM chip, the Stanford team has also shown how to fabricate these devices using processes that could be scaled up to produce these new memory chips in volume.
The team will unveil its RRAM prototype and fabrication process at the International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) this week in Washington, D.C.
IEDM is the semiconductor industry’s premier technical conference, where major companies and universities worldwide report important advances.
Many technologists think RRAM technology is the next big thing in data storage. Just as flash memory once replaced hard disk drives, RRAM could supplant flash chips and help pave the way for new and even more useful mobile electronic devices.
But RRAM technology also has potential applications that go far beyond simply storing data, according to H.-S. Philip Wong, a professor of electrical engineering and leader of the Stanford team. The principles behind RRAMs, and the process used to make them, could spawn an entirely new type of hybrid chip, one that would combine memory and microprocessor on a single slice of silicon.
“We can look ahead and see that RRAM will remain useful for 10 or 15 years or more,” said Wong, the Willard R. and Inez Kerr Bell Professor in the School of Engineering.
Flash memory versus RRAM
The industry-wide interest in RRAM arises from the challenges facing flash memory.
Flash chips are made of silicon. A flash memory chip consists of billions of tiny cells or boxes etched onto a silicon chip. Data is stored by putting a specific number of electrons into each cell. That creates a one. Pushing these electrons out of the cell creates a zero.
To pack more data onto flash chips, engineers must shrink the size of each cell. Many technologists believe this process is approaching the point at which the cells will shrink so small as to make it impossible to confine and release electrons with the required degree of precision.
Resistive random access memory chips also store data in cells. So RRAM researchers must also make the cells on their chips as small as possible.
But because RRAMs store data differently, many researchers think it will be possible to continue this shrinking process beyond the point where flash chips begin to fumble electrons.
Yi “Alice” Wu, who recently earned her PhD in electrical engineering from Stanford, helped to design and fabricate the RRAM chip. She explained how it works at the level of the individual cell, that is, the unit on the device that actually stores the zeroes and ones.
Each storage cell consists of four materials: titanium nitride, titanium oxide, hafnium oxide and platinum. The four materials are deposited in layers. Hafnium oxide and titanium oxide are naturally resistive. But when voltage is applied to the top of this four-layered amalgam, the electric field pulls oxygen atoms away from the hafnium and titanium compounds and leaves behind a conductive pathway through the resistive materials.
When the voltage going to the cell is reversed, the conductive pathway is broken, and the hafnium oxide and titanium oxide become resistive again.
This change in state from resistive to conductive is the mechanism of storage. When the power is off, the RRAM cell remains in whatever state it was last in, which makes it useful for data storage.
A scalable process to create RRAMs
Linda He Yi, a doctoral student in Wong’s lab, oversaw the process of fabricating this RRAM prototype. She used a simple, cost-effective process to define the small memory cells. This process could be the key to making RRAMs in large volumes.
Yi began with a wafer of silicon. Her first goal was to make a series of nano-size etchings into this silicon wafer to create holes that would become data storage cells.
To do this, she coated the silicon chip with a two-part polymer – two different plastics joined together to form a single tiny strand. Imagine zillions of gummy worms, each blue on one end, green on the other, evenly distributed over the silicon chip. Heating the chip caused these gummy worms to arrange themselves perfectly – green with green, and blue with blue. This created billions of nano-islands, some green, others blue, on the silicon.
Using a series of chemical operations, the researchers washed away one of the polymers to create millions of bare spots on the silicon. Using light and chemistry, they etched tiny holes into these bare spots. They then removed the other polymer to leave behind an array of nanoscale indentations in the silicon wafer.
This part of the process is called diblock copolymer self-assembly lithography. Although the Stanford team did not invent the process, this is the first time it has been used to make a chip that works. Wong thinks this approach has the potential to scale up from the laboratory to the factory.
“We are very excited about this process,” Wong said. “Diblock copolymer self-assembly could produce nanoscale chips more efficiently and less expensively than the lithography techniques in use today.”
Final steps, future promise
Finishing the prototype RRAM required a few more steps. Yi had to fill each nano-hole in the chip with the four materials needed to create an RRAM data-storage cell.
She used existing fabrication techniques to deposit the materials. She wired the data storage cells together and made sure they could be toggled into resistive and conductive states. The prototype being presented at IEDM has 50 working cells, or roughly enough capacity to store a 10-digit phone number with a three-digit extension.
The Stanford researchers used a transmission electron microscope to create images of one of these RRAM cells. The image shows a cone-shaped structure 25 nanometers wide on top and 12 nanometers wide at the base, with an active device region of less than 10 nanometers. Future improvements will aim to make each storage unit narrower, so as to pack more storage in less space.
But Wong said the diameters of the cells on the prototype are already comparable to the size of the cells in today’s flash memory. And whereas flash may be bumping up against its limits, RRAM chips should be able to continue shrinking.
“I want to see how this technology works at 10 nanometers, five nanometers, one nanometer,” he said.
Even as they continue trying to develop RRAM for data storage, the researchers are also exploring how to use technology in new ways.
S. Simon Wong (no relation), a professor of electrical engineering and another member of the team, wants to build RRAM storage cells on the same slice of silicon as the logic circuits in a microprocessor.
Several years ago, members of the team showed that it was possible to put RRAM cells and logic circuits on the same chip. But the processes available at the time created RRAMs too large to coexist with today’s most advanced logic circuits.
But now, having shrunk the RRAMs to the same scale as the logic, it becomes possible to envision making hybrid chips that combine memory and logic functions, creating electronic devices that are smaller, faster and cheaper than anything available today.
“Putting memory and logic on the same chip will be less expensive to make, take up less space and consume less energy, making it possible to create smaller and more powerful devices,” Wong said.
Other members of the Stanford team include Zhiping Zhang, who recently earned his PhD in electrical engineering, and Zizhen Jiang and Joon Sohn, who are both graduate students in the department.
This work was supported in part by the Trusted Integrated Chips (TIC) program of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity. TIC seeks to develop and demonstrate new split-manufacturing chip fabrication processes that would assure security and protect intellectual property. Other funding sources include the member companies of the Stanford Non-Volatile Memory Technology Research Initiative, the National Science Foundation and the Semiconductor Research Corporation.
H.-S. Philip Wong, professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University
S. Simon Wong, professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University |
Share. The Affair also returning the same night. The Affair also returning the same night.
Showtime has announced that Homeland: Season 5 will premiere October 4 at 9:00pm ET/PT, followed by the Season 2 debut of The Affair at 10:00 ET/PT.
The fifth season of Homeland will take place two years after Season 4, with Carrie Mathison (portrayed by Claire Danes) in Germany. Showtime notes that the show is currently shooting in Berlin, and Homeland is the first American TV series ever to film an entire season in Germany.
A new poster for Homeland: Season 5 also has been revealed, as seen below.
Along with Danes, other returning Homeland stars include Rupert Friend as Quinn, Mandy Patinkin as Saul and F. Murray Abraham as Dar Adal. And the Homeland: Season 5 newcomers are Sebastian Koch, Miranda Otto, Alexander Fehling and Sarah Sokolovic.
Evan Campbell is a freelance writer who scripts the Daily Fix, streams games on his Twitch channel, and chats about movies and TV series on Twitter. |
Texas mom faces trial for selling sex toys
DALLAS, Texas (Reuters) -- Joanne Webb is a mother of three, a Baptist, a booster of the town of Burleson, Texas, and a former schoolteacher. She also faces trial for being a smut merchant.
Webb, 43, was arrested in November by two undercover police officers for selling sexual toys and charged with violating Texas obscenity laws. She could face up to a year in jail and a fine of $4,000 if convicted.
Webb is a representative for Passion Parties, a California company marketing potions, lotions and sexual toys sold at gatherings that mimic Tupperware parties.
Women over 18 meet in a private home for what the company calls a "girl's night out of giggles and fun," during which products designed to enhance sex lives are sold.
It was not a secret in Burleson, a small town near Fort Worth, that Webb sold vibrators, edible creams and racy lingerie.
But not everyone was happy about it.
According to reports in the local media, police said a few residents, who they declined to identify, lodged complaints. A few prominent citizens with strong Christian beliefs were angered by Webb and her activities and asked police to investigate, local media reported.
Two undercover police officers posed as a couple trying to spice up their love life and Webb sold the woman a vibrator. Webb instructed her on its use and explained how it could enhance lovemaking.
That's where she got into trouble.
Texas law allows for the sale of sexual toys as long as they are billed as novelties, BeAnn Sisemore, a Fort Worth attorney representing Webb, told the Houston Chronicle before a gag order was issued by the judge presiding over the case. But when a person markets sex toys in a direct manner that shows their actual role in sex, then that person is subject to obscenity charges, she told the newspaper.
Webb said she turned to Passion Parties to supplement her family's income when her husband's construction business went into a slump.
"For women to become self-confident in their sexuality ... that's what I'm in this for," Webb told the Dallas Morning News before the gag order was imposed.
She added that because of her arrest, she has found herself in a role she never imagined -- a public advocate for allowing women and couples to make personal decisions about their sex lives.
Sex, lives and passion parties
Police and Johnson County prosecutors declined to discuss the case, even before the gag order was issued.
Gloria Gillaspie, a pastor at Lighthouse Church in Burleson, said she has met and counseled some women who had talked to Webb about the products she sold.
"It was causing problems with their marriages," she said.
Gillaspie said Webb and her family were asked to leave two churches in town. She did not name the churches.
"They didn't want to comply with what was really Christian conduct and that is why they were asked to leave those churches," Gillaspie said.
But James Brown, a member of the local chamber of commerce and an acquaintance of Webb's, told Reuters: "Most of the people in town support Joanne."
Sisemore said she wants to use this case to overturn obscenity laws in Texas and other states.
"I will fight this all the way with her," Sisemore told the Houston Chronicle. "This is the first time I have felt that my government has overstepped its boundaries."
Sisemore has said she plans to file a federal lawsuit challenging Texas obscenity laws, which she said are so vague that they could be used to prosecute anyone who uses or sells condoms designed to provide stimulation for sexual pleasure.
Patricia Davis, a 59-year-old grandmother and president of Passion Parties, said: "We are very proud of Joanne Webb. She believes in the mission of the company and she is doing a really nice job of representing us."
Passion Parties has been doing booming business. The company racked up $20 million in sales in 2003 and saw 30 months of consecutive growth above the 50 percent mark.
The company has representatives in every state and is doing some of its best business in California, New York and the Bible Belt, a section of the United States where Christian beliefs and clergy are influential.
"Women are looking for ways to enhance their relationship, enhance their sensuality and they have nowhere to go," Davis said.
When women get together at a friend's home to peruse body lotions, shower gels and battery-operated devices the company calls "passion toys," Davis said many are able to overcome embarrassment and talk openly about sex.
"We are doing a lot to help women, to help couples and to help families," Davis said. |
Referring to IMF and World Bank reports, Rahul Gandhi took a dig at PM Modi for the economic slowdown
After the International Monetary Fund and World Bank downgraded India's growth forecast in their latest reports, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi said "pessimists" who criticise the government's policies are not only confined to the country, alluding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks earlier this month that a "handful of people" were trying to spread pessimism in India. PM Modi's remarks came after former union ministers Arun Shourie and Yashwant Sinha criticised the government's economic policies."These pessimists are going global. Why don't they just go away?" Rahul Gandhi tweeted, using the IMF and World Bank reports to buttress his argument.Mr Sinha and Mr Shourie had said the sudden withdrawal of high-value notes in November 2016 and introduction of the Goods and Services Tax or GST -- two major reforms of the Modi government -- have been badly timed.Gross Domestic Product or GDP growth rate fell to 5.7 per cent in the first quarter this fiscal, the lowest in three years.The IMF also attributed the fall in India's growth projection to the two big reforms. "In India, growth momentum slowed, reflecting the lingering impact of the authorities' currency exchange initiative as well as uncertainty related to the midyear introduction of the country-wide Goods and Services Tax," the IMF said. The World Bank shared a similar opinion in its latest report.PM Modi has defended his government's policies. "There are some people who sleep well only after they spread a feeling of pessimism. We need to recognise such people," he had said while addressing company secretaries on the Institute of Company Secretaries of India's 50th anniversary. GDP growth rate had fallen below 5.7 per cent at least eight times when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance was in power, PM Modi had said, adding his government was "committed and capable" of reversing the setback. |
The Cleveland Cavaliers organization is committed to delivering a championship-caliber experience both on and off the court that will positively impact and elevate the Cleveland community, the region and fans everywhere. The Cavaliers organization is led by Chairman Dan Gilbert, CEO Len Komoroski, President Business Operations Nic Barlage and GM Koby Altman. The organization continues to make high-level investments in their player roster and future while serving a catalytic role in the continued growth and vitality of downtown Cleveland as it becomes a place to live, work and play 24/7. The Cavs organization is also deeply committed to making a positive impact on the lives of children and families in Northeast Ohio with a full slate of community outreach initiatives, including a deep level of engagement and investments to eliminate blight in Cleveland and its neighborhoods.
The team is led by Head Coach Larry Drew and a roster that includes five-time NBA All-Star Kevin Love and NBA Champions Tristan Thompson, Matthew Dellavedova and Channing Frye. The team also features the eighth pick of the 2018 NBA Draft, Collin Sexton. In 2016, the Cavaliers delivered Cleveland its first championship in 52 years and became the only team in NBA history to overcome a 3-1 deficit to become NBA Champions.
The Cavs play their home games at Quicken Loans Arena – aka The Q. The Q is currently undergoing a transformative renovation to update the nearly 24-year old arena, home to over 200 diverse events that draw over two million people downtown each year. The project is a partnership between the City of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County and the Cavaliers that will modernize the venue to maintain its world-class status, enhance the fan experience, and continue to provide a positive impact for the city of Cleveland, the community and neighborhoods and the region over the long-term. The transformation of Quicken Loans Arena will be completed for the start of the Cavaliers 2019-2020 NBA season and The Q will host the NBA All-Star Game in 2022. To learn more and view renderings of the project, visit TheQTransformation.com.
Follow the Cavs on Twitter (@cavs), Instagram (@cavs) and Facebook (facebook.com/cavs). |
A CALIFORNIAN Toyota Prius driver has been fined $20 for knocking off a biker while using his smartphone to record video.
The 19-year old Prius driver got his phone out to film some bikers who were passing him in the outside lane. Distracted by the phone, he veered into the other lane, hitting one of the bikers
His car then crashed into a dividing wall and another motorcyclist before coming to a stop. Some bikers in the group went over to the crashed car and started beating up the driver, witnesses have said.
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As for the Prius driver's beating, the bikers responsible could be charged with battery -- the intentional use of force against another person. If convicted, battery is punishable by up to six months in
jail and a $2,000 fine in California. |
Gaudí Exhibition Center is the starting point of the Gaudí route. To learn about the life and work of this most universal architect, a visit to the exhibition Walking with Gaudí is essential. This extensive collection reveals his enormous creativity and imagination as well as the revo- lutionary ideas that made him a genius among geniuses.
The exhibition space was opened in September 2015 in the famous Pia Almoina building in the Gothic Quarter. It consists of 1,000 sq metres , distributed over three floors. Completely privately financed, it’s a Molines Patrimonis project made possible thanks to the collaborati- on of the Museu Diocesà de Barcelona, scientific advice from The Gaudí Research Institute and technological support from Samsung.
The exhibition brings together pieces, objects and original documents. There are 20 models, replicas and designs as well as 150 metres of display cases. The audiovisual and interactive content, multimedia spaces and virtual reality all complement a visit that is an innovative technological experience.
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You may have heard of this awesome tool called OnionScan that is used to scan hidden services in the dark web looking for potential data leaks. Recently the project released some cool visualizations and a high level description of what their scanning results looked like. What they didn’t provide is how to actually go about scanning as much of the dark web as possible, and then how to produce those very cool visualizations that they show.
At a high level we need to do the following:
Setup a server somewhere to host our scanner 24/7 because it takes some time to do the scanning work. Get TOR running on the server. Get OnionScan setup. Write some Python to handle the scanning and some of the other data management to deal with the scan results. Write some more Python to make some cool graphs. (Part Two of the series)
Let’s get started!
Setting up a Digital Ocean Droplet
If you already use Amazon, or have your own Linux server somewhere you can skip this step. For the rest of you, you can use my referral link here to get a $10 credit with Digital Ocean that will get you a couple months free (full disclosure I make money in my Digital Ocean account if you start paying for your server, feel free to bypass that referral link and pay for your own server). I am assuming you are running Ubuntu 16.04 for the rest of the instructions.
The first thing you need to do is to create a new Droplet by clicking on the big Create Droplet button. Next select a Ubuntu 16.04 configuration, and select the $5.00/month option (unless you want something more powerful). You can pick a datacenter wherever you like, and then scroll to the bottom and click Create.
It will begin creating your droplet, and soon you should receive an email with how to access your new Linux server. If you are on Mac OSX or Linux get your terminal open. If you are on Windows then grab Putty from here.
On Mac OSX it is: Finder -> Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal
On Linux: Click your start menu and search for Terminal
Now you are going to SSH into your new server. Windows Putty users just punch the IP address in that you received in your email and hit Enter. You will be authenticating as the root user and then type in the password you were provided in your email.
For Mac OSX and Linux people you will type the following into your terminal:
ssh root@IPADDRESS 1 ssh root @ IPADDRESS
You will be forced enter your password a second time, and then you have to change your password. Once that is done you should now be logged into your server.
Installing Prerequisites
Now we need to install the prerequisites for our upcoming code and for OnionScan. Follow each of these steps carefully and the instructions are the same for Mac OSX, Linux or Windows because the commands are all being run on the server.
Feel free to copy and paste each command instead of typing it out. Hit Enter on your keyboard after each step and watch for any problems or errors.
screen 1 screen
apt-get update 1 apt - get update
apt-get install tor git bison libexif-dev 1 apt - get install tor git bison libexif - dev
apt-get install python-pip 1 apt - get install python - pip
pip install stem 1 pip install stem
Now we need to install the Go requirements (OnionScan is written in Go). The following instructions are from Ryan Frankel’s post here.
bash < <(curl -s -S -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/moovweb/gvm/master/binscripts/gvm-installer) 1 bash < < ( curl - s - S - L https : / / raw .githubusercontent .com / moovweb / gvm / master / binscripts / gvm - installer )
[[ -s "$HOME/.gvm/scripts/gvm" ]] && source "$HOME/.gvm/scripts/gvm" 1 [ [ - s "$HOME/.gvm/scripts/gvm" ] ] && source "$HOME/.gvm/scripts/gvm"
source /root/.gvm/scripts/gvm 1 source / root / .gvm / scripts / gvm
gvm install go1.5 --binary 1 gvm install go1 . 5 -- binary
gvm use go1.5 1 gvm use go1 . 5
Ok beauty we have Go installed. Now let’s get OnionScan setup by entering the following:
go get github.com/s-rah/onionscan 1 go get github .com / s - rah / onionscan
go install github.com/s-rah/onionscan 1 go install github .com / s - rah / onionscan
Now if you just type:
onionscan 1 onionscan
And hit Enter you should get the onionscan command line usage information. If this all worked then you have successfully installed OnionScan. If you for some reason close your terminal and you can’t run the onionscan binary anymore just simply do a:
gvm use go1.5 1 gvm use go1 . 5
and it will fix it for you.
Now we need to make a small modification to the TOR configuration to allow our Python script to request a new identity (a new IP address) which we will use when we run into scanning trouble later on. We have to enable this by doing the following:
tor --hash-password PythonRocks 1 tor -- hash - password PythonRocks
This will give you output that will include the bottom line that looks like this:
16:3E73307B3E434914604C25C498FBE5F9B3A3AE2FB97DAF70616591AAF8
Copy this line and then type:
nano -w /etc/tor/torrc 1 nano - w / etc / tor / torrc
This will open a simple text editor. Now go to the bottom of the file by hitting the following keystrokes (or endlessly scrolling down):
CTRL+W CTRL+V
Paste in the following values at the bottom of the file:
ControlPort 9051 ControlListenAddress 127.0.0.1 HashedControlPassword 16:3E73307B3E434914604C25C498FBE5F9B3A3AE2FB97DAF70616591AAF8 1 2 3 ControlPort 9051 ControlListenAddress 127.0.0.1 HashedControlPassword 16 : 3E73307B3E434914604C25C498FBE5F9B3A3AE2FB97DAF70616591AAF8
Now hit CTRL+O to write the file and CTRL+X to exit the file editor. Now type:
service tor restart 1 service tor restart
This will restart TOR and it should have our new settings in place. Note that if you want to use a password other than PythonRocks you will have to follow the steps above substituting your own password in place, and you will also have to later change the associated Python code.
We are almost ready to start writing some code. The last step is to grab my list of .onion addresses (at last count around 7182 addresses) so that your script has a starting point to start scanning hidden services.
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/automatingosint/osint_public/master/onionrunner/onion_master_list.txt 1 wget https : / / raw .githubusercontent .com / automatingosint / osint_public / master / onionrunner / onion_master_list .txt
Whew! We are all setup and ready to start punching out some code. At this point you can switch to your local machine or if you are comfortable writing code on a Linux server by all means go for it. I find it easier to use WingIDE on my local machine personally.
A Note About Screen
You notice that both sets of instructions I have you run the screen command. This is a handy way to keep your session alive even if you get disconnected from your server. When you want to jump back into that session, you simply SSH back into the server and execute:
screen -rx 1 screen - rx
This will be handy later on when you start doing your scanning work, as it can take days for it to complete fully.
Writing an OnionScan Wrapper
OnionScan is a great tool but we need to be able to systematically control it, and process the results. As well, TOR connections are notoriously unstable so we need a way to kill a stuck scan process and grab a fresh IP address from the TOR network. Let’s get coding! Crack open a new Python file, name it onionrunner.py and start punching out the following (you can download the full code here).
from stem.control import Controller from stem import Signal from threading import Timer from threading import Event import codecs import json import os import random import subprocess import sys import time onions = [] session_onions = [] identity_lock = Event() identity_lock.set() # # Grab the list of onions from our master list file. # def get_onion_list(): # open the master list if os.path.exists("onion_master_list.txt"): with open("onion_master_list.txt","rb") as fd: stored_onions = fd.read().splitlines() else: print "[!] No onion master list. Download it!" sys.exit(0) print "[*] Total onions for scanning: %d" % len(stored_onions) return stored_onions # # Stores an onion in the master list of onions. # def store_onion(onion): print "[++] Storing %s in master list." % onion with codecs.open("onion_master_list.txt","ab",encoding="utf8") as fd: fd.write("%s
" % onion) return # # Handle a timeout from the onionscan process. # def handle_timeout(process,onion): global session_onions global identity_lock # halt the main thread while we grab a new identity identity_lock.clear() # kill the onionscan process try: process.kill() print "[!!!] Killed the onionscan process." except: pass # Now we switch TOR identities to make sure we have a good connection with Controller.from_port(port=9051) as torcontrol: # authenticate to our local TOR controller torcontrol.authenticate("PythonRocks") # send the signal for a new identity torcontrol.signal(Signal.NEWNYM) # wait for the new identity to be initialized time.sleep(torcontrol.get_newnym_wait()) print "[!!!] Switched TOR identities." # push the onion back on to the list session_onions.append(onion) random.shuffle(session_onions) # allow the main thread to resume executing identity_lock.set() return # # Runs onion scan as a child process. # def run_onionscan(onion): print "[*] Onionscanning %s" % onion # fire up onionscan process = subprocess.Popen(["onionscan","--jsonReport","--simpleReport=false",onion],stdout=subprocess.PIPE,stderr=subprocess.PIPE) # start the timer and let it run 5 minutes process_timer = Timer(300,handle_timeout,args=[process,onion]) process_timer.start() # wait for the onion scan results stdout = process.communicate()[0] # we have received valid results so we can kill the timer if process_timer.is_alive(): process_timer.cancel() return stdout print "[!!!] Process timed out!" return None # # Handle new onions. # def add_new_onions(new_onion_list): global onions global session_onions for linked_onion in new_onion_list: if linked_onion not in onions and linked_onion.endswith(".onion"): print "[++] Discovered new .onion => %s" % linked_onion onions.append(linked_onion) session_onions.append(linked_onion) random.shuffle(session_onions) store_onion(linked_onion) return # # Processes the JSON result from onionscan. # def process_results(onion,json_response): global onions global session_onions # create our output folder if necessary if not os.path.exists("onionscan_results"): os.mkdir("onionscan_results") # write out the JSON results of the scan with open("%s/%s.json" % ("onionscan_results",onion), "wb") as fd: fd.write(json_response) # look for additional .onion domains to add to our scan list scan_result = ur"%s" % json_response.decode("utf8") scan_result = json.loads(scan_result) if scan_result['linkedSites'] is not None: add_new_onions(scan_result['linkedSites']) if scan_result['relatedOnionDomains'] is not None: add_new_onions(scan_result['relatedOnionDomains']) if scan_result['relatedOnionServices'] is not None: add_new_onions(scan_result['relatedOnionServices']) return # get a list of onions to process onions = get_onion_list() # randomize the list a bit random.shuffle(onions) session_onions = list(onions) count = 0 while count < len(onions): # if the event is cleared we will halt here # otherwise we continue executing identity_lock.wait() # grab a new onion to scan print "[*] Running %d of %d." % (count,len(onions)) onion = session_onions.pop() # test to see if we have already retrieved results for this onion if os.path.exists("onionscan_results/%s.json" % onion): print "[!] Already retrieved %s. Skipping." % onion count += 1 continue # run the onion scan result = run_onionscan(onion) # process the results if result is not None: if len(result): process_results(onion,result) count += 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 from stem . control import Controller from stem import Signal from threading import Timer from threading import Event import codecs import json import os import random import subprocess import sys import time onions = [ ] session_onions = [ ] identity_lock = Event ( ) identity_lock . set ( )
Lines 1-12: we import all of the required modules that we are going to be using in this script.
we import all of the required modules that we are going to be using in this script. Lines 14-15: we initialize two empty lists to hold our full onion list and the list of onions we are working through during the current scanning session.
we initialize two empty lists to hold our full onion list and the list of onions we are working through during the current scanning session. Lines 17-18: we utilize an Event object that will help us to coordinate two threads that will be executing. We have to set the Event object first so that by default our main thread will execute later. More on these threads later.
Now we have to build some helper functions that will deal with loading our master list of onions and to be able to continue adding newly discovered onions to this list:
from stem.control import Controller from stem import Signal from threading import Timer from threading import Event import codecs import json import os import random import subprocess import sys import time onions = [] session_onions = [] identity_lock = Event() identity_lock.set() # # Grab the list of onions from our master list file. # def get_onion_list(): # open the master list if os.path.exists("onion_master_list.txt"): with open("onion_master_list.txt","rb") as fd: stored_onions = fd.read().splitlines() else: print "[!] No onion master list. Download it!" sys.exit(0) print "[*] Total onions for scanning: %d" % len(stored_onions) return stored_onions # # Stores an onion in the master list of onions. # def store_onion(onion): print "[++] Storing %s in master list." % onion with codecs.open("onion_master_list.txt","ab",encoding="utf8") as fd: fd.write("%s
" % onion) return # # Runs onion scan as a child process. # def run_onionscan(onion): print "[*] Onionscanning %s" % onion # fire up onionscan process = subprocess.Popen(["onionscan","--jsonReport","--simpleReport=false",onion],stdout=subprocess.PIPE,stderr=subprocess.PIPE) # start the timer and let it run 5 minutes process_timer = Timer(300,handle_timeout,args=[process,onion]) process_timer.start() # wait for the onion scan results stdout = process.communicate()[0] # we have received valid results so we can kill the timer if process_timer.is_alive(): process_timer.cancel() return stdout print "[!!!] Process timed out!" return None # # Handle a timeout from the onionscan process. # def handle_timeout(process,onion): global session_onions global identity_lock # halt the main thread while we grab a new identity identity_lock.clear() # kill the onionscan process try: process.kill() print "[!!!] Killed the onionscan process." except: pass # Now we switch TOR identities to make sure we have a good connection with Controller.from_port(port=9051) as torcontrol: # authenticate to our local TOR controller torcontrol.authenticate("PythonRocks") # send the signal for a new identity torcontrol.signal(Signal.NEWNYM) # wait for the new identity to be initialized time.sleep(torcontrol.get_newnym_wait()) print "[!!!] Switched TOR identities." # push the onion back on to the list session_onions.append(onion) random.shuffle(session_onions) # allow the main thread to resume executing identity_lock.set() return # # Processes the JSON result from onionscan. # def process_results(onion,json_response): global onions global session_onions # create our output folder if necessary if not os.path.exists("onionscan_results"): os.mkdir("onionscan_results") # write out the JSON results of the scan with open("%s/%s.json" % ("onionscan_results",onion), "wb") as fd: fd.write(json_response) # look for additional .onion domains to add to our scan list scan_result = ur"%s" % json_response.decode("utf8") scan_result = json.loads(scan_result) if scan_result['linkedSites'] is not None: add_new_onions(scan_result['linkedSites']) if scan_result['relatedOnionDomains'] is not None: add_new_onions(scan_result['relatedOnionDomains']) if scan_result['relatedOnionServices'] is not None: add_new_onions(scan_result['relatedOnionServices']) return # # Handle new onions. # def add_new_onions(new_onion_list): global onions global session_onions for linked_onion in new_onion_list: if linked_onion not in onions and linked_onion.endswith(".onion"): print "[++] Discovered new .onion => %s" % linked_onion onions.append(linked_onion) session_onions.append(linked_onion) random.shuffle(session_onions) store_onion(linked_onion) return # get a list of onions to process onions = get_onion_list() # randomize the list a bit random.shuffle(onions) session_onions = list(onions) count = 0 while count < len(onions): # if the event is cleared we will halt here # otherwise we continue executing identity_lock.wait() # grab a new onion to scan print "[*] Running %d of %d." % (count,len(onions)) onion = session_onions.pop() # test to see if we have already retrieved results for this onion if os.path.exists("onionscan_results/%s.json" % onion): print "[!] Already retrieved %s. Skipping." % onion count += 1 continue # run the onion scan result = run_onionscan(onion) # process the results if result is not None: if len(result): process_results(onion,result) count += 1 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 # # Grab the list of onions from our master list file. # def get_onion_list ( ) : # open the master list if os.path . exists ( "onion_master_list.txt" ) : with open ( "onion_master_list.txt" , "rb" ) as fd : stored_onions = fd . read ( ) . splitlines ( ) else : print "[!] No onion master list. Download it!" sys . exit ( 0 ) print "[*] Total onions for scanning: %d" % len ( stored_onions ) return stored_onions # # Stores an onion in the master list of onions. # def store_onion ( onion ) : print "[++] Storing %s in master list." % onion with codecs . open ( "onion_master_list.txt" , "ab" , encoding = "utf8" ) as fd : fd . write ( "%s
" % onion ) return
Line 23: we define our get_onion_list function that is going to load our master list.
we define our function that is going to load our master list. Lines 26-33: we check to see if the onion_master_list.txt file is present (26) and if it is we crack it open (28) and then read the contents back and split it so that each line gets append to a list called stored_onions (30). If the file isn’t present then we output an error message (32) and exit the script (33).
we check to see if the onion_master_list.txt file is present (26) and if it is we crack it open (28) and then read the contents back and split it so that each line gets append to a list called (30). If the file isn’t present then we output an error message (32) and exit the script (33). Lines 35-37: we simply output the total number of onions loaded (35) and return the list back from the function (37).
we simply output the total number of onions loaded (35) and return the list back from the function (37). Line 41: we define our store_onion function that takes a single parameter onion which is the hidden service we wish to add to the master list.
we define our function that takes a single parameter which is the hidden service we wish to add to the master list. Lines 45-46: we crack open the master list file (45) and then write out the hidden service address (46).
Now we will implement the function that deals with running the onionscan binary to do the actual scanning work. Keep adding code in your editor:
from stem.control import Controller from stem import Signal from threading import Timer from threading import Event import codecs import json import os import random import subprocess import sys import time onions = [] session_onions = [] identity_lock = Event() identity_lock.set() # # Grab the list of onions from our master list file. # def get_onion_list(): # open the master list if os.path.exists("onion_master_list.txt"): with open("onion_master_list.txt","rb") as fd: stored_onions = fd.read().splitlines() else: print "[!] No onion master list. Download it!" sys.exit(0) print "[*] Total onions for scanning: %d" % len(stored_onions) return stored_onions # # Stores an onion in the master list of onions. # def store_onion(onion): print "[++] Storing %s in master list." % onion with codecs.open("onion_master_list.txt","ab",encoding="utf8") as fd: fd.write("%s
" % onion) return # # Runs onion scan as a child process. # def run_onionscan(onion): print "[*] Onionscanning %s" % onion # fire up onionscan process = subprocess.Popen(["onionscan","webport=0","--jsonReport","--simpleReport=false",onion],stdout=subprocess.PIPE,stderr=subprocess.PIPE) # start the timer and let it run 5 minutes process_timer = Timer(300,handle_timeout,args=[process,onion]) process_timer.start() # wait for the onion scan results stdout = process.communicate()[0] # we have received valid results so we can kill the timer if process_timer.is_alive(): process_timer.cancel() return stdout print "[!!!] Process timed out!" return None # # Handle a timeout from the onionscan process. # def handle_timeout(process,onion): global session_onions global identity_lock # halt the main thread while we grab a new identity identity_lock.clear() # kill the onionscan process try: process.kill() print "[!!!] Killed the onionscan process." except: pass # Now we switch TOR identities to make sure we have a good connection with Controller.from_port(port=9051) as torcontrol: # authenticate to our local TOR controller torcontrol.authenticate("PythonRocks") # send the signal for a new identity torcontrol.signal(Signal.NEWNYM) # wait for the new identity to be initialized time.sleep(torcontrol.get_newnym_wait()) print "[!!!] Switched TOR identities." # push the onion back on to the list session_onions.append(onion) random.shuffle(session_onions) # allow the main thread to resume executing identity_lock.set() return # # Processes the JSON result from onionscan. # def process_results(onion,json_response): global onions global session_onions # create our output folder if necessary if not os.path.exists("onionscan_results"): os.mkdir("onionscan_results") # write out the JSON results of the scan with open("%s/%s.json" % ("onionscan_results",onion), "wb") as fd: fd.write(json_response) # look for additional .onion domains to add to our scan list scan_result = ur"%s" % json_response.decode("utf8") scan_result = json.loads(scan_result) if scan_result['linkedSites'] is not None: add_new_onions(scan_result['linkedSites']) if scan_result['relatedOnionDomains'] is not None: add_new_onions(scan_result['relatedOnionDomains']) if scan_result['relatedOnionServices'] is not None: add_new_onions(scan_result['relatedOnionServices']) return # # Handle new onions. # def add_new_onions(new_onion_list): global onions global session_onions for linked_onion in new_onion_list: if linked_onion not in onions and linked_onion.endswith(".onion"): print "[++] Discovered new .onion => %s" % linked_onion onions.append(linked_onion) session_onions.append(linked_onion) random.shuffle(session_onions) store_onion(linked_onion) return # get a list of onions to process onions = get_onion_list() # randomize the list a bit random.shuffle(onions) session_onions = list(onions) count = 0 while count < len(onions): # if the event is cleared we will halt here # otherwise we continue executing identity_lock.wait() # grab a new onion to scan print "[*] Running %d of %d." % (count,len(onions)) onion = session_onions.pop() # test to see if we have already retrieved results for this onion if os.path.exists("onionscan_results/%s.json" % onion): print "[!] Already retrieved %s. Skipping." % onion count += 1 continue # run the onion scan result = run_onionscan(onion) # process the results if result is not None: if len(result): process_results(onion,result) count += 1 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 # # Runs onion scan as a child process. # def run_onionscan ( onion ) : print "[*] Onionscanning %s" % onion # fire up onionscan process = subprocess . Popen ( [ "onionscan" , "webport=0" , "--jsonReport" , "--simpleReport=false" , onion ] , stdout = subprocess . PIPE , stderr = subprocess . PIPE ) # start the timer and let it run 5 minutes process_timer = Timer ( 300 , handle_timeout , args = [ process , onion ] ) process_timer . start ( ) # wait for the onion scan results stdout = process . communicate ( ) [ 0 ] # we have received valid results so we can kill the timer if process_timer . is_alive ( ) : process_timer . cancel ( ) return stdout print "[!!!] Process timed out!" return None
Line 53: we define the run_onionscan function to take one parameter onion that is the address of our hidden service.
we define the function to take one parameter that is the address of our hidden service. Line 58: here we are using the subprocess.Popen class to start onionscan passing in the command line arguments –jsonReport and –simpleReport=false which will give us JSON output on STDOUT and disable the normal output from OnionScan. The final two parameters are telling Popen that we want to communicate with stdout and stderr meaning we want to be able to retrieve the output of both.
here we are using the class to start onionscan passing in the command line arguments –jsonReport and –simpleReport=false which will give us JSON output on STDOUT and disable the normal output from OnionScan. The final two parameters are telling that we want to communicate with and meaning we want to be able to retrieve the output of both. Lines 61-62: here is where we have a bit of magic. We create a new Timer object that is provided from the threading module. A Timer will run for a specified time, and then execute a function when that time has been reached unless you cancel the Timer . In this case we are setting it to 300 seconds (5 minutes) and then telling it to call the handle_timeout function when 300 seconds have been hit. We also pass in the process object and the current onion we are processing. This will allow us to handle when onionscan executes for 5 minutes which could indicate that our Tor connection has gone down or that the hidden service can’t be reached any longer, so we want to be able to kill the onionscan, request a new IP from the Tor network, and continue working through our list of hidden services. We start the timer on line 62.
here is where we have a bit of magic. We create a new object that is provided from the module. A will run for a specified time, and then execute a function when that time has been reached unless you cancel the . In this case we are setting it to 300 seconds (5 minutes) and then telling it to call the function when 300 seconds have been hit. We also pass in the object and the current we are processing. This will allow us to handle when onionscan executes for 5 minutes which could indicate that our Tor connection has gone down or that the hidden service can’t be reached any longer, so we want to be able to kill the onionscan, request a new IP from the Tor network, and continue working through our list of hidden services. We start the timer on line 62. Line 65: here we are waiting for OnionScan to return the JSON results from the scan and we store it in the stdout variable.
here we are waiting for OnionScan to return the JSON results from the scan and we store it in the variable. Lines 68-70: if we reach this line then we know that OnionScan was finished before the 300 seconds are up, so we check if the Timer is still running (68) and then cancel the Timer (69) and return the JSON output (70).
So there you have a neat trick to deal with some timing issues when running command line binaries. Now let’s implement the actual timeout handling function to deal will killing the OnionScan and requesting a new IP from the Tor network. Keep on adding code:
from stem.control import Controller from stem import Signal from threading import Timer from threading import Event import codecs import json import os import random import subprocess import sys import time onions = [] session_onions = [] identity_lock = Event() identity_lock.set() # # Grab the list of onions from our master list file. # def get_onion_list(): # open the master list if os.path.exists("onion_master_list.txt"): with open("onion_master_list.txt","rb") as fd: stored_onions = fd.read().splitlines() else: print "[!] No onion master list. Download it!" sys.exit(0) print "[*] Total onions for scanning: %d" % len(stored_onions) return stored_onions # # Stores an onion in the master list of onions. # def store_onion(onion): print "[++] Storing %s in master list." % onion with codecs.open("onion_master_list.txt","ab",encoding="utf8") as fd: fd.write("%s
" % onion) return # # Runs onion scan as a child process. # def run_onionscan(onion): print "[*] Onionscanning %s" % onion # fire up onionscan process = subprocess.Popen(["onionscan","--jsonReport","--simpleReport=false",onion],stdout=subprocess.PIPE,stderr=subprocess.PIPE) # start the timer and let it run 5 minutes process_timer = Timer(300,handle_timeout,args=[process,onion]) process_timer.start() # wait for the onion scan results stdout = process.communicate()[0] # we have received valid results so we can kill the timer if process_timer.is_alive(): process_timer.cancel() return stdout print "[!!!] Process timed out!" return None # # Handle a timeout from the onionscan process. # def handle_timeout(process,onion): global session_onions global identity_lock # halt the main thread while we grab a new identity identity_lock.clear() # kill the onionscan process try: process.kill() print "[!!!] Killed the onionscan process." except: pass # Now we switch TOR identities to make sure we have a good connection with Controller.from_port(port=9051) as torcontrol: # authenticate to our local TOR controller torcontrol.authenticate("PythonRocks") # send the signal for a new identity torcontrol.signal(Signal.NEWNYM) # wait for the new identity to be initialized time.sleep(torcontrol.get_newnym_wait()) print "[!!!] Switched TOR identities." # push the onion back on to the list session_onions.append(onion) random.shuffle(session_onions) # allow the main thread to resume executing identity_lock.set() return # # Processes the JSON result from onionscan. # def process_results(onion,json_response): global onions global session_onions # create our output folder if necessary if not os.path.exists("onionscan_results"): os.mkdir("onionscan_results") # write out the JSON results of the scan with open("%s/%s.json" % ("onionscan_results",onion), "wb") as fd: fd.write(json_response) # look for additional .onion domains to add to our scan list scan_result = ur"%s" % json_response.decode("utf8") scan_result = json.loads(scan_result) if scan_result['linkedSites'] is not None: add_new_onions(scan_result['linkedSites']) if scan_result['relatedOnionDomains'] is not None: add_new_onions(scan_result['relatedOnionDomains']) if scan_result['relatedOnionServices'] is not None: add_new_onions(scan_result['relatedOnionServices']) return # # Handle new onions. # def add_new_onions(new_onion_list): global onions global session_onions for linked_onion in new_onion_list: if linked_onion not in onions and linked_onion.endswith(".onion"): print "[++] Discovered new .onion => %s" % linked_onion onions.append(linked_onion) session_onions.append(linked_onion) random.shuffle(session_onions) store_onion(linked_onion) return # get a list of onions to process onions = get_onion_list() # randomize the list a bit random.shuffle(onions) session_onions = list(onions) count = 0 while count < len(onions): # if the event is cleared we will halt here # otherwise we continue executing identity_lock.wait() # grab a new onion to scan print "[*] Running %d of %d." % (count,len(onions)) onion = session_onions.pop() # test to see if we have already retrieved results for this onion if os.path.exists("onionscan_results/%s.json" % onion): print "[!] Already retrieved %s. Skipping." % onion count += 1 continue # run the onion scan result = run_onionscan(onion) # process the results if result is not None: if len(result): process_results(onion,result) count += 1 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 # # Handle a timeout from the onionscan process. # def handle_timeout ( process , onion ) : global session_onions global identity_lock # halt the main thread while we grab a new identity identity_lock . clear ( ) # kill the onionscan process try : process . kill ( ) print "[!!!] Killed the onionscan process." except : pass # Now we switch TOR identities to make sure we have a good connection with Controller . from_port ( port = 9051 ) as torcontrol : # authenticate to our local TOR controller torcontrol . authenticate ( "PythonRocks" ) # send the signal for a new identity torcontrol . signal ( Signal . NEWNYM ) # wait for the new identity to be initialized time . sleep ( torcontrol . get_newnym_wait ( ) ) print "[!!!] Switched TOR identities." # push the onion back on to the list session_onions . append ( onion ) random . shuffle ( session_onions ) # allow the main thread to resume executing identity_lock . set ( ) return
Line 79: we define the handle_timeout function that takes the process parameter (our Popen object) and the onion parameter which is the current hidden service we are scanning.
we define the function that takes the parameter (our Popen object) and the parameter which is the current hidden service we are scanning. Line 85: here we are clearing the identity_lock which will halt our main thread (you’ll see in a bit). This will allow us to do the process killing, and grab a new identity without the main thread trying to process a new hidden service. We want to be able to cleanly deal with the onionscan process that has timed out before continuing on to a new hidden service.
here we are clearing the which will halt our main thread (you’ll see in a bit). This will allow us to do the process killing, and grab a new identity without the main thread trying to process a new hidden service. We want to be able to cleanly deal with the onionscan process that has timed out before continuing on to a new hidden service. Lines 88-92: here we are using the kill() function that our process object has to kill off the onionscan process that took to long to execute.
here we are using the function that our object has to kill off the onionscan process that took to long to execute. Line 95: we now connect to our local Tor controller port and store the connection object in the torcontrol variable.
we now connect to our local Tor controller port and store the connection object in the variable. Line 98: we authenticate to the Tor controller using our PythonRocks password that you set at the beginning of this blog post. Remember if you decided to use a different password, make sure you put it in here.
we authenticate to the Tor controller using our PythonRocks password that you set at the beginning of this blog post. Remember if you decided to use a different password, make sure you put it in here. Line 101: we send the signal to the local Tor controller that we would like a new identity (IP address).
we send the signal to the local Tor controller that we would like a new identity (IP address). Line 104: we pause execution until the new IP address has been acquired.
we pause execution until the new IP address has been acquired. Line 109-110: here we are re-adding the current hidden service back into our session list. This is because we didn’t get a full scan done on the hidden service so we want to make sure we re-scan it at some point in the future. We then shuffle the list (110) so that we don’t end up just grabbing this same hidden service again. If this hidden service is not working properly or is down, you would end up in an infinite loop of timeouts, kills, re-add to list, rescan. This is why we shuffle!
here we are re-adding the current hidden service back into our session list. This is because we didn’t get a full scan done on the hidden service so we want to make sure we re-scan it at some point in the future. We then shuffle the list (110) so that we don’t end up just grabbing this same hidden service again. If this hidden service is not working properly or is down, you would end up in an infinite loop of timeouts, kills, re-add to list, rescan. This is why we shuffle! Line 113: we set the identity_lock object again so that the main thread is now notified to continue executing, which will load a fresh hidden service for scanning.
Now we need to implement the function that will handle processing the JSON results that OnionScan hands back to us. March on good Python soldier:
from stem.control import Controller from stem import Signal from threading import Timer from threading import Event import codecs import json import os import random import subprocess import sys import time onions = [] session_onions = [] identity_lock = Event() identity_lock.set() # # Grab the list of onions from our master list file. # def get_onion_list(): # open the master list if os.path.exists("onion_master_list.txt"): with open("onion_master_list.txt","rb") as fd: stored_onions = fd.read().splitlines() else: print "[!] No onion master list. Download it!" sys.exit(0) print "[*] Total onions for scanning: %d" % len(stored_onions) return stored_onions # # Stores an onion in the master list of onions. # def store_onion(onion): print "[++] Storing %s in master list." % onion with codecs.open("onion_master_list.txt","ab",encoding="utf8") as fd: fd.write("%s
" % onion) return # # Runs onion scan as a child process. # def run_onionscan(onion): print "[*] Onionscanning %s" % onion # fire up onionscan process = subprocess.Popen(["onionscan","--jsonReport","--simpleReport=false",onion],stdout=subprocess.PIPE,stderr=subprocess.PIPE) # start the timer and let it run 5 minutes process_timer = Timer(300,handle_timeout,args=[process,onion]) process_timer.start() # wait for the onion scan results stdout = process.communicate()[0] # we have received valid results so we can kill the timer if process_timer.is_alive(): process_timer.cancel() return stdout print "[!!!] Process timed out!" return None # # Handle a timeout from the onionscan process. # def handle_timeout(process,onion): global session_onions global identity_lock # halt the main thread while we grab a new identity identity_lock.clear() # kill the onionscan process try: process.kill() print "[!!!] Killed the onionscan process." except: pass # Now we switch TOR identities to make sure we have a good connection with Controller.from_port(port=9051) as torcontrol: # authenticate to our local TOR controller torcontrol.authenticate("PythonRocks") # send the signal for a new identity torcontrol.signal(Signal.NEWNYM) # wait for the new identity to be initialized time.sleep(torcontrol.get_newnym_wait()) print "[!!!] Switched TOR identities." # push the onion back on to the list session_onions.append(onion) random.shuffle(session_onions) # allow the main thread to resume executing identity_lock.set() return # # Processes the JSON result from onionscan. # def process_results(onion,json_response): global onions global session_onions # create our output folder if necessary if not os.path.exists("onionscan_results"): os.mkdir("onionscan_results") # write out the JSON results of the scan with open("%s/%s.json" % ("onionscan_results",onion), "wb") as fd: fd.write(json_response) # look for additional .onion domains to add to our scan list scan_result = ur"%s" % json_response.decode("utf8") scan_result = json.loads(scan_result) if scan_result['identifierReport']['linkedOnions'] is not None: add_new_onions(scan_result['identifierReport']['linkedOnions']) if scan_result['identifierReport']['relatedOnionDomains'] is not None: add_new_onions(scan_result['identifierReport']['relatedOnionDomains']) if scan_result['identifierReport']['relatedOnionServices'] is not None: add_new_onions(scan_result['identifierReport']['relatedOnionServices']) return # # Handle new onions. # def add_new_onions(new_onion_list): global onions global session_onions for linked_onion in new_onion_list: if linked_onion not in onions and linked_onion.endswith(".onion"): print "[++] Discovered new .onion => %s" % linked_onion onions.append(linked_onion) session_onions.append(linked_onion) random.shuffle(session_onions) store_onion(linked_onion) return # get a list of onions to process onions = get_onion_list() # randomize the list a bit random.shuffle(onions) session_onions = list(onions) count = 0 while count < len(onions): # if the event is cleared we will halt here # otherwise we continue executing identity_lock.wait() # grab a new onion to scan print "[*] Running %d of %d." % (count,len(onions)) onion = session_onions.pop() # test to see if we have already retrieved results for this onion if os.path.exists("onionscan_results/%s.json" % onion): print "[!] Already retrieved %s. Skipping." % onion count += 1 continue # run the onion scan result = run_onionscan(onion) # process the results if result is not None: if len(result): process_results(onion,result) count += 1 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 # # Processes the JSON result from onionscan. # def process_results ( onion , json_response ) : global onions global session_onions # create our output folder if necessary if not os.path . exists ( "onionscan_results" ) : os . mkdir ( "onionscan_results" ) # write out the JSON results of the scan with open ( "%s/%s.json" % ( "onionscan_results" , onion ) , "wb" ) as fd : fd . write ( json_response ) # look for additional .onion domains to add to our scan list scan_result = ur "%s" % json_response . decode ( "utf8" ) scan_result = json . loads ( scan_result ) if scan_result [ 'identifierReport' ] [ 'linkedOnions' ] is not None : add_new_onions ( scan_result [ 'identifierReport' ] [ 'linkedOnions' ] ) if scan_result [ 'identifierReport' ] [ 'relatedOnionDomains' ] is not None : add_new_onions ( scan_result [ 'identifierReport' ] [ 'relatedOnionDomains' ] ) if scan_result [ 'identifierReport' ] [ 'relatedOnionServices' ] is not None : add_new_onions ( scan_result [ 'identifierReport' ] [ 'relatedOnionServices' ] ) return
Line 121: we define our process_results function to take in the onion parameter and the json_response respectively.
we define our function to take in the parameter and the respectively. Lines 126-127: if the onionscan_results directory doesn’t exist (126) we create it (127) because that’s how we roll.
if the onionscan_results directory doesn’t exist (126) we create it (127) because that’s how we roll. Lines 130-131: here we are writing out the JSON results to a file that is named by the hidden service that we just scanned. Pretty straightforward.
here we are writing out the JSON results to a file that is named by the hidden service that we just scanned. Pretty straightforward. Lines 134-135: we do a bit of string conversion to get the JSON string into a format we can use (134) and then we decode the JSON (135) to turn it into a native Python dictionary.
we do a bit of string conversion to get the JSON string into a format we can use (134) and then we decode the JSON (135) to turn it into a native Python dictionary. Lines 137-144: there are three fields that we are interested in that could contain additional .onion domains that we may want to add to our list of scan targets. The linkedSites, relatedOnionDomains and relatedOnionServices keys all will return lists. If they are set appropriately we hand the list off to our add_new_onions function.
Let’s implement that function now.
from stem.control import Controller from stem import Signal from threading import Timer from threading import Event import codecs import json import os import random import subprocess import sys import time onions = [] session_onions = [] identity_lock = Event() identity_lock.set() # # Grab the list of onions from our master list file. # def get_onion_list(): # open the master list if os.path.exists("onion_master_list.txt"): with open("onion_master_list.txt","rb") as fd: stored_onions = fd.read().splitlines() else: print "[!] No onion master list. Download it!" sys.exit(0) print "[*] Total onions for scanning: %d" % len(stored_onions) return stored_onions # # Stores an onion in the master list of onions. # def store_onion(onion): print "[++] Storing %s in master list." % onion with codecs.open("onion_master_list.txt","ab",encoding="utf8") as fd: fd.write("%s
" % onion) return # # Runs onion scan as a child process. # def run_onionscan(onion): print "[*] Onionscanning %s" % onion # fire up onionscan process = subprocess.Popen(["onionscan","--jsonReport","--simpleReport=false",onion],stdout=subprocess.PIPE,stderr=subprocess.PIPE) # start the timer and let it run 5 minutes process_timer = Timer(300,handle_timeout,args=[process,onion]) process_timer.start() # wait for the onion scan results stdout = process.communicate()[0] # we have received valid results so we can kill the timer if process_timer.is_alive(): process_timer.cancel() return stdout print "[!!!] Process timed out!" return None # # Handle a timeout from the onionscan process. # def handle_timeout(process,onion): global session_onions global identity_lock # halt the main thread while we grab a new identity identity_lock.clear() # kill the onionscan process try: process.kill() print "[!!!] Killed the onionscan process." except: pass # Now we switch TOR identities to make sure we have a good connection with Controller.from_port(port=9051) as torcontrol: # authenticate to our local TOR controller torcontrol.authenticate("PythonRocks") # send the signal for a new identity torcontrol.signal(Signal.NEWNYM) # wait for the new identity to be initialized time.sleep(torcontrol.get_newnym_wait()) print "[!!!] Switched TOR identities." # push the onion back on to the list session_onions.append(onion) random.shuffle(session_onions) # allow the main thread to resume executing identity_lock.set() return # # Processes the JSON result from onionscan. # def process_results(onion,json_response): global onions global session_onions # create our output folder if necessary if not os.path.exists("onionscan_results"): os.mkdir("onionscan_results") # write out the JSON results of the scan with open("%s/%s.json" % ("onionscan_results",onion), "wb") as fd: fd.write(json_response) # look for additional .onion domains to add to our scan list scan_result = ur"%s" % json_response.decode("utf8") scan_result = json.loads(scan_result) if scan_result['linkedSites'] is not None: add_new_onions(scan_result['linkedSites']) if scan_result['relatedOnionDomains'] is not None: add_new_onions(scan_result['relatedOnionDomains']) if scan_result['relatedOnionServices'] is not None: add_new_onions(scan_result['relatedOnionServices']) return # # Handle new onions. # def add_new_onions(new_onion_list): global onions global session_onions for linked_onion in new_onion_list: if linked_onion not in onions and linked_onion.endswith(".onion"): print "[++] Discovered new .onion => %s" % linked_onion onions.append(linked_onion) session_onions.append(linked_onion) random.shuffle(session_onions) store_onion(linked_onion) return # get a list of onions to process onions = get_onion_list() # randomize the list a bit random.shuffle(onions) session_onions = list(onions) count = 0 while count < len(onions): # if the event is cleared we will halt here # otherwise we continue executing identity_lock.wait() # grab a new onion to scan print "[*] Running %d of %d." % (count,len(onions)) onion = session_onions.pop() # test to see if we have already retrieved results for this onion if os.path.exists("onionscan_results/%s.json" % onion): print "[!] Already retrieved %s. Skipping." % onion count += 1 continue # run the onion scan result = run_onionscan(onion) # process the results if result is not None: if len(result): process_results(onion,result) count += 1 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 # # Handle new onions. # def add_new_onions ( new_onion_list ) : global onions global session_onions for linked_onion in new_onion_list : if linked_onion not in onions and linked_onion . endswith ( ".onion" ) : print "[++] Discovered new .onion => %s" % linked_onion onions . append ( linked_onion ) session_onions . append ( linked_onion ) random . shuffle ( session_onions ) store_onion ( linked_onion ) return
Line 152: we define our add_new_onions function to take in the list of .onion domains we have just discovered.
we define our function to take in the list of .onion domains we have just discovered. Lines 157-159: we walk through the list of onions (157) and then check to make sure that we don’t already have this onion in our master list and that it is a .onion domain (159). There are cases where OnionScan will discover sites that are not in the dark web, and we’ll get to those in our visualization post.
we walk through the list of onions (157) and then check to make sure that we don’t already have this onion in our master list and that it is a .onion domain (159). There are cases where OnionScan will discover sites that are not in the dark web, and we’ll get to those in our visualization post. Lines 163-166: we add the new onion to our master list (163), we add it to our current session list of onions to scan (164), we shuffle the session list again (165) and then we store the onion in our onion_master_list.txt file (166).
Now let’s start putting the finishing touches on this script.
from stem.control import Controller from stem import Signal from threading import Timer from threading import Event import codecs import json import os import random import subprocess import sys import time onions = [] session_onions = [] identity_lock = Event() identity_lock.set() # # Grab the list of onions from our master list file. # def get_onion_list(): # open the master list if os.path.exists("onion_master_list.txt"): with open("onion_master_list.txt","rb") as fd: stored_onions = fd.read().splitlines() else: print "[!] No onion master list. Download it!" sys.exit(0) print "[*] Total onions for scanning: %d" % len(stored_onions) return stored_onions # # Stores an onion in the master list of onions. # def store_onion(onion): print "[++] Storing %s in master list." % onion with codecs.open("onion_master_list.txt","ab",encoding="utf8") as fd: fd.write("%s
" % onion) return # # Runs onion scan as a child process. # def run_onionscan(onion): print "[*] Onionscanning %s" % onion # fire up onionscan process = subprocess.Popen(["onionscan","--jsonReport","--simpleReport=false",onion],stdout=subprocess.PIPE,stderr=subprocess.PIPE) # start the timer and let it run 5 minutes process_timer = Timer(300,handle_timeout,args=[process,onion]) process_timer.start() # wait for the onion scan results stdout = process.communicate()[0] # we have received valid results so we can kill the timer if process_timer.is_alive(): process_timer.cancel() return stdout print "[!!!] Process timed out!" return None # # Handle a timeout from the onionscan process. # def handle_timeout(process,onion): global session_onions global identity_lock # halt the main thread while we grab a new identity identity_lock.clear() # kill the onionscan process try: process.kill() print "[!!!] Killed the onionscan process." except: pass # Now we switch TOR identities to make sure we have a good connection with Controller.from_port(port=9051) as torcontrol: # authenticate to our local TOR controller torcontrol.authenticate("PythonRocks") # send the signal for a new identity torcontrol.signal(Signal.NEWNYM) # wait for the new identity to be initialized time.sleep(torcontrol.get_newnym_wait()) print "[!!!] Switched TOR identities." # push the onion back on to the list session_onions.append(onion) random.shuffle(session_onions) # allow the main thread to resume executing identity_lock.set() return # # Processes the JSON result from onionscan. # def process_results(onion,json_response): global onions global session_onions # create our output folder if necessary if not os.path.exists("onionscan_results"): os.mkdir("onionscan_results") # write out the JSON results of the scan with open("%s/%s.json" % ("onionscan_results",onion), "wb") as fd: fd.write(json_response) # look for additional .onion domains to add to our scan list scan_result = ur"%s" % json_response.decode("utf8") scan_result = json.loads(scan_result) if scan_result['linkedSites'] is not None: add_new_onions(scan_result['linkedSites']) if scan_result['relatedOnionDomains'] is not None: add_new_onions(scan_result['relatedOnionDomains']) if scan_result['relatedOnionServices'] is not None: add_new_onions(scan_result['relatedOnionServices']) return # # Handle new onions. # def add_new_onions(new_onion_list): global onions global session_onions for linked_onion in new_onion_list: if linked_onion not in onions and linked_onion.endswith(".onion"): print "[++] Discovered new .onion => %s" % linked_onion onions.append(linked_onion) session_onions.append(linked_onion) random.shuffle(session_onions) store_onion(linked_onion) return # get a list of onions to process onions = get_onion_list() # randomize the list a bit random.shuffle(onions) session_onions = list(onions) count = 0 while count < len(onions): # if the event is cleared we will halt here # otherwise we continue executing identity_lock.wait() # grab a new onion to scan print "[*] Running %d of %d." % (count,len(onions)) onion = session_onions.pop() # test to see if we have already retrieved results for this onion if os.path.exists("onionscan_results/%s.json" % onion): print "[!] Already retrieved %s. Skipping." % onion count += 1 continue # run the onion scan result = run_onionscan(onion) # process the results if result is not None: if len(result): process_results(onion,result) count += 1 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 # get a list of onions to process onions = get_onion_list ( ) # randomize the list a bit random . shuffle ( onions ) session_onions = list ( onions ) count = 0
Line 171: we call our get_onion_list function that will load up all of our stored hidden service addresses.
we call our function that will load up all of our stored hidden service addresses. Lines 174-175: we shuffle the onions up (174) and then create a copy of the list and store it in our session_onions variable (175).
we shuffle the onions up (174) and then create a copy of the list and store it in our variable (175). Line 177: we initialize a counter variable that we will use to determine when we are finished looping over all of our hidden services.
Now it’s time to put the main loop in place that will be responsible for kickstarting OnionScan for each hidden service that we have stored.
from stem.control import Controller from stem import Signal from threading import Timer from threading import Event import codecs import json import os import random import subprocess import sys import time onions = [] session_onions = [] identity_lock = Event() identity_lock.set() # # Grab the list of onions from our master list file. # def get_onion_list(): # open the master list if os.path.exists("onion_master_list.txt"): with open("onion_master_list.txt","rb") as fd: stored_onions = fd.read().splitlines() else: print "[!] No onion master list. Download it!" sys.exit(0) print "[*] Total onions for scanning: %d" % len(stored_onions) return stored_onions # # Stores an onion in the master list of onions. # def store_onion(onion): print "[++] Storing %s in master list." % onion with codecs.open("onion_master_list.txt","ab",encoding="utf8") as fd: fd.write("%s
" % onion) return # # Runs onion scan as a child process. # def run_onionscan(onion): print "[*] Onionscanning %s" % onion # fire up onionscan process = subprocess.Popen(["onionscan","--jsonReport","--simpleReport=false",onion],stdout=subprocess.PIPE,stderr=subprocess.PIPE) # start the timer and let it run 5 minutes process_timer = Timer(300,handle_timeout,args=[process,onion]) process_timer.start() # wait for the onion scan results stdout = process.communicate()[0] # we have received valid results so we can kill the timer if process_timer.is_alive(): process_timer.cancel() return stdout print "[!!!] Process timed out!" return None # # Handle a timeout from the onionscan process. # def handle_timeout(process,onion): global session_onions global identity_lock # halt the main thread while we grab a new identity identity_lock.clear() # kill the onionscan process try: process.kill() print "[!!!] Killed the onionscan process." except: pass # Now we switch TOR identities to make sure we have a good connection with Controller.from_port(port=9051) as torcontrol: # authenticate to our local TOR controller torcontrol.authenticate("PythonRocks") # send the signal for a new identity torcontrol.signal(Signal.NEWNYM) # wait for the new identity to be initialized time.sleep(torcontrol.get_newnym_wait()) print "[!!!] Switched TOR identities." # push the onion back on to the list session_onions.append(onion) random.shuffle(session_onions) # allow the main thread to resume executing identity_lock.set() return # # Processes the JSON result from onionscan. # def process_results(onion,json_response): global onions global session_onions # create our output folder if necessary if not os.path.exists("onionscan_results"): os.mkdir("onionscan_results") # write out the JSON results of the scan with open("%s/%s.json" % ("onionscan_results",onion), "wb") as fd: fd.write(json_response) # look for additional .onion domains to add to our scan list scan_result = ur"%s" % json_response.decode("utf8") scan_result = json.loads(scan_result) if scan_result['linkedSites'] is not None: add_new_onions(scan_result['linkedSites']) if scan_result['relatedOnionDomains'] is not None: add_new_onions(scan_result['relatedOnionDomains']) if scan_result['relatedOnionServices'] is not None: add_new_onions(scan_result['relatedOnionServices']) return # # Handle new onions. # def add_new_onions(new_onion_list): global onions global session_onions for linked_onion in new_onion_list: if linked_onion not in onions and linked_onion.endswith(".onion"): print "[++] Discovered new .onion => %s" % linked_onion onions.append(linked_onion) session_onions.append(linked_onion) random.shuffle(session_onions) store_onion(linked_onion) return # get a list of onions to process onions = get_onion_list() # randomize the list a bit random.shuffle(onions) session_onions = list(onions) count = 0 while count < len(onions): # if the event is cleared we will halt here # otherwise we continue executing identity_lock.wait() # grab a new onion to scan print "[*] Running %d of %d." % (count,len(onions)) onion = session_onions.pop() # test to see if we have already retrieved results for this onion if os.path.exists("onionscan_results/%s.json" % onion): print "[!] Already retrieved %s. Skipping." % onion count += 1 continue # run the onion scan result = run_onionscan(onion) # process the results if result is not None: if len(result): process_results(onion,result) count += 1 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 while count < len ( onions ) : # if the event is cleared we will halt here # otherwise we continue executing identity_lock . wait ( ) # grab a new onion to scan print "[*] Running %d of %d." % ( count , len ( onions ) ) onion = session_onions . pop ( ) # test to see if we have already retrieved results for this onion if os.path . exists ( "onionscan_results/%s.json" % onion ) : print "[!] Already retrieved %s. Skipping." % onion count += 1 continue # run the onion scan result = run_onionscan ( onion ) # process the results if result is not None : if len ( result ) : process_results ( onion , result ) count += 1
Line 179: we create our while loop that will stop executing once we have worked through all of our hidden services.
we create our while loop that will stop executing once we have worked through all of our hidden services. Line 183: we are waiting for our Event object to be set before continuing execution. You will remember that this will only halt here if our handle_timeout function is dealing with grabbing a new Tor identity. Once the identity_lock is cleared we will move past this line.
we are waiting for our object to be set before continuing execution. You will remember that this will only halt here if our function is dealing with grabbing a new Tor identity. Once the is cleared we will move past this line. Line 187: we remove a hidden service from our list and store it in the onion variable.
we remove a hidden service from our list and store it in the variable. Lines 190-195: we are testing to see if we have already scanned the hidden service by checking to see if the JSON file exists (190) and if so we increment our count variable (193) and then we go back to the top of the while loop using the continue keyword (195).
we are testing to see if we have already scanned the hidden service by checking to see if the JSON file exists (190) and if so we increment our variable (193) and then we go back to the top of the while loop using the keyword (195). Line 198: since we have not yet scanned the current hidden service, we kick off the scan process and return the result in the aptly named result variable.
since we have not yet scanned the current hidden service, we kick off the scan process and return the result in the aptly named variable. Lines 201-206: if we get a good result back we test the length of the JSON string (203) and if it is greater than zero we pass the JSON string and hidden service off to our process_results function for storage (204) and then increment our count variable before returning to the top of the while loop.
Whew! That is a lot of code, but hopefully you have learned a few new Python coding tricks along the way, and it might give you ideas on how you can wrap other scanning software in a similar way as we did with OnionScan. Now for the moment of truth…
Let it Rip!
Now you are ready to start scanning! Simple run:
python onionrunner.py 1 python onionrunner .py
And you should start seeing output like the following:
# python onionrunner.py
[*] Total onions for scanning: 7182
[*] Running 0 of 7182.
[*] Onionscanning nfokjthabqzfndmj.onion
[*] Running 1 of 7182.
[*] Onionscanning gmts3xxfrbfxdm3a.onion
…
If you check the onionscan_results directory you should see a JSON files that are named by the hidden service that was scanned. Let this puppy run as long as you can tolerate, in the second post we are going to process these JSON files and begin to create some visualizations. For bonus points you can also push those JSON files into Elasticsearch (or modify onionrunner.py to do so on the fly) and analyze the results using Kibana!
If you don’t want to wait to get all of the data yourself, you can download the scan results for 8,167 onions from here. |
During Maria Bartiromo’s interview with President Trump that aired this morning on FOX Business Network’s 'Mornings with Maria' the president went into depth about his accusation that he was spied on by the Obama administration during the election campaign.
When asked why he thinks President Obama would do that, he replied: "Well, I'm going to let you figure that one out. But it's so obvious."
"When you look at Susan Rice and what's going on... so many people are coming up to me and apologizing now. They're saying you know, you were right... Perhaps I didn't know how right I was, because nobody knew the extent of it," Trump said.
Bartiromo followed up, asking if when he sent the infamous "wiretapped" tweet, he was referring to Susan Rice.
"Oh sure," came a quick response. "We're talking about surveillance... And you look at the extent of the surveillance. Me and so many other people, it's terrible."
"It was 'wiretapped' in quotes," he repeated, before going off on a tangent about wires. "I put wiretapped in quotes, meaning, because, look, wiretapping is an old-fashioned... -- there aren't too many wires anymore, right? You don't have a lot of wires. Look at this room. This room used to have a lot of wires. Now it doesn't have so many wires."
Bartiromo played Susan Rice's advocate: "She said she didn't do it for political reasons, Susan Rice."
"Does anybody really believe that?" Trump asked. "Nobody believes that, not even the people that try to protect her in the news media."
BARTIROMO: In the last weeks of the Obama presidency, he changed all the rules in terms of the intelligence agencies, allowing them to share raw data.
TRUMP: Terrible.
BARTIROMO: Why do you think he did this?
TRUMP: Well, I'm going to let you figure that one out. But it's so obvious. When you look at Susan Rice and what's going on, and so many people are coming up to me and apologizing now. They're saying you know, you were right when you said that.
Perhaps I didn't know how right I was, because nobody knew the extent of it.
BARTIROMO: When you sent that, was that what you were referring to, the Susan Rice?
TRUMP: Oh, sure. We're talking about surveillance. It was wiretapped in quotes. "The New York Times" said the word wiretapped in the headline of the first edition. Then they took it out of there fast when they realized.
But I put wiretapped in quotes, meaning, because, look, wiretapping is an old-fashioned... -- there are too many wires anymore, right? You don't have a lot of wires. Look at this room. This room used to have a lot of wires. Now it doesn't have so many wires.
But we talked about surveillance or whatever. And you look at the extent of the surveillance. Me and so many other people, it's terrible.
BARTIROMO: She said she didn't do it for political reasons. Susan Rice...
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Does anybody really believe that?
Nobody believes that, even the people that try to protect her in the news media. It's such a big story and I'm sure it will continue forward.
But what they did is horrible. |
Smart home companies are quick to reassure customers that their devices aren't listening in to every word you say but we're seeing more and more dramatic stories of tech intervening and acting as a witness.
Last week, a smart home speaker - first reported to be a Google Home but now only known as a "smart home device" - called 911 from a house in Tijeras, New Mexico. What apparently triggered the call was Edward Barros asking his girlfriend, who was hurt in the altercation and alleges he was threatening her with a gun, "Did you call the sheriffs?"
Read this: The smart home has become a new crime scene witness
This phrase lead the smart home speaker, which was connected to surround sound speakers, to call the police. Deputies from the sheriff's department, negotiators and a SWAT team then arrived on the scene, checked if the woman needed to go to hospital (she didn't) and Barros was arrested. It's not clear whether this was a device without a command word or if the 'request' to call the police was able to override this.
County Sheriff Manuel Gonzales III told ABC: "The unexpected use of this new technology to contact emergency services has possibly helped save a life. This amazing technology definitely helped save a mother and her child [who was in the house] from a very violent situation."
This isn't the first time smart home speakers like the Amazon Echo and Google Home have been mixed up in trials. Professor Jeremy Watson, an Internet of Things expert at UCL, recently told us: "My feeling is that it will become perfectly legitimate for agencies like the FBI or [British] Home Office to have access to this data."
Source: ABC News |
By Kevin Coughlin -
It’s time for President Trump to unify the American people, not divide them, Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11th Dist.) said on Friday, condemning Trump’s “incomprehensible reaction” to last weekend’s white supremacy rally in Charlottesville.
The remarks in Frelinghuysen’s weekly electronic newsletter were his strongest rebuke of Trump since the election.
A terse statement from Frelinghuysen on Tuesday, condemning bigotry but not mentioning the President, was seen by some as not going far enough.
Friday’s statement–which came at the end of a week of pro-immigration demonstrations outside of the Congressman’s Morristown office–was unequivocal:
“I condemn the President’s repeated attempts to evenly distribute blame for clashes between white nationalists and the demonstrators who oppose them,” said the chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee.
“Rather than employing words that divide us, Donald Trump must recognize that we are one people: the American people,” Frelinghuysen said.
Here is the complete statement.
From Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen:
End the Hatred with Words that Unite, Not Divide
Many hateful things were said and done in Charlottesville, Virginia, this past weekend.
You know the facts: following Friday and Saturday rallies by neo-Nazis, KKK members, white supremacists and other racist fringe groups, a 32-year old woman was killed when a man drove his car into a crowd of people who had arrived to confront their bigotry. Nineteen other people were injured.
These events –- and the incomprehensible reaction to them from the White House — have correctly dominated the news this week.
I condemn the President’s repeated attempts to evenly distribute blame for clashes between white nationalists and the demonstrators who oppose them.
To be clear, the President’s assertion that there were two legitimate “sides” in Charlottesville last weekend is flatly wrong. There can be no comparison – no equivalency – between white supremacists, KKK members and other racist fringe groups and those who showed up to challenge their bigotry, racism and anti-semitism.
Rather than employing words that divide us, Donald Trump must recognize that we are one people: the American people.
The disgusting displays of hatred and bigotry on display in Charlottesville dishonor the millions of men and women of all races, religions and creeds who fought and died to make our country what it is today. |
Point-and-Click games can be seriously off balanced if the combination between gameplay and story don’t blend together well. Even if they do, it’s not very often that we play such a game and end up loving it. Neko Entertainment has recently published a classic-style, hand-drawn adventure called ‘The Inner World’, jointly developed by Headup Games and Studio Fizbin. This game lets players experience an atmospheric and humorous tale of two young citizens, packed with startling incidents, in a very bizarre world. Puzzles occur every step of the way and an amazing storyline and incredible voice-acting make The Inner World a fantastic experience.
The Inner World takes place in Asposia, a world powered by three wind fountains. After a devastating attack by the displeased Wind-Gods known as Basylians, many Asposians were turned into stones. The rest of the living inhabitants of Asposia are now in grave danger, as two of the fountains are no longer providing air. The one that still provides air is under the control of a Windmonk called Conroy. According to Conroy, he defended the people from the wrathful Wind-Gods during the attack, and has kept them pleased ever since. He now seeks obedience and makes sacrifices to keep the Gods pleased and help them from turning into stones. This shivering story takes a turn when Conroy’s adopted son Robert comes into the scene. He is different than the rest of the Asposian in many ways, especially considering his nose, which literally a flute. The story kicks in when Robert loses something very valuable to Conroy, called Fosfos, something that reminds Conroy about the most glorious day of his life. Having never stepped foot outside the Monastery, Robert intends to bring it back. Whether it’s a call of bad luck or destiny, Robert is now up for an adventure of a lifetime.
Similar to any point-and-click game, The Inner World has the same basic features such as puzzles, inventory system and conversations. Each sequence is unlocked after certain puzzles are solved. Puzzles are in the manner of tasks which Robert must perform; from making a worm drunk, to flirting with a deadly creature, tasks are as bizarre as they get. There’s an inventory where Robert can keep his collected materials, and some materials can be combined to craft usable objects. The storyline consists of five chapters, and each chapter has three arenas where Robert can visit to collect material or to accomplish tasks. Each and every single task of the game is presented in a humorous manner with the help of people Robert communicates with. These characters are either very mean or extremely hilarious. With a decent 8-10 hours of gameplay, the game will never feel tedious.
The main character, Robert, has a surprisingly likable personality. He may be an apprentice and bit impractical by character, but has a heart of gold. His noticeable polite approach makes him most adorable. Other than Robert, there’s another character, called Laura, who can be controlled in a given chapter. Laura is quite the opposite of Robert, as she is smarter and bold. Having said that, over all character design delights The Inner World. Asposian aren’t the most attractive to the eyes, but they are filled with captivating personalities. This likability is also due to the voice-acting making interacting with each character a pleasure. Animation wise there isn’t anything extraordinary to talk about, but voice acting without a doubt is top class, and gives the game a serious boost. Graphically the game has to look bizarre to match its story, and it does. Not only do the Asposians look strange, but their activities are even more unusual. Imagine a kid stapling down all his pet mice to the floor so that they can’t run away, or an easily fooled guard confused by an image of his colleague being held in front of another's face. These are nothing compared to the humor that the entire game has to offer.
Puzzles in The Inner World aren’t the hardest to solve. By paying attention to conversations and intractable objects players can easily get past each chapter. There’s a board that keeps record of each task players come across. For amateurs, a help button, beside each task, contains several hints and eventually gives out the exact solution. I personally felt that one or two hints would’ve been more appropriate than giving away the complete solution. Due to the bizarre nature of Asposia the difficultly can trump player’s imagination level at times. In such cases, randomly trying out different combinations can help with a solution.
There's nothing about The Inner World that players can’t enjoy. The story is motivating, puzzles are fun solving, and characters are as lively as they can get. The intensity level of the game, however, is the only factor that can hold this game back. Due to the sluggish nature of point-and-click games, it’s easy for players to get diverted from the intensity of the story. Having said that, compared to all of the chapters, the end of the game feels rather shortened and contradicted. The intensity level bakes throughout the four chapters and suddenly delivers the unexpected in the finale. This leaves players with the feeling that the story could stretch a little more and engage them with a more comprehensive finale. The finale, however, doesn’t make the game any less enjoyable. Point-and-click fan or not, anyone who enjoys adventure games will without doubt love to play The Inner World.
Sarwar Ron, NoobFeed @SarwarRon |
Illustration by Roman Muradov
By tucking two crucial sentences inside a federal spending bill last year, the U.S. Congress effectively banned the human testing of gene-editing techniques that could produce genetically modified babies. But the provision, which is up for renewal this year, has also flustered proponents of a promising technique that could help mothers avoid passing certain devastating genetic disorders to their children.
The language in the bill is a clear reference to the use of techniques like CRISPR to modify the human germline (see “Engineering the Perfect Baby”). Most scientists agree that testing germline editing in humans is irresponsible at this point. But regulators have decided that the description also fits mitochondrial replacement therapy, which entails removing the nucleus from a human egg and transplanting it into one from a different person to prevent the transmission of debilitating or even deadly mitochondrial disorders to children.
Mitochondria are the components of the cell responsible for producing energy. They also have their own DNA, separate from the DNA in the nucleus. Babies always inherit their mother’s mitochondrial genome. Mutations in the mitochondrial genome, in the nuclear genome, or both can lead to a wide range of mitochondrial disorders, many with severe and even debilitating symptoms. Between 1,000 and 4,000 children are born with mitochondrial diseases every year, and there are no licensed therapies or cures for these diseases.
Shoukhrat Mitalipov, director of Oregon Health and Science University’s Center for Embryonic Cell and Gene Therapy, was working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to develop plans for human testing of mitochondrial replacement therapies before the federal spending bill passed last December. Mitalipov and his colleagues have shown in monkeys that a replacement mitochondrial genome from another mother can be effectively and safely passed to offspring along with the nuclear DNA from the actual mother. They have also demonstrated the “three parent” approach during in vitro fertilization of human embryos, though they did not implant them.
But that’s as far as the research will go in the U.S., at least for now. Mitalipov says policymakers should draw a clearer distinction between genetic enhancements and genetic corrections.
“This is not about designer babies and selecting traits,” says Philip Yeske, science and alliance officer for the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation. A narrow population—women of childbearing age who have mitochondrial disorders and who want to have children—stands to benefit. “We don’t feel it’s a slippery slope at all,” says Yeske.
He says these patients may have to consider going to the United Kingdom, where the government has opened the door to clinical testing.
Congress’s ban on clinical testing of mitochondrial replacement therapy is also at odds with report published in February by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. The expert panel behind the study, which the FDA itself commissioned, called clinical testing of mitochondrial replacement therapy “ethically permissible” if done under two crucial conditions: testing should only occur in male embryos, to ensure that the modification is only passed to one generation, and it should be limited to women at risk of passing on a mitochondrial disease that could lead to a child’s early death or “substantial impairment.”
R. Alta Charo, professor of law and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin Law School, co-chairs the National Academies study group looking at human gene editing, and was also part of the study focused on mitochondrial replacement therapy. She says the use of the term “heritable” in the bill’s language that refers to the genetic modification being banned could prove important to the fate of mitochondrial replacement therapy.
If the FDA were to move forward with clinical testing involving male embryos only, the mitochondrial replacement “would not be heritable because it would stop with that first generation,” she says. That could provide an avenue for the agency to work around Congress’s restriction. |
MKDasher's Comments
Yay, done at last! I didn't start TASing this game that long ago, so I have the least experience, but I really want to thank the rest of the team for letting me join and participate in this great project. It's been a really nice experience for me and I'm hoping that everyone enjoys watching the run as much as we did making it!
Nahoc's Comments
Yo, yo, yo! I must say, like Jeremiah and David, I'm really happy to finally see this completed run in the workbench. I had a blast TASing this awesome game with such awesome people. I'd like to point out that a big part of this project was done by the Japanese TASers. When they were working on the "120 Stars" TAS, they used to go back a lot to redo and improve earlier stars, since they were working on a "perfect" TAS. We (sonicpacker and myself) got tired of being left aside the project, seeing how slow the progress on it was and decided to go along and do our own TAS. MKDasher later joined us. Not gonna lie, we used a lot of their inputs during the making of this movie (but always with permissions) and "quickly" finished the masterpiece that you're about to watch. Of course, some improvements were found during the 3-month period we worked on the project, but it's nothing too big. I'd like to point out that a big part of this project was done by the Japanese TASers. When they were working on the "120 Stars" TAS, they used to go back a lot to redo and improve earlier stars, since they were working on a "perfect" TAS. We (sonicpacker and myself) got tired of being left aside the project, seeing how slow the progress on it was and decided to go along and do our own TAS. MKDasher later joined us. Not gonna lie, we used a lot of their inputs during the making of this movie (but always with permissions) and "quickly" finished the masterpiece that you're about to watch. Of course, some improvements were found during the 3-month period we worked on the project, but it's nothing too big. We would like to thank all the Japanese SM64 TASers for their hard work and hope they will be able to improve this movie with a more "perfect" v2. Good luck guys! We would like to thank all the Japanese SM64 TASers for their hard work and hope they will be able to improve this movie with a more "perfect" v2. Good luck guys!
sonicpacker's Comments
Well it's about damn time. No, but really, working with the community towards finishing this run has given me the best time of my life and I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend my teenage years. I've met so many awesome people and have had the best partners to work with. I'm thankful beyond words and I hope everyone that watches the TAS has a great time! I could go on and write a book about it, but I'll let the run speak for itself. And remember, SM64 isn't even near dead. Stay tuned, haha! |
Researchers say they have uncovered perennial freshwater lakes embedded within the upper layers of Greenland's ice sheet – previously unknown features that could play a role in the rate at which the sheet loses mass in a warming climate.
The discovery comes as glaciologists are still trying to digest news from a year ago that the southeastern section of the ice sheet hosts a year-round aquifer of liquid water. The aquifer covers some 27,000 square miles and ranges from 16 to nearly 165 feet thick, researchers have estimated. Since then, researchers have found other aquifers.
The perennial lakes and aquifers are acting as a kind of internal thermometer, signaling that "the ice sheet is warming, not only from the surface but internally as well," noted Lora Koenig, a research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo., during a briefing Monday at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. The meeting runs through Friday.
The presence of these features suggests that models are underestimating the amount of mass the ice sheet is projected to lose over the medium term, Dr. Koenig said.
The lakes, as well as the aquifers, appear along the low-altitude margins of the nearly two-mile-thick ice sheet in a region that researchers call the sheet's ablation zone, where ice sheets typically shed mass. They are embedded in thick layers of old snow that eventually will become ice added to the ice sheet underneath.
Taken together, the aquifers and lakes trace nearly the full perimeter of the ice sheet. Collectively, they amount to a large reservoir of water available to percolate down below the ice and heat and lubricate it from below. This speeds the pace at which the ice sheet loses mass. Water from surface melt accounts for about half of that loss.
The behavior and survivability of the ice sheet's lakes, known as supraglacial lakes, from one summer to the next is of interest because the lakes may well migrate farther inland to higher elevations, dotting a larger area of the ice sheet as the climate warms.
In a modeling study published on Sunday in the journal Nature Climate Change, an international team led by Amber Leeson, a research fellow at the University of Leeds in Britain, estimates that the number of supraglacial lakes will march inland by 60 to 70 miles in southwestern Greenland by 2060, depending on the greenhouse-gas emissions scenario used. This would increase the area of ice they inhabit by some 50 percent.
Koenig and colleagues found the embedded lakes in 2010, during that year's field campaign by NASA's IceBridge project. Aircraft equipped with laser altimeters as well as ice-penetrating radar flew over one area where supraglacial lakes had formed the previous summer.
Researchers initially thought that the radar returns they saw were bounding off an ice lens in the thick sheath of old snow. But after they analyzed the results from the IceBridge flyover, it became clear that the aircraft's four types of radar had detected liquid water.
In essence, the lakes form during the melt season, and if they don't drain into another supraglacial lake or plunge through crevasses or conduits that open in the ice, they get covered with ice and snow that will insulate them from the frigid air in winter.
Researchers also have found that the ice sheet's aquifers are more abundant than last year's initial discovery might suggest.
Based on further data, a team led by Richard Forster, a geophysicist at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, has found that along Greenland's east coast, the aquifer extends farther north, with additional evidence for an aquifer appearing at the island's northwest corner.
Using data from three years of NASA overflights of Helheim Glacier, one of the ice sheet's many outlet glaciers, the team has noted that one of the aquifers in the area appears to be draining.
Mapping the extent of the aquifers is getting a boost from orbit. Satellite-borne instruments, Dr. Forster noted at Monday's briefing, can now spot the aquifers, providing annual snapshots on the distribution and state of the aquifers. This reduces the time and expense of compiling observations from field camps on the ice or via aircraft.
The space-based mapping results correspond "quite well" with ice-sheet-model predictions of where the aquifers should be, Forster added. Those persistent features in computer simulations of Greenland's ice sheet were once thought to be errors because no one had yet found an aquifer.
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"A lot of these results are new enough that we're trying to wrap our heads around them," acknowledges Mike MacFerrin, a graduate student at the University of Colorado at Boulder and a researcher at the school's Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, which is run in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
"There's a whole lot more we don't know than we do know at the moment," he said Monday at the briefing. |
Expert Ole Dammegard on JFK, RFK, John Lennon assassinations Watergate, 9/11: CIA Operation 40
WATCH ON YOU TUBE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o9M2dodkio&feature=youtu.be
By Alfred Lambremont Webre
VANCOUVER, BC – In a wide-ranging ExopoliticsTV interview on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963, author Ole Dammegard discloses how CIA Operation 40, originally implemented in 1960 by Vice President Richard M. Nixon, became a deadly CIA assassination squad that was used by elites to carry out a swath of destabilizing assassinations and false flag operations worldwide, including the assassinations of JFK, Robert F. Kennedy, John Lennon, with roles in Watergate and 9/11.
Ole Dammegard is a prize winning author, journalist and investigator who has recently completed a major study of the assassination of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, Coup d’Etat in Slowmotion. He maintains a web site at http://www.lightonconspiracies.com/.
CIA Operation 40
Ole Dammegard has achieve breakthrough research in the origins, structure, and operations of CIA Operation 40, writing “Operation 40 was a Central Intelligence Agency sponsored undercover operation started in the early 1960s, which was to become active in the United States and the Caribbean (including Cuba), Central America, and Mexico as well as Europe and South Africa.
“Allen W. Dulles, the director of the CIA, established Operation 40 after a confidential memorandum from Colonel J. C. King, chief of CIA’s Western Hemisphere Division. It obtained its name because originally there were 40 agents involved, mainly Cuban exiles. It was approved by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and was presided over by Vice-President Richard Nixon.
“George Herbert Walker Bush was asked to cooperate in funding the group. The man assigned to him for his new mission was Féliz Rodríguez. This included finding private funding as a result of pressure from American corporations which had suffered at the hands of Fidel Castro.
“One member, Frank Sturgis, allegedly told author Mike Canfield: ‘This assassination group would upon orders, naturally, assassinate either members of the military or the political parties of the foreign country that you were going to infiltrate, and if necessary, some of your own members who were suspected of being foreign agents…’
“The members of Operation 40 have kept themselves very busy and are involved in the murders of John Lennon, Che Guevara, President Salvador Allende, Nobel Prize winning poet Pablo Neruda, Orlando Letelier, General Carlos Prats, South African Robert Smit, the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed seventy-three people, the Watergate burglary, the Iran-Contras scandal, and even 9/11 and onwards.”
From "Unexpected links in the murders of JFK, John Lennon and Olof Palme” by Ole Dammegard
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2013/10/04/unexpected-links-in-the-murders-of-jfk-john-lennon-and-olof-palme-2/
The John F. Kennedy Assassination
In his ExopoliticsTV interview, Ole Dammegard explores the role played in the JFK asssassination by key conspirators including Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, future Presidents George HW Bush and Richard Nixon, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, former CIA director Allen Dulles, CIA officials, oil tycoons, Mafia dons, and the assassination "mechanics" of Operation 40 who carried out the assassination operation on the ground at Dealey Plaza, Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.
During the interview, Ole Dammegard also affirms the role of elites such as David Rockefeller and the Rockefeller group, and the Rothschild City of London banking families in originating the Kennedy assassination for a variety of motives, ranging from Kennedy's breakaway from the Rothschild-controlled Federal Reserve Bank in printing U.S. Treasury silver-backed currency to Kennedy's plan to end the Vietnam War.
MJ-12 and the JFK Assassination
Other analysts, such as Dr. Michael E. Salla, have also pointed to Kennedy's intention to disclose the extraterrestrial presence as a possible motove for the assassination.
"After winning the 1960 Presidential election, Kennedy learned a shocking truth from President Eisenhower. The control group set up to run highly classified extraterrestrial technologies, Majestic-12, had become a rogue government agency. Eisenhower warned Kennedy that Majestic-12 had to be reined in. It posed a direct threat to American liberties and democratic processes. Kennedy followed Eisenhower’s advice, and set out to realize James Forrestal’s vision. The same forces that orchestrated Forrestal’s death, opposed Kennedy’s efforts at every turn. When Kennedy was on the verge of succeeding, by forcing the CIA to share classified UFO information with other government agencies on November 12, 1963, he was assassinated ten days later."
From, Michael E. Salla, PhD, "Kennedy’s Last Stand: Roots of JFK Assassination lie in what he saw in 1945", http://www.examiner.com/article/kennedy-s-last-stand-roots-of-jfk-assassination-lie-what-he-saw-1945
References:
http://www.lightonconspiracies.com/
Expert Ole Dammegard on JFK, RFK, John Lennon assassinations Watergate, 9/11: CIA Operation 40
http://exopolitics.blogs.com/exopolitics/2013/10/expert-ole-dammegard-on-jfk-rfk-john-lennon-assassinations-watergate-911-cia-operation-40.html |
We’re back, and we’re looking at the Old School Renaissance and, more specifically, Lamentations of the Flame Princess. In case you aren’t familiar with the OSR, it’s a broad movement that embraces the simplicity and immediacy of early incarnations of Dungeons & Dragons, reinventing them in new and sometimes alarming ways. And few games are more alarming than Lamentations of the Flame Princess (officially abbreviated as LotFP).
Lamentations of the Flame Princess is probably the most successful and visible OSR game, largely due to canny marketing, high production values, and a strong and varied line of supplements. One recent LotFP publication– Zak S‘s gleefully deranged take on Alice in Wonderland, A Red and Pleasant Land — won four ENnie awards this year, including gold for Best Writing and Best Setting. This is especially impressive when you consider that a one-man outfit operating out of a flat in Helsinki bested Wizards of the Coast.
If you’re wondering why we’re discussing a D&D retroclone on a horror podcast, playing a session of LotFP or reading one of the supplements should dispel any doubts (and possibly leave festering psychological scars). This is a game steeped in the black ichor of weird fiction, pitting often weak adventurers against an uncaring world filled with vile people, bizarre monsters and dungeons filled with sudden, gruesome and downright unfair death. The setting for most of the supplements is a pseudo-historical 17th century Europe, and the mix of real-world history and weird horror should help LotFP appeal to Call of Cthulhu fans.
If you want to try it out, you can download a free PDF of the complete rules, although it is missing all the nifty and deeply disturbing artwork. Be warned that there isn’t any setting information in the PDF — you’ll have to turn to the supplements for that. Happily there are two free scenarios as well: Better Than Any Man and The Doom-Cave of the Crystal-Headed Children.
For our next episode, we have a nice long chat with James Raggi, author and publisher of Lamentations of the Flame Princess. Our original goal was simply to record a brief insert with him, but James gave us so much good material that we had to spill over to a second episode. The world isn’t ready for a three-hour episode of The Good Friends of Jackson Elias. At least not until the subliminal messages finish rewriting everyone’s synapses.
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Last week a limited run of fairly mysterious 12" records appeared on the website of Phonica Records. Big deal you say! I've seen mysterious 12" records before and I'll see them again in my lifetime. But what if we told you that this mysterious 12-inch was of a remix of a song by the world's greatest living songwriter and occasional Kanye West collaborator, Paul McCartney. And that the song in question was Band On The Run's cinematic album closer Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five. And that the record in question sold out in a matter of hours before turning up on eBay with copies trading hands for 280 quid? Oh, now you're listening…
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We don't know a whole lot about what's going on here. The remix is credited to an "unknown artist" and there's very little to go on description-wise (thank you, Phonica). But take a listen to the snippets; the sound of studio chatter, those flashes of overdriven guitar, that pulsing, familiar bass tone, imprinted on the mind of anyone with even a passing interest in popular music. It sounds like a real dive into the multi-track here and with McCartney only last week announcing a 67 song, career-spanning greatest hits, you have to wonder whether it was officially sanctioned by the man himself.
It's not like he doesn't have form for electronic music (see McCartney II's scene-stealing Temporary Secretary or his work as half of experimental duo The Fireman). And, if the Club Mix snippet is anything to go by, it appears he's still doing it now, at a point in his life when he's probably earned the right to say, "No, I can't be bothered to put out mysterious 12" records anymore, I'm Paul Bloody McCartney". Seems he just can't get enough of that sweet stuff…
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Decision not to air Ex-Pink Floyd member’s concerts due to his support for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement branded ‘ridiculous’
German public broadcasters have dropped plans to air concerts next year by ex-Pink Floyd musician Roger Waters, citing what they call “accusations of antisemitism against him”.
Waters, part of one of the world’s most critically acclaimed and commercially successful rock bands from 1965 to 1985 before going solo, is a member of the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) that targets Israel over its occupation of territories where Palestinians seek statehood.
Roger Waters calls on Chemical Brothers to cancel show in Israel Read more
Five state television and radio affiliates of the national ARD network have pulled out of broadcasting concerts by the 74-year-old Waters in Berlin and Cologne scheduled next summer “in reaction to anti-Semitism accusations against him”, Berlin and Brandenburg public radio (RBB) said.
RBB, part of the ARD network, said it wanted to send a message to other artists who, heeding the BDS, refused to perform in Israel. Waters joined the movement in 2011.
“Taking a clear position here is an important signal for RBB to the Jewish communities in Berlin and Brandenburg,” RBB director Patricia Schlesinger said in a statement.
“The quick and decisive reaction by the broadcasters … is an important signal that rampant antisemitism against Israel has no place in Germany,” said Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany.
Roger Waters and the antisemitism question | Keith Kahn-Harris Read more
Marek Lieberberg, Waters’s tour director, said German Jews were right to be concerned about “clearly visible and growing antisemitism” in Germany – alluding to the far right’s surge in recent German elections – but the broadcasters’ decision was “absolutely ridiculous”.
Lieberberg, the son of Holocaust survivors, told the Mannheimer Morgen daily that while he rejected the BDS, he separated personal opinions from work. “I cannot and do not want to deny [Waters] his right to freedom of opinion,” he said.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rightwing government has long campaigned against the BDS, describing it as antisemitic and an attempt to erase Israel’s legitimacy.
The movement – launched in 2005 as a non-violent campaign to press Israel to heed international law and end its occupation of territory held since a 1967 war – has gathered momentum in recent years even if its economic impact remains negligible.
Germany has long sought to distance itself from the Nazi Holocaust and become one of Israel’s closest allies. |
New report shows scores of local schemes will be cancelled if cuts go ahead, painting a gloomy picture for the future of community energy in the UK
Plans by local groups to install £127m worth of solar panels and other renewable power at village halls, community centres and sports clubs will be shelved if government cuts to subsidies go ahead.
Scores of community energy groups, of the sort that have raised cash to fit solar panels at a brewery in Sussex and a windfarm in Morecambe Bay, told a survey that they faced being badly hit by a proposed 87% cut in incentives for solar power.
Of the 80 groups surveyed in the report by Quantum Strategy and Technology for Community Energy England, 55 said they had schemes in development to build small-scale solar, wind and hydro, mainly via share offers. Two-thirds said their projects in development would be put at risk due to the cuts, for which a consultation closes on Friday.
What you can do to help stop the cuts threatening the UK solar industry Read more
On Tuesday the energy minister, Andrea Leadsom, faces questioning from MPs over the cuts, which have already led to four solar power companies going into liquidation with the loss of over 1,000 jobs. The UN’s top environment scientist labelled the changes “perverse”, and small businesses have told the Guardian that hundreds more jobs will disappear shortly if the cuts go ahead.
“It’s very hard to see how they [the cuts] can be justified, especially not on the monolithic grounds of saving money for the hard-working consumer, or whatever it is [energy and climate secretary] Amber Rudd keeps saying. It just feels ideologically-driven,” said Dave Prescott, director at New Leaf Solar, which has already raised more than £80,000 from a share offer and a government grant to put solar panels on a landfill site near Hereford.
He added: “The rest of the world is going in a different direction. Especially in our case where you can’t use the land for anything else – you can’t grow food on it, you can’t build houses on it – it’s just sitting there doing nothing. It’s deeply, deeply frustrating. It feels like a real failure of any sort of vision.”
Madeleine Milnes, a board member of Avalon Community Energy, said that she was hopeful the group’s plans to put solar panels on an industrial estate and primary school in Somerset would go ahead because they had already submitted paperwork – but the long-term picture for such projects looked bleak.
“People get solar. They understand what it’s about. They think it should be all over public rooftops. The feedback we get is this should be the way we should be going. People don’t want nuclear, they don’t want fracking,” said Milnes, who was a former NHS HR director before helping the group for the past two years to raise an initial £40,000.
She said that such projects were even more necessary because of the government’s cuts to tax credits, as some of the revenue would go into a community fund to help people in fuel poverty.
Emma Bridge at Community Energy England said: “The government’s proposed changes to the feed-in tariffs will seriously damage this vibrant and growing sector, making it far more difficult for communities to take control of the energy they use and the associated benefits that brings.”
The report, paid for in part by Greenpeace, paints a gloomy picture for community energy’s short-term prospects, which just two years ago ministers were championing as a way to have the ‘Big 60,000’, rather than the Big Six.
“The majority of respondents have said that they are now putting their projects on hold, or cancelling them, as a result of the recent government policy announcements, consultations and generally negative attitude to renewable energy,” it said.
Barbara Stoll, energy campaigner at Greenpeace, said: “Community energy projects contribute hugely to local investment, self-reliance, as well as putting people back in touch with their energy supply, but are being put on the back burner.”
The ethical bank, Triodos Bank, said that while government cuts were “unhelpful”, one “ray of hope” was that some local governments were stepping in to support solar projects, citing action by Bristol and Plymouth councils. |
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In 1650, Oliver Cromwell asked the Church of Scotland to reconsider its decision to side with the royalists instead of him. “I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken.” The church didn’t think it possible, of course, so Oliver’s army took Scotland.
According to Kathryn Schulz, each of us is our very own Church of Scotland — often mistaken, oddly oblivious and typically immune to a good beseeching. “Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error” is an insightful and delightful discussion of the errors of our ways — why we make mistakes, why we don’t know we are making them and what we do when recognition dawns.
Schulz begins with a question that should puzzle us more than it does: Why do we love being right? After all, she writes, “unlike many of life’s other delights — chocolate, surfing, kissing — it does not enjoy any mainline access to our biochemistry: to our appetites, our adrenal glands, our limbic systems, our swoony hearts.” Indeed, as she notes, “we can’t enjoy kissing just anyone, but we can relish being right about almost anything,” including that which we’d rather be wrong about, like “the downturn in the stock market, say, or the demise of a friend’s relationship or the fact that at our spouse’s insistence, we just spent 15 minutes schlepping our suitcase in exactly the opposite direction from our hotel.”
Schulz teases out answers to this question over two rather different halves of her book. In the first half, she conducts a scientific tour of everyday wrongness that includes optical illusions, memory failures, neurological deficits and irrational beliefs, describing how they arise, how they are perpetuated by those around us and why we find it so difficult to see them for what they are. Much of this territory will be familiar to readers of such recent popular psychology titles as “Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me)” or “The Invisible Gorilla.” Although Schulz, a journalist, covers this material less expertly than the experts, she compensates by drawing on a wider pool of informants, from Wittgenstein to Hamlet to Alan Greenspan. By the end of the tour, we have a pretty good sense of why we see what isn’t there, believe what isn’t true and remember what didn’t happen.
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Schulz then shifts from origins to experience — from “how our senses, our minds and our allegiances can all lead us into error” to “how we react when our convictions collapse out from under us, and how we are changed by that experience.” This shift in perspective is accompanied by a sudden shift in form that compels Schulz to pop out of her narrative after 249 pages and discuss her plan with the reader. Hearing no objections, she offers several chapters that tell personal stories in classic New Yorker style (“On April 4, 1968, the day that Martin Luther King Jr. was killed, Claiborne Paul Ellis threw a party”). Case histories of a Klansman who became an unlikely advocate for civil rights, of a doomsday prophet whose apocalypse wasn’t now, of a sexual assault victim whose mistaken testimony jailed an innocent man allow Schulz to explore what happens to us when our wrongness is exposed and we must accept it, deny it or be transformed by it. The stories are mainly gripping and always well told, though sometimes more powerful than the points they are meant to illuminate.
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From the expository first half through the character-driven second, Schulz remains good company — a warm, witty and welcome presence who confides in her readers rather than lecturing them. It doesn’t hurt that she combines lucid prose with perfect comic timing: “Witness, for instance, the difficulty with which even the well-mannered among us stifle the urge to say ‘I told you so.’ The brilliance of this phrase . . . derives from its admirably compact way of making the point that not only was I right, I was also right about being right. In the instant of uttering it, I become right squared, maybe even right factorial, logarithmically right — at any rate, really, extremely right, and really, extremely delighted about it.” |
In 1969, Hersh broke the story of the My Lai massacre in which US troops slaughtered over 100 Vietnamese men, women and children--a story the US media at first refused to touch. He was also among the first to expose the torture and sexual abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US soldiers at the Abu Ghraib prison in 2004. And he exposed the Obama administration's lies about the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden, as well as the fabricated claims of a Syrian chemical weapons attack in 2013 that brought the US to the brink of another war.
[...] A full week has passed since the publication by a major German newspaper of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh's thoroughgoing debunking of the false claim of a Syrian government chemical weapons attack on April 4. The supposed atrocity by the regime of Bashar al-Assad was used to justify the April 6 US cruise missile strike on the al-Shayat air base. At least nine civilians, including four children, died when 59 Tomahawk missiles rained down on the base in western Syria.
Since the German daily Die Welt published Hersh's article, titled "Trump's Red Line", on June 25, its contents have been subjected to a total blackout by the major newspapers and broadcast and cable news networks in the United States.
Hersh's account makes clear that, not only was there no objective evidence to back up Washington's charges of a chemical weapons attack by the Syrian government on the town of Khan Sheikhoun, the fact that there was no such attack was known to the US military and intelligence apparatus even before the cruise missile strike was ordered.
"The available intelligence made clear that the Syrians had targeted a jihadist meeting site on April 4 using a Russian-supplied guided bomb equipped with conventional explosives", Hersh wrote. "Details of the attack, including information on its so-called high-value targets, had been provided by the Russians days in advance to American and allied military officials in Doha, whose mission is to coordinate all US, allied, Syrian and Russian Air Force operations in the region."
Basing himself on sources within the US intelligence apparatus who spoke on condition of anonymity, as well as access to "transcripts of real-time communications, immediately following the Syrian attack on April 4", Hersh establishes that a Syrian government plane dropped a conventional 500-pound bomb, not a chemical weapon, on the site of the meeting, which included "representatives of Ahrar al-Sham and the al-Qaida-affiliated group formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra". |
The beginning of September is looking like a massively busy period, as the IFA trade show kicks off and almost every major mobile company has an event planned. Scores of smartphones and smartwatches will be announced here, and most will start shipping later in the month.
For this reason, right now is the worst possible time to buy a phone or smartwatch–wait until these releases are out of the way, and then reap the benefits of lower prices or newer devices on the market in late September and October.
Don’t believe me? Just have a look at what’s coming in September:
Smartphones*
Samsung are releasing the Galaxy Alpha and the Galaxy Note 4. Motorola are releasing the Moto X+1 and Moto G2. Sony are releasing the Xperia Z3, Z3 Compact and Z3 Tablet Compact. Nokia are releasing the Nokia Lumia 530, 730 and 830. HTC are releasing the One M8 with Windows and the J Butterfly. Chinese companies Meizu and Huawei are releasing the MX4 and Ascend Mate 7, respectively. Sharp are releasing the Aquous Crystal. Most importantly of all, Apple are releasing at least one new iPhone, the iPhone 6.
Smartwatches
September looks equally busy for smartwatches. Motorola are the biggest confirmed players here, with the eagerly anticipated Moto 360 set to launch. ASUS and LG have also teased new smartwatches for IFA, while Sony are rumoured to also be showing a watch at the event. Apple are the wildcard here–it’s not known if they’ll announce the iWatch at their September 9th event, but if they do then it’ll be massive.
Press Events
Here’s a breakdown of all announced or heavily rumoured events:
September 2nd
Meizu (MX4)
September 3rd
Samsung (Galaxy Note 4)
Sony (Xperia Z3, Z3 Compact, Z3 Tablet Compact, SmartWatch 3)
ASUS (smartwatch)
September 4th
Motorola (Moto X+1, G2, 360)
Nokia (Lumia 730, 830)
Huawei (Ascend Mate 7)
September 9th
Apple (iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Air)
Signing off
September is going to be an awesome time for mobile fans, and there’s only one way to ruin it: by purchasing a smartphone or smartwatch just before its successor is announced. Wait if you can, and you’ll find cheaper smartphones or newer models in a matter of weeks. My recommendation? iPhone 6 or Galaxy Note 4. But don’t decide now – there will be a lot of excellent choices in the weeks to come!
*Not all of these phones will see European releases – the One M8 with Windows and Aquous Crystal have been announced for US markets. The J Butterfly and Aquous Crystal are launching in Japan. The MX4 and Ascend Mate 7 will launch in China. Still, it’s possible to import these phones. |
An escalating teachers' labour dispute in B.C. is set to become even more confrontational, with the employer announcing a partial lockout beginning next Monday.
That could put extracurricular trips and activities, including high-school graduation ceremonies, at risk and make it impossible for teachers to mark exams or complete report cards, a B.C. Teachers' Federation spokesperson said.
"Effective May 26, 2014, and continuing until further notice, your members will be locked out as described in this letter," Michael Marchbank, public administrator for the B.C. Public School Employers' Association, said in a letter to teachers' federation president Jim Iker.
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The letter, dated May 21 and posted on the employers' association website, says that under the partial lockout, teachers would not be allowed to come to work more than 45 minutes before classes start or stay later than 45 minutes after classes end except for an urgent safety issue. If no agreement is reached, a full secondary school lockout is scheduled for June 25 and 26 followed by a lockout for all schools on June 27.
The two sides are in contract negotiations. Teachers started a job action in April, refusing to perform some administrative work. Rotating strikes are due to begin on Monday.
BCPSEA, the bargaining agent for the province's 60 school boards, also said it would dock teachers' pay by 5 per cent as of Monday over the job action, and by 10 per cent in the event of rotating strikes.
In the letter, Mr. Marchbank says BCPSEA was left with "no option" after the federation did not alter its bargaining position in response to recent changes to employers' offer.
The letter maintains the teachers' federation is seeking total compensation increases of 21.5 per cent over four years and that its demands on class size and composition are "enormously expensive" and would amount to $2-billion a year by the fourth year.
A BCTF spokesman said the union's lawyers are reviewing the letter, but noted a lockout could affect the ability of teachers to mark provincially required exams for Grade 10 and Grade 11 students.
"There are lawful opportunities to go to lockouts and strikes when parties are in a dispute," said Maynard Witvoet, the president of the B.C. Industrial Relations Association, a non-partisan debate group on labour issues. "With the teachers looking at rotating strikes, a lockout would be an option for an employers."
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The employer is required to give at least 72 hours notice.
The potential lockout will push questions about the logistics and legality of the proposed wage rollback to the fore.
"The government hasn't been clear on exactly who would do that [the wage rollback] and how they would do it," Geoff Johnson, a former school superintendent, said on Wednesday.
Individual school boards that implement the wage cut could be a target for legal action, Mr. Johnson said, adding that the teachers' contract would remain in effect even though they were on strike.
"Is it up to the 60 school districts to embark on a course of action that would break that contract, or do something opposing that contract? I think they would be foolish if they did," Mr. Johnson said.
The teachers' federation has said it expects the wage rollback to wind up before the Labour Relations Board.
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School administrators said implementing a province-wide wage reduction would be complicated and fraught with potential for error.
Districts around the province use different payroll systems and teachers are paid at different rates, while some are on leave, working part-time or changed jobs during the school year.
"So it's not quite as simple as if they [the province] were to give everyone a 1.5-per cent salary increase and you just go and program that in," Vancouver School Board chairwoman Patti Bacchus said on Wednesday. "It would require, I think, a bit more detailed approach to get it done accurately. ... There's only a few pay periods left in the whole year, so it's not going to be a simple thing to implement."
As of Wednesday, Ms. Bacchus had not received any instruction from the province or the BCPSEA about implementing a wage rollback.
The contract for B.C.'s 41,000 public school teachers expired last June.
Last Thursday, the province backed away from its previously-stated goal of a 10-year deal and offered teachers a $1,200 signing bonus if a deal was struck before the end of June. A day later, the chief negotiator for the province said B.C. was prepared to dock teachers' pay by 5 per cent in retaliation for the job action. The BCTF then said it would begin rotating strikes.
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"It would have been nice if they [the province] had left the proposal from Thursday on the board for consideration and not immediately moved to a threat or coercive kind of proposal," said Daniel Laitsch, an associate professor in Simon Fraser University's faculty of education.
The situation is coloured by a long-running court fight that has resulted in the province and the BCTF approaching the bargaining table from sharply different perspectives, Dr. Laitsch said.
The court case relates to contract provisions that allowed teachers to negotiate class size and composition.
In January, a Supreme Court of B.C. judge reaffirmed a 2011 court ruling that found provincial education legislation introduced in 2002 that removed those bargaining was unconstitutional. The province is appealing the decision.
The proposed wage rollback is designed to put pressure on the teachers' union to reach an agreement, said Teresa Rezansoff, president of the B.C. School Trustees Association, the umbrella group for B.C.'s 60 school boards.
"It's unfortunate, but it is a necessary step that is being taken by BCPSEA to try to bring pressure to the table and hopefully that will result in a resolution at the bargaining table," Ms. Rezansoff said. "We don't want to go into September without having certainty in our system, that's for sure."
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With a report from from Justin Giovannetti |
Bradley Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst accused of handing over troves of classified military records to the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, has been overwhelmingly selected by Guardian readers to be the publication’s “person of the year” for 2012. Manning finished first in the vote with 70 percent. The runner-up was Malala Yousafzai, the 15-year-old education and women’s rights activist in Pakistan who was shot in the head by the Taliban.
Also making the list: feminist punk collective Pussy Riot, election predictor extraordinaire Nate Silver and Olympics opening ceremony mastermind Danny Boyle.
Digital Journal: Each year the Guardian’s editors and readers nominate and vote for the person they consider to be most important and a headline-maker for the year. …Nominated by a reader, mhenri, Manning, who is in military prison and undergoing pretrial hearings for the release of classified documents to WikiLeaks, including the “Collateral Murder” video, showing civilians and Reuters journalists cut down by the US Military: “Bradley Manning, who after blowing a very necessary whistle, has survived yet another year of cruel and unusual pretrial punishment at the hand of the US military, which was designed to break him psychologically….” Read more
— Posted by Tracy Bloom. |
Despite its relegation to a subset of the Apatosaurus family in 1903, new research suggests that the Brontosaurus is distinct enough to be a genus
The Brontosaurus has been consigned to extinction not once, but twice – the second time when scientists concluded it was too similar to other long-necked dinosaurs to deserve its own genus.
Now the “thunder lizard” looks set to make a comeback, after a new analysis suggests that Brontosaurus specimens are sufficiently distinct from other species after all.
The team behind the findings hope they will trigger the resurrection of the Brontosaurus moniker, more than 100 years after it was discarded by academics.
“It’s a nice example of how science works. A new finding can overturn more than 100 years of beliefs,” said Emanuel Tschopp, who led the study at the Nova University in Lisbon.
The first Brontosaurus specimen was unearthed during the so-called “Bone Wars”, when rival scientists were competing to name as many new specimens as possible. The palaeontologist Othniel Charles Marsh hastily declared Brontosaurus to be a new genus in 1879, two years after naming another bulky long-necked specimen, the Apatosaurus (deceptive lizard).
The discovery of a third intermediate species cast doubt on the claim, however, suggesting the whole lot would be more sensibly designated as a single group. By 1903, the Brontosaurus had been relegated to A. excelsus, a subset of the Apatosaurus family – but to the present day it has lived on as a mainstay in popular culture.
“It’s like a scientific zombie that has kept shambling on for one reason or another,” said Brian Switek, author of My Beloved Brontosaurus and amateur palaeontologist based in Utah. “Partly, it’s just a wonderful name. It sounds big.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Brontosaurus as researchers imagined it in the late 1800s. Photograph: Picasa
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Brontosaurus as researchers see it today, with a Diplodocus-like head. Photograph: Davide Bonadonna
The newly proposed revival is the unexpected outcome of a re-assessment of the hierarchy of the entire Diplodocidae clade, the family containing Diplodocus, Apatosaurus and several other long-necked specimens.
The group lived between 170 to 130 million years ago and are distinguished by their short legs (they are sometimes dubbed the “dachshunds” of dinosaurs) and incredible length. The average length of an Apatosaurus was 22m, but a related species, Supersaurus, was thought to have reached 34m head to tail.
The scientists analysed 81 skeletons and measured around 477 anatomical traits to create a new evolutionary family tree. Statistically, two main groups emerged: one containing more slender species, such as Diplodocus, and a second containing the bulkier Apatosaurus. Within the Apatosaurus group, though, further considerable distinctions were found. Apatosaurus had a thicker neck than the original Brontosaurus specimens, and differences were seen in the shape of their shoulder blades and ankle bones, according to the PeerJ report.
“The differences we found between Brontosaurus and Apatosaurus were at least as numerous as the ones between other closely related genera, and much more than what you normally find between species,” said Roger Benson, a co-author from the University of Oxford.
Professor Paul Barrett, a senior dinosaur researcher at the Natural History Museum in London, is among those ready to re-adopt the Brontosaurus title, based on the findings. “It’s the biggest study on this family, they marshal a lot of evidence and make a very good case,” he said.
“It’s taken us a long time to convince people that we shouldn’t be using the name ‘Brontosaurus’,” he added. “Just as we’ve got to that point, it looks like we’re going to have to turn around and say ‘Actually, it’s alright again’.”
Others are more hesitant. “I want to believe, but I’m not sure the Brontosaurus is here to stay just yet,” said Switek.
The problem, he says, is that there is no standard way of picking which anatomical traits are significant, meaning there is a degree of subjectivity in drawing lines between related genera. Using a different set of anatomical markers could easily sink Brontosaurus back into the Apatosaurus genus. The question is unlikely to be definitively agreed, Switek predicts, without the discovery of fresh fossils, in particular a Brontosaurus skull, which has never been found.
Unlike for living species, there is no official procedure for creating a new genus or reinstating an old one, and whether Brontosaurus makes a comeback will depend on popular consensus within the community. “Other researchers will now need to test the evidence for resuscitating Brontosaurus,” said Tschopp.
The authors said the research was only possible due to the recent discovery of several new dinosaurs similar to both Apatosaurus and Brontosaurus, which made it possible to undertake a detailed investigation of how different they actually were.
“Our research would not have been possible at this level of detail 15 or more years ago,” said Tschopp. “In fact, until very recently, the claim that Brontosaurus was the same as Apatosaurus was completely reasonable, based on the knowledge we had.”
Irrespective of the scientific outcome, the dinosaur is likely to live on in the popular imagination. “The ghost of Brontosaurus will always be with us,” said Switek. |
Greetings everyone!
Chan-shuu from Good Smile Company’s planning team here! (@gscs_hirase)
Following on from yesterday, today I’m going to be taking a look at…
Nendoroid Todomatsu Matsuno!
From the popular anime series ‘Osomatsu-san’ comes a Nendoroid of the sixth son of the Matsuno family, Todomatsu! He comes with three face plates including his cute standard expression, his classic ‘Totty’ expression as well as a blank expression with a variety of different stickers for you to create your very own expression! Optional parts include his smartphone, a cafe apron and an alternate head part wearing his hat – all sorts of parts to recreate your favorite scenes from the series! Be sure to display him with his other brothers who are also joining the Nendoroid series!
“I’m the youngest of the brothers. Todomatsu Matsuno!”
The youngest brother who excels at taking advantage of those around him and knows just how cute he is! The perfect model for the youngest sibling, Todomatsu Matsuno is joining the Nendoroids! His lovely pink hoodie and denim pants have both been shrunk down to Nendoroid size along with his smartphone to hold in his hand!
▼ This is how he looks from the back!
▲ Talking with someone on the phone?
His right hand goes up just high enough to make him look like he is talking on the phone! The sticking up hair has also as usual been included on the Nendoroid design!
▼A trip out by himself!
▲ Creating a background with the figmaPLUS: School Route Set!
I’m sure Todomatsu takes a lot of selfies of himself! This photo is based on that idea!
▲ Wearing a cafe apron!
Todomatsu is often known by the name “Totty” as you can see written on this apron based on the uniform from the cafe! It connects to the figure by detaching the body and placing the apron in-between the head and body!
It can also be worn by all of his brothers as well!! Let’s try that out…
▼ Everyone gets nice and close and then…
!?!?
▲His classic Totty face is included!!
I don’t think there has ever been a Nendoroid face plate with such an impact! Those eyes, nose and mouth… everything about this expression is just so… whoa!! ((((ﾟДﾟ；))))
He also comes with a clenched fist which has purposefully been made to look more realistic than most Nendoroid hands!
▲”S-sorry, Totty…“
It seems Jyushimatsu accidentally hit his brother with a baseball… the flustered look on Jyushimatsu and that powerful gaze from Todomatsu really tell a story all on their own!!
Anyway, let’s move on with the next optional parts…
▼He also comes with a hat!
▲ This is actually a completely separate head part that replaces his standard hair to instead display him wearing the hat! He really looks quite stylish with the beanie… which can also of course be used on the other brothers as well!
▼ Even Choromatsu can be stylish!
He is also holding the oden included with Nendoroid Osomatsu! It’s so fun swapping the parts around between the brothers! ♪
Plus, just like his brother’s before him…
▼He also comes with a blank faceplate!
▼As well as three different expression stickers! ♪
△ Personally I love the cunning expression on the left!
Nendoroid Todomatsu Matsuno !
He is currently up for preorder!
Orders from the GOODSMILE ONLINE SHOP will also include Special Round Base and Two Extra Blank Expressions as a bonus! |
New Delhi: India’s domestic air passenger traffic has almost doubled in the past six years led by strong economic growth and emergence of low-fare airlines, according to data compiled by aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
Indian airlines flew 99.88 million passengers in 2016 compared with 51 million in 2010, the data shows.
Airlines also flew more passengers per flight on an average. Average seat occupancy rates rose to 83.9% in 2016 from 76.6% in 2010.
ALSO READ | India beats China in November air traffic growth
Another key trend over these years was the domination of budget airlines who have wrested market share from full service airlines such as Air India and Jet Airways.
Low-fare airline IndiGo controls nearly 40% of the domestic market share, more than the combined share of Air India and Jet Airways.
Kingfisher Airlines shut operations in 2012 because of a massive debt burden and widening losses. “The traffic is now with the low-cost airlines," said Harsh Vardhan, a former head of the erstwhile regional airline Vayudoot.
In the past decade, there used to be a difference of 8-12% in the ticket prices of budget and full service airlines, said Vardhan.
“That has been eroded," Vardhan said. “Yield is no longer a criteria. Belly filling is the first criteria now."
The 2010-2016 growth compares with a similar trend from 2005 when the base was way smaller at 23 million air passengers and flight occupancy stood at 67%.
This was also the time when most budget airlines, including SpiceJet, IndiGo and GoAir were launched.
India has close to 450 planes in service and about 900 planes on order, indicating of the growth that lies ahead, according to consulting firm CAPA. “The ratio of orders to in-service aircraft is the highest of any major market in the world. India’s growth prospects are reflected in its strong aircraft order book. The ratio of around 1.75 aircraft on order to the aircraft in service is one of the highest in the world, even higher than the UAE," said CAPA’s South Asia CEO Kapil Kaul.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) too expects India to displace UK as the third-largest aviation market by 2026.
Indian airlines were expected to touch 100 million passengers in 2016-17, a feat they almost touched in 2016 with 23.18% growth.
Still, Vardhan warns profits could come under pressure.
“The first few quarters of this fiscal were fine but we are now seeing increasing fuel prices and dollar differential which will certainly impact airline balance sheets," he said. |
This article is part of the Guardian's World Cup 2014 Experts' Network, a co-operation between 32 of the best media organisations from the countries who have qualified for the finals in Brazil. theguardian.com is running previews from four countries each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking off on 12 June.
When Hong Myung-bo became the coach of South Korea last July after the team struggled through qualification under Choi Kang-hee, he announced that it was time to return the team to its 'Korean' core values: a counter-attacking game played at serious pace with fast wide men getting behind opposing defences and a team putting pressure on the opposition. This was opposed to the robust long-ball tactics that dominated under his predecessor, one that never really seemed to suit a team full of technically-minded players.
For Hong, 4-2-3-1 was the key against Greece in a recent friendly win and has been for most of his reign, though he has suggested some flexibility. Other formations such as 4-4-2 have been dabbled with but not very successfully, especially in a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Mexico in January (albeit with a very experimental line-up).
The charismatic 45-year-old, who led the under-20 team to the last eight at the 2009 World Cup and then took the under-23 side to a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics, has been going Dutch for years. During his playing days and 136 caps for South Korea, he was Guus Hiddink's captain in the astonishing run to the World Cup semi-finals on home soil in 2002 (and his assistant for six months at Anzhi Machachakala in 2013) and got his first taste of coaching as part of Dick Advocaat's staff for the 2006 World Cup, before becoming the second assistant to Pim Verbeek for the 2007 Asian Cup. Verbeek believes that some Oranje has rubbed off on the former defender.
"When I saw Korea at the Olympics 2012 I saw parts of the match that looked very much the way the Dutch like to play," Verbeek, who also took Australia to the 2010 World Cup, told the Guardian. "There was building up from the back, high pressure when losing the ball, possession and patience. This in combination with the outstanding physical abilities of Korean players makes Hong's team very difficult to beat."
What Hong found upon taking the job last July was that Korea was richer in some areas than others. Full-backs are an issue. This position has traditionally been quite a strong one for the country that has produced competent players who can play on either side and in either half. There are still lots of decent full-backs but none yet of the top-notch variety. Hong has introduced two new faces, Kim Jin-su on the left and Lee Yong on the right, although the former is no injured. This can leave the centre-backs exposed, even more so as one of the two midfielders immediately ahead of them is Ki Sung-yeung, a player who doesn't always take defensive duties too seriously.
Defence overall is an issue and Korea conceded more goals from set pieces in qualification than all but one other nation. It almost cost the team a place in Brazil. Unfortunately, while the two centre-backs are improving as a unit and both Hong Jeong-ho and Kim Young-kwon like to play out from the back (though Kim, a potential Manchester United player according to his club coach at Guangzhou Evergrande, Marcello Lippi, is a little gaffe-prone). The goalkeeping position is also a problem and there has been a palpable air of nervousness around the backline for some time and the lack of a leader and organiser does not help. If anyone can solve the problem then it is surely the man who is generally held to be the greatest centre-back that Asia has ever produced? That remains to be seen.
Ki Sung-yeung plays deeper for country than when impressing for the early and middle parts of the season for Sunderland. While this limits his offensive capabilities, it does mean that he is always available as an outlet for the defence and as he rarely gives the ball away, Korea are starting to look more comfortable in possession in their own half. Just who partners Ki in the midfield to play the holding role is another question that has not been completely answered. Han Kook-young and Park Jung-woo will have to sort it out between themselves – neither has really made the position their own.
Where Korea look good is in the attacking trio that play behind the lone striker. Lee Chung-yong, the country's most skilful player, is on the right and it looks likely that Bayer Leverkusen's Son Heung-min will be on the opposite side. Both are quick, and while Lee is more of a provider and looks to be get behind the defence to wreak havoc, Son likes to sprint from deep and shoot from the edge of the area. This could be a big tournament for the talented 21-year-old.
Who plays centrally is slightly tougher to predict. It could be the 2012 Asian Player of the Year, Lee Keun-ho, or Cardiff City's Kim Bo-kyoung (both can play wide as well) and there is another option of Ji Dong-won who can also play pretty much anywhere in the attack. Koo Ja-cheol is the favourite however. The combative but skilful captain of the 2012 bronze-medal winning side should play, but lacks a clear role in the team. Too attack-minded to play alongside Ki, the Mainz man may lack the creativity needed for the No10 role.
The main striker is set to be Park Chu-young, despite the fact he has barely played for Arsenal in the past three years, though there was a loan spell with Celta Vigo in the 2012-13 season. There just aren't many other options. Kim Shin-wook is his closest rival and the 'Korean Peter Crouch' has been the top Korean striker in the K-League over the past two years. His massive height does tend to result in lots of long balls, however, but his finishing, in the air and on the ground, has improved of late.
Who is the player who is going to surprise everyone at the World Cup?
Lee Chung-yong. The Bolton Wanderers winger settled into the Premier League quite nicely back in 2009 after his move from FC Seoul. At the end of his second season, there was a promise of a move to Liverpool and all was looking promising until his leg was broken in a pre-season friendly by Newport's Tom Miller, a name well-remembered among Korean fans.
Lee returned only for the final week of the season, but by that time, the Trotters were already down. Life in the Championship has not been to his liking and while there are some fans who believe he is simply not the player he was before the injury, there are others, and not just supporters back in Korea, that feel it is a case of the league and the player just not being suited to each other.
Under Hong, Lee has been Korea's best performer. Switzerland, a team that arrived in Seoul last November on the back of an 18-month unbeaten run, couldn't cope with his pace and dribbling skills and were flattered by a 2-1 defeat. Lee ran through the Haiti defence at will, suggesting the beginnings of a potentially devastating understanding with Son Heung-min, and was surprisingly robust and aggressive in a defeat at the hands of Brazil last October, upsetting a number of the illustrious visitors.
Usually played on the right, though he pops up on the left from time to time, Lee has extremely quick feet, even if they don't quite reach his pre-injury speed. The major downside is his poor finishing – although he scored against Argentina and Uruguay in South Africa. He has yet to find the finishing to match his close control. If that happened, Lee really would be a star.
Who is the player who is going to disappoint the most?
Jung Sung-ryong. Likely to be Korea's No1 in Brazil, as he has been for most of the past four years or so, Jung does not inspire the confidence that he should. He looks like a perfect goalkeeper, tall, strong and as agile as they come but mistakes never seem that far away, even when he was in his best form in 2010-11. A brutal run of errors for club and country in 2013 cost him a starting spot temporarily, but his understudies were underwhelming. He was back between the posts against Greece in March and, while he kept a clean sheet, the woodwork and luck played a part.
What is the realistic aim for your team and why?
The last 16. Korea aim to be regular participants in the knockout stage. It has happened twice in the last three tournaments and even in 2006, the Taeguk Warriors performed the best of those who went home at the earliest opportunity. To do it again, and this time in South America, would be further evidence that the East Asians are a power in the world of football and give the game and the country a shot in the arm. At the risk of stating the obvious, the first game against Russia is hugely important for the performance as well as the result. A decent start and Korea should get out of Group H. All three games are winnable but then the other sides will probably be thinking the same. Coach Hong lacks overall coaching experience, but in tournaments he has an excellent record.
John Duerden is an Asia football correspondent for BBC Radio, the Guardian, ESPN and World Soccer
Follow him here on Twitter
Click here for a profile of Park Chu-young
Click here for the secrets behind the South Korea players |
Ghalib, the Difficult Poet
by Shamsur Rahman Faruqi
translated from the Urdu by M. U. Memon
Herself in love with the difficu1t, she loves to tell beads;
For she loves the fun of balancing a hundred hearts on the palm of a hand. {8,1}
But if the rejected diwan was reaIly a compendium of nonsense, why this persistent claim to "creation of meaning"? Why insist, "Maulvi Sahib, (just see,) what delicate meaning!"? Why claim, "My sher is not nonsense, what more can I say!"? Why the contention, "Sentence after sentence I have (often) left implied"?; and why also the complaint, "Brother, I am greatly amazed at your hesitancy about the meaning of this verse"? These remarks are about the accepted verse, of course. Now if clarity and explicitness were the test of true poetic skill, clearly these remarks were grossly out of place. In fact, from beginning till end Ghalib followed only a single style. The style did not change, it became smoother and more polished; and as he moved from better to best, the synthetic heaviness of his diction--which was the effect of Persian words and idioms which he had incorporated into his Urdu verse simply because Urdu was neither the language of his ancestors nor was he himself fuIly conversant with its idiom--was progressively relieved by assiduous practice and replacement of the Persian with the Urdu idiom. As to the difficulty of his verse, his diwan is difficult from end to end; and this is due primarily to his complex mind that enabled him to simultaneously absorb and express diverse experiences.
An explanation is in order here. In using the adjective "difficult" to describe Ghalib's verse, I am following what is only a common usage. I am rather inclined to call it ambiguous, not difficult, the former being to my mind something infinitely superior. I consider difficulty a defect and ambiguity a merit in poetry. Difficulty results from a static situation, while dynamism and indeterminacy are the basic characteristics of ambiguity. Difficulty is like a code or a riddle. If we can break the code or solve the riddle, we may penetrate to its intent. Ambiguity, on the other hand, is like a problem; here one is confronted with a series of solutions each of which is right. While difficulty knows only one level, ambiguity operates on several levels, being in itself the characteristic of a mind capable of expressing in one breath truths suggestive of different significations and permeated by different states. Unaware of this delicate difference, Ghalib termed as difficulty what was really his ambiguity, though it seems that he knew the essential character of the latter. His own definition of difficulty applies with greater justification to ambiguity. Ambiguity, let us say an ambiguous poem, is rightly expected to have some meaning for everyone. Difficulty, by contrast, leaves the key to the meaning of the riddle of a verse in the hands only of one who is able to undo that riddle, and insists that once the meaning is known it would be final and definite. A verse may be difficult for me, either because I do not know the meanings of the words employed in it, or because I do not know quite what the given idiom means; or, finally, because I am unable to perceive the true meaning of the allusion contained therein. The same may be easy for others. Examples:
Of whose cruel style of brush does the image complain?
Every image, every picture is paper-dressed. {1,1} Again I am reminded of my wet eye,
My heart is jigar tishna for lamentation. {35,1} The crime of shedding people's blood is proved on the wine carafe,
The wavelet of wine trembles to see your style of walking. {60,5}
Aside from the fact that the first sher is also somewhat ambiguous, its entire difficulty lies in its allusion. Once the allusion is explained, the apparent meaning effortlessly emerges. If we know that jigar tishna in the second verse simply means very thirsty, we are able to understand the meaning without much difficulty. A riddle, its key being the drunken gait of the beloved, conceals the meaning in the third verse. The difficulty of these shers is thus due not so much to their intrinsic intricacy as to the intellectual and scientific capacity of the reader, or else to the structure of his mind. Some people are able to solve puzzles easily but are men of ordinary ability in other matters. Some others, while quite stupid in solving riddles, nevertheless possess superior intelligence. Some other examples of difficult verse:
Now don't let the fly enter the garden;
For this means the murder of the innocent moth. Don't let your captives sit within the circle of lamentation,
Nay, do not draw the blue line around your cheek. Can I really tell of the prosperity of my sickness of love!
What heart blood I quaffed was free from the sufferance of having to become kimus. {39,4}
One freely encounters such examples of difficulty in qasida and marsiya. Scattered throughout Ghalib's own qasidas are shers our comprehension of which depends on prior knowledge of idiom and terminology. Why associate Ghalib with such superficial and extrinsic difficulty, something as easily found in, say, Nasikh and Momin? To say that Ghalib gave up his love of difficulty is to say that Ghalib changed his very nature. Inasmuch as Ghalib's expression is based on experience more than on emotion, on intellectuality more than on sentimentality, such intricacies were also dear to him as, through verbal mechanics, endow the experience related in a given verse with a state that affords the reader a spectrum of possibilities for his response. The reader appreciates that the underlying sense of the verse is not what his mind has just started to perceive, and yet despite the relative unambiguity of the sense, the ingathering of the many relatively unconnected responses in his mind is nevertheless enhancing the enjoyment of the verse. Thus he allows these apparently unconnected responses to steal into his feelings.
Above I have attempted to make the point that Ghalib was difficult because it was not possible for him to go against his nature. The statement can be rephrased: since his nature was endowed with a powerful urge to be entirely unique, he consciously chose to express his "differentness" in a manner opposed to public taste. It was almost as if he told himself, "I must write differently from others," and then set about executing his design by choosing an intricate style which was radically different from the simple one then in vogue. Such, indeed, is the diagnosis of Muhammad Husain Azad. A very correct diagnosis no doubt, but not taken to its logical conclusion. The question arises: Why, after all, only an intricate style to be distinct? For that matter, Mir's diwan too was [according to {92,8x}] "not less than the Garden of Cashmere," yet Ghalib's contemporaries hardly ever paid more than mere lip service to Mir. Neither Zauq nor Momin nor yet Nasikh fashioned his poetry after Mir. Perhaps it will not be inexact to say that by Ghalib's time people had forgotten all about Mir. Mir's outstanding contribution to the form of Urdu ghazal, namely, casting an indigenous Hindi metre into the mould of Urdu, was so well neglected that none of the many hundred poets wrote more than a ghazal or two in this metre, though Ghalib did manage to compose a few verses patterned after Mir's kam tamam kiya. The gentle intimacy and feeling of companionship that gave Mir's tone its essential quality had by now been entirely given up and replaced by the insipid thought-hunting of a Nasikh, the hollow challengings of an Insha, the brittle feminine perceptions of a Momin, and the lofty sententiouness of a Zauq, --Mir had been edged away from the foreground. Mushafi, always proud of his affiliation with Delhi, held himself at a respectable distance from Mir, carefully avoiding any incursion into what was essentially Mir's territory. In spite of his sufic arrogance -- a trait that came closest to Mir's disposition -- Atash kept nursing his love of verbal pyrotechnics and physical aspects of the "jugglery" of love. In such a situation, nothing would havebeen easier for Ghalib than to write in Mir's style and, into the bargain, earn for himself the title of the Reviver of Mirian Style. But he did not do that. A second possibility lay in abandoning the grave and courteously polished tone of the Delhi school in favour of Nazlr Akbarabadi's forthright earthiness and celebration of the body. Ghalib would have none of that, either. A third possibility was to introduce a touch of irony in Jur'at's "kissing and necking" and thus give it a shade of grace and a measure of meaningfulness in expression. This, too, was not Ghalib's choice.
We have been moving all along to the inescapable conclusion that Ghalib quite consciously selected a style which was totally unacceptable then and remains esssentially inimitable even today. It may also be admitted that what helped along his choice of style was in a way his own consciousness as a patrician who could ill afford "to be fettered by plebeian ways and sways." The basic question however remains: Among a variety of styles, why did he pick the one which was the most incompatible with the tradition of Urdu poety as it was viewed then? There were many ways of looking different, why only this one?
If it is maintained that he adopted this style in following Bedil, because he was himself liberally fed on Persian poetic tradition and Bedil was a Persian poet, then, why only Bedil? Why not Hafiz, Sa'di or Naziri? And why not Iraqi and Attar, inasmuch as Ghalib's own poetry does not lack mystical elements and grandeur? Or Khusrau, since Ghalib was one of his great admirers?
Only one satisfactory answer is possible for these questions, which is again not entirely satisfactory. Ghalib was a slave to his nature. His disposition demanded that his tone resound with a lofty, ambitious cadence. Further, this cadence should not be artificial, but the result of intellectual and rational observations tbat span the entire range of human experience and situations, and yet their major constituent should be not the workaday world of ordinary mortals, but rather a state of apocalyptic vision. These intellectual and rational observations may be conveniently likened to light-rays emitted by a lamp. The rays illuminate the area surrounding the lamp, but the lamp remains entirely detached from its immediate environment. A poet of this temperament penetrates within himself from beyond himself, remaining altogether detached in the process. Instead of merging the without and the within, he rather steps away from the without, using himself as a lever to investigate the external reality from every possible perspective. This is a special type of impersonality in poetry, scarcely to be matched in any, let alone Urdu, poetry.
This may give the false impression, and hence even raise the objection, that since Ghalib had studied Bedil at an early age, and his formative years too had been spent quite close to the latter's poetry, small wonder therefore that he received the full impact of Bedil's influence. Yet the view that Ghalib accepted Bedil's influence altogether unquestioningly is rather doubtful. More importantly, a true poet in due course sloughs off the negative or disproprotionate influences imbibed during apprenticeship. Keats had been deeply influenced by Milton's blank verse. Even so, he left the Hyperion unfinished because it had in his estimation become too terribly Miltonic. Likewise, Iqbal first accepted Dagh's influence, but soon pulled himself out of his orbit. Today, Iqbal's ghazals that he wrote while still under Dagh's influence hardly strike us as typically his. Gautier's romanticism exerted a powerful pull on Baudelaire, who made his acquaintance with Edgar Allen Poe at a relatively mature age. But on reading Poe he soon realized that he had so far simply lived in the dark. Why go so far afield? Let us take Miraji, a poet of our own age and language. Who would deny Miraji's indebtedness to Mir, over and against the idiom espoused by the Progressives? His ghazals bear out this fact clearly. Still, he did not allow his genuine expression to get even a whiff of Mir's spirit. Thus it will not do to say that since Ghalib had deeply studied Bedil in his adolescent years, he therefore became irretrievably lost to him. All of us read and admired Sahir Ludhianvi in our adolescence. Today few of us would find a reason to continue in our admiration of him.
After these supplementary remarks on Muhammad Husain Azad's diagnosis, a few more things need be said which will help distinguish Ghalib's poetic mind more easily. First, the fact of Bedil's influence on Ghalib, as I have already pointed out. But it must be observed that although of his own admission Ghalib considered "Bedil's writing-reed to be the walking-staff on which he leaned throughout his exploits in the realm of poetry," he did not altogether depend on Bedil.
Asad! everywhere the verse has founded fresh gardens;
I have come to love the springful inventiveness of Bedil's style. {8,5x} Ghalib, I fear not losing my way in poetry's realm;
Bedil's writing-reed is to me the staff of Khizr in the vast land of poetry. {12,7x}
Even despite these shers, to which some personal confessions of the poet may be added, a mere reference to Bedil will not be enough to comprehend Ghalib. As I have mentioned above, Ghalib was a master propagandist. Quick to perceive the possibility of public appreciation drifting away from him, he managed just in time to throw in the much needed confession: I used to be a follower of Bedil, but now, with the advent of discretion, I have parted ways with him. Once we know that Ghalib did not part with Bedil, we are also no longer obliged to give in to the common assumption that he wholly, almost slavishly, depended on him. Bedil's nature was endowed with an occultist mysticism. Ghalib shows no trace of it. Bedil, again, was not only a poet, he was also an adept in, if not an originator of, a particular metaphysics that went a shade beyond ontology. A rationalism, a sanity, possessed Ghalib. Bedil had almost none of it. Thus Bedil's poetry cannot be a metaphor for Ghalib's verse. This is not to say that Ghalib did not learn anything from Bedil. Indeed he did, quite a bit, but the world he created out of the element of practical thought -- an element that predominated in his nature -- is more relevant to us, and is different from Bedil's. Ghalib did learn much of the art of poetry from Bedil, but he accepted the latter's influence just because the latter was more complex in thought than either Saib or Urfi. Had there been no Bedil, Ghalib would have no doubt accepted Saib and Urfi as his mentors. Having once learnt from Bedil the art of manipulating words to derive maximum profit out of them, Ghalib injected into this art his characteristic sensibility. Those things that he has glossed over by referring to them merely as "imaginary ideas" are in fact expressions of that sensibility and rationalism for which one looks in vain in Bedil.
There may be another reason for adopting Bedil's lofty and ambitious style: Ghalib is one of the few great Urdu poets who were born in a feudal household. And Ghalib was quite proud of his lineage. Zauq held a razor or, at best, a sword in his hand. Momin did betray a certain aristocratic breeding, but his genealogy was no match for Ghalib's. It was next to impossible to conceive of the existence of a poet in the atmosphere of social prestige and power in which Ghalib grew up and in the family to which he belonged. Yet a poet in such an environment could not have composed a verse like
Mir's dust settled at a distance from her;
Reverence like this is learned only from love.
Madness has occupied an important place in poetry, especially in Urdu poetry. Aristotle had of course identified poets with the mad, and Shakespeare too grouped the lover, the lunatic, and the poet together. All great poets, more especially all great romantic poets, reflect more or less that imbalance of mind which in its early stage rejects the intellectual mode of cognition in favour of the imaginative, the intuitive, modes, and is also quite capable of transmuting itself in its final stage into complete madness by a total rejection of the intellect as a source of perception. Madness and intellect are, in fact, two modes of knowledge. In poetry, as in metaphysics, madness holds ascendancy over mind. The disequilibrium resulting from insistence on the power of imagination and vision often also reflects itself visibly in the private life of the poet, and its expression can sometimes assume even frightening proportions. Baudelaire has given expression to these states with a peculiar intensity and terrible restlessness in his Journals. At one point he writes: "I have nurtured my hysteria with delight and terror. I am always in a state of vertigo; and today, 23 January 1862, I received a strange intimation: I felt the wings of imbecility fly over my head." In a poem written before the onset of frenzy, "Voyagers," he writes:
Pour us your poison: our comfort; we wish -- its fire so
inflames our brains -- to sink deep into the gulf's
depths, and -- what matters whether Paradise or Hell --
into the abyss of the Unknown, in search of something new.
Such extreme insistence on a direct source of knowledge is conspicuously absent from Ghalib. And though he mentions the wings of the anqa and the shadow of the huma, one doubts whether he really believed in them. Keats had grown fearful of darkness in his last days. A friend who looked after him would string the candles in such a way that as soon as one went out, another would be lit up. Coming awake suddenly one night, Keats saw a candle light up by itself and he cried: "Severn! Severn! Look -- fairies have come to retrieve my soul!" Had Ghalib seen this spectacle, he would have been reminded instead of "a wave of fiery blossoms." Death found an ardent lover in Mir, who wrote:
To spend your strength unstinting till your life is forfeit too
That is a joy that Khizr and Masiha never knew. (trans. Ralph Russell) Up to the candle, we saw a moth go.
Then there was only dancing, whirling, anguished flame. Amazed that Mir succumbed to your grief?
Was there some way for him to live? Your blood clung so to her sleeve, Mir
She was brought to tears, washing it clean. (trans. C. M. Naim) We didn't live to see her keep her word
Alas, our life ran out on us. (trans. C. M. Naim)
And that same death provided Ghalib with opportunities of mental sport, witticism and newness in speech, and intellectual sophistry. For instance:
O frustration, that gentle one's sword is sharp,
Still to my dying day I shall nurture my desire to see her face to face. The tenacity of life is the springtime of the wonder of seeing;
The spilt blood is like henna on the feet of Death, making it slow-footed. See, see the boundless surging of desire;
The killing sword is breathless too. {1,3} Blood-letting made the earth a colourful garden;
The growing of gardens is apparent in the mad rush of the wounded gazelle.
On May 23, 1861, some six months before Baudelaire wrote his diary, Ghalib exclaimed: "There is neither the art of poetry nor the understanding thereof. On what does the banker bank? Ah Delhi! Woe for Delhi! Blast Delhi! Let Delhi die!" This was the maximum extent of Ghalib's madness. Like Mir, he too was maddened to see a city, beautiful like painted canvases, torn to pieces. But unlike Mir, it was not for him to see a beautiful face in the moon. This elegiac letter on Delhi"s ruination is moving enough to make anyone weep; but Ghalib's is a madness born out of shock and sorrow, and not that which Baudelaire had cultivated with "terror" and "delight" after having irrevocably banished reason. Ghalib's poetry is the product of a mind which is in full possession of its reason; Ghalib is an intellectualist, but one who does not allow himself to be lost to the phenomena of nature. His entire romanticism is a romanticism of revolt. He is romantic and yet keeps firm hold on his heart, all the while goading his mind to spur on -- that is why his poetry is so difficult to understand. This difficulty, it may be noted, does not stem from intricate phraseology, but is rather the final link in a process of thought in which intuitive madness is subordinated to a six-dimensional mind.
The mirror-door is open to the six dimensions;
Here there is nothing to distinguish the perfect from the not-perfect. {41,4}
My desire has untied the knots of Bcauty's veil;
Now there's nothing which hides it, but my own power of sight. {41,5}
Ghalib characterizes the beloved as difficulty-loving; one must see how he defines difficulty. We have already decided why Ghalib was difficulty-loving; we have also noted that his difficultness is due mainly to a six-dimensional ambiguity. We must now see what are the internal mechanics of his verse that set this six-dimensional ambiguity at work.
Herself in love with the difficult, she loves to tell beads,
For she loves the fun of balancing a hundred hearts on the palm of a hand. {8,1}
This gesture of carrying away a hundred hearts in the palm of one hand quite pleases the beloved, who is not satisfied to express her predilection in words alone, but also exhibits in her hand a rosary of red carnelian, thereby giving a metaphorical expression of her nature. Instead of saying, "I am difficultyloving and also like to carry many hearts in my hand," she simply takes a rosary in her hand; she thus exposes two facts simultaneously by means of an expression which is not indebted to direct words for its meaning. Clearly, therefore, a style that depends for its expression on metaphor is seen as the touchstone of love-of-difficulty. Among others, one great advantage gained from using metaphor is that it outweighs the reality for which it stands. Thus the reality it represents gains over and above its ordinary dimension, or a hitherto-unknown dimension is added to it. Another advantage is that a metaphor can simultaneously point to numerous truths. In this way not only is the conventional beauty of verse, namely ijaz (conciseness, brevity), realized, but sometimes it also becomes possible to present two mutually exclmive facts in the same breath. A further step is to express two mutually exclusive realities in a way that makes them appear as one. Baudelaire had defined romanticism as a "manner of feeling." One can conveniently enlarge upon his definition: inasmuch as the human mind is sometimes capable of incorporating all at once a spectrum of states and observations within its ambit, it is inclined to articulate this multi-dimensional mode of perception by recourse to metaphor.
I have just spoken about blending into a single whole a series of antithetical facts. Form and content, too, are a pair of mutually dissimilar facts; but they, too, can be effectively fused into a single fact by metaphor. A hundred and fifty years ago, A.W. Schlegel remarked that modern literature "strives for an intimate interpenetration of form and content as two opposites." Assuming the object of a metaphor as content and metaphor itself as form, we can see the miraculous power of metaphor. In the verse at hand, the beloved, out of sheer love-of-difficulty, suggests her love of stealing a hundred hearts by the metaphorical act of holding a rosary in her hand. Thus the red beads of the rosary assume the place of hearts; and just as the beads find warmth and motion by the touch of the beloved's fingers, so do the hearts of lovers; just as each bead, though remaining tied to the same place, travels up and down with the motion of her fingers, so do lovers' hearts remain, despite all their madness, despite also the interplay of hope and fear, nearness and remoteness, tied to the same place. The beloved's henna-painted, fair, and tapering fingers have the same relation with the red beads of the rosary as does dawn to dusk: no matter how blood-shot the dusk is, not a shred of whiteness is subtracted from the dawn. Thus, holding a rosary in hand (a metaphor), and carrying away hearts (the actuality) become one.
The emergent fact is that Ghalib considers metaphor as the test and sign of love-of-difficulty. But in this metaphor are seen throughout effects of the particuhr sensibility about which I have spoken above, and one which is non-existent in Mir. The result of this sensibility -- that is, intellectual masterfulness -- is that Ghalib's metaphor causes that blending of form with content from which neither can be meaningfully extracted. In more conventional usage, where metaphor is used merely as a garment, it can be easily ripped off the body of the verse, thus weakening its impact and beauty, but not its essential meaning. Not so with Ghalib. Since metaphor cannot be extracted from the poem in Ghalib, our efforts to do so might succeed in killing the verse, but in nothing more. And. this is the difficulty of Ghalib. We try to detach the metaphor, we ruin the verse. Let us take the verse in question. We have detached the metaphor. All we have before us is the bare statement that the beloved is difficulty-loving and likes to carry away a hundred hearts in a single palm. We have already, inevitably, lost all those subtle meanings that the latter act is capable of offering when tied to the phrase "the telling of red beads."
Indeed, poets of frenzy -- those who so deeply believe in the superiority of imagination as a source of comprehension and gnosis that they outright reject rational thought -- too have achieved this harmony of form and content by using metaphor. Mir and Faiz are two illuminating examples. Even so, this harmony is seldom exploited to yield that advantage to which I drew attention earlier: namely, their metaphor seldom enlarges reality enough to accommodate different aspects of reality hitherto hidden from us. The secret of Ghalib's ambiguity lies in this point alone. And he achieves this quality by an unusual preoccupation with meanings that lie beyond words themselves, a preoccupation which is not found in other poets. The verse presented earlier as an example of Ghalib's mental preoccupation may be examined afresh.
See, see the boundless surging of desire;
The killing sword is breathless too. {1,3}
A number of facts lie at the root of the metaphor employed here. These facts, however hypothetical, are in turn metaphors of a number of other facts. Both these hypothetical facts and those for which they stand as metaphors are suppositions. The only tangible and basic fact is that the lover loves the beloved. Its metaphor is that the lover is quite prepared to sacrifice his life for his beloved, or has received such an overwhelming impact from the beloved's beauty that this impact may be likened to death. Reverse the metaphor and you will see the beloved emerge as killing the lover; stretch the metaphor and you will find that the lover can ill afford the beloved's indifference, which is like death to him. In poetry, these metaphors have already become facts -- facts that are now expresed by a fresh set of metaphors, namely: the beloved keeps a sword and similar weapons in readiness to kill the lover; the lover, since he is in love with the beloved, is quite prepared to meet his end at her hands; this readiness to be killed is the expression of desire which the lover feels in his heart for the beloved; and since the beloved behaves with perpetual indifference, she feels no qualms in killing the lover.
Metaphor, in fact, takes the place of reality; and it is at this point that Ghalib's verse is born. One becomes breathless in a state of intense desire and emotion, especially in the moment of sexual excitement. The sword, swishing in the air, about to fall on the lover's neck, here represents extreme agitation, as if it is restless to decapitate the lover; though it is not at all clear who is surging forth with desire. The sword, impatient to run across the lover's neck? But it can as well be the lover, who is quite restless to die and whose restlessness has affected the sword; so also the beloved, who is undergoing such uncontrollable emotional excitement in this moment of her lover's execution that much of her own agitation has infected the sword. And yet the truth is very simple indeed: the lover is quite eager to be killed; however, the metaphor has so enlarged it that many more states originally absent may be seen in it.
A recondite Arabic word or a far-fetched allusion might have made the verse under review only difficult, but clearly the poet has here occupied himself with those other meanings of very common words that lie beyond the words themselves. How does this transcendence come about in the phrase "boundless surging of desire"? Though the word "desire" is conventionally used to show the state of the lover's heart, it is so employed here that if it does not negate the conventional sense it also does not stop other senses from creeping into it. Where breathlessness points to unusual ardour and longing, it brings along another aspect also, the aspect of sexual excitement, which is further reinforced by the highly symbolic word "sword." The transcendental sense of the word "sword" is heavily charged with sexual overtones. Thus, "sword" and "breath of sword" will be seen here as strengthening between them the sexual connotations of which each is capable.
A poetry written under the spell of divine, intuitive frenzy cannot offer these complexities, for which one perforce has to look into the pages of Shakespeare. This novel manner of assimilating mind and metaphor is the main source of Ghalib's difficulty, the primary condition for whose study is that one right away rid oneself of the common mistake of identifying Ghalib's difficulty with the technical difficulty of qasida and marsiya. Ghalib's difficulty was not an end in itself; its end lay rather in articulating different layers of consciousness in a single moment.
This should not lead us into thinking that a conventionally difficult verse is necessarily bad and a simple verse necessarily worse. A simple, i.e. an unambiguous, verse can be both good and great, and so can be a difficult one; but one must be clear that ambiguous and difficult are not synonymous terms. A natural consequence of dismissing Ghalib as a dfficulty-loving poet would be to change him into a panegyrist who composed qasidas instead, or else consider him guilty of artificially erecting an ugly edifice of ideas by clumsily stacking one word against another.
Speaking of her husband, Elizabeth Barrett Browning once observed that whereas many poets liked to stand in glaring sunshine, her husband (was one of those who) preferred the dim lights of a dark house. History has mostly given its verdict in favour of poets who stood in broad sunshine, but Elizabeth Barrett Browning ignored a third category of poets: those who inhabit the dim lights of a dark house but whose very existence works as a catalyst in transforming the half-light into sunshine. Ghalib was of those. |
LaVar Ball, the father of LaMelo and the now-infamous UCLA basketball rookie LiAngelo Ball, may be about to send his two boys abroad.
Last week, LaVar told ESPN that his sons would play pro basketball overseas but did not disclose a location.
We were pretty sure it would be in this solar system though.
Now, it looks like LaVar may be sending his boys to Lithuania, according to ESPN reporter Adrian Wojnarowski, who revealed that the Balls are in “serious discussions” with Lithuanian team Prienu Vytautas.
Story filed to ESPN with @DraftExpress: LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball are in serious discussions to sign professional basketball deals with Lithuanian club Prienu Vytautas. Club plans to decide in next 24-to-48 hours whether to finalize an agreement with the two American teenagers. — Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 11, 2017
Jonathan Givony noted that the Balls won’t skip right to MVP status though.
The Ball brothers are not expected to see major playing time for Prienu Vytautas in the Lithuanian (LKL) league, but could be afforded an opportunity to develop in the Baltic (BBL) League, where the stakes are much lower. The club must decide whether to pull the trigger first. https://t.co/XIihTVnZMD — Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) December 11, 2017
In fact, there’s a chance the brothers may not even get paid for play time.
From what I’m told, salaries for players at this level of competition usually don’t exceed $500 per month in the absolute best case. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Ball brothers ended up playing for free. Certainly not the most glamorous league or part of the world to live in. — Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) December 11, 2017
Prienu Vytautas has only had one American player on their roster in the past decade, Brad Tinsley, who departed after a month of action, according to my research. The Balls would likely be faced with a major culture shock in Prienai, a small village of around 10,000 people. — Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) December 11, 2017
I don’t know about you guys, but I would watch the hell out of a reality TV show of the Ball brothers in the Lithuanian village, surrounded by non-english speakers, w/LaVar in the stands (potentially mic’d up) watching them in the Baltic League. Has to be the end game here right? — Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) December 11, 2017
I’m right there with Givony on that last thought. Although a lot of people were starting to doubt LiAngelo’s talent, LaMelo recently got yanked from Chino Hills High School to be homeschooled and focus more on his game. He’s ranked #15 across the nation in his prospect class.
Perhaps this apartment is on their house hunting list? |
Despite their dogged pursuit of an Obamacare repeal, Republican leaders may no longer have the votes to dismantle the law without a viable replacement—and may have blown their chance of destroying President Barack Obama's healthcare plan altogether.
Two dozen Senate Democrats took part in a five-hour "talkathon" into the early hours of Tuesday, protesting the effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act (ACA), summarized by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) as a plan to "repeal and run," which could leave up to 20 million Americans without health insurance.
And while the Democrats see the Obamacare debate as their "first big fight against the Republican majority and the Trump majority," as minority leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) put it, a growing number of Republicans are now also voicing concern ahead of the vote.
"Something big is happening in the Senate right now," New York Magazine's Jonathan Chait wrote late Monday. "The Republican plan, affirmed again today by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, is facing dire peril from Republican defections. Republicans need a House majority, 50 Senate votes, and soon-to-be President Trump to pass repeal and delay. If Republicans lose three Senate votes, that drops them to 49, and repeal and delay cannot pass."
Currently, the vote on the shell budget resolution that lays out the guidelines for repealing the ACA is scheduled to take place Friday. But five Republican senators—Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)—have introduced an amendment to "extend the deadline for budget reconciliation instructions until March 3, 2017, and ensure a responsible process for replacing President Obama’s health care law as quickly as possible."
Throwing more cold water on the effort, members of the Tea Party-backed House Freedom Caucus are also calling for the party to "slow down the process so that we can understand a little bit more of the specifics, the timetable, replacement votes, reconciliation instructions, etc.," as chairman Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C) told reporters late Monday.
What's more, Chait notes, "numerous Republican governors—who don't have a vote on it but can nonetheless exert pressure—are lobbying Washington Republicans to protect the parts of the law that their states rely on."
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With the vast majority of Americans opposed to dismantling Obamacare "until the details of a replacement have been announced," as a recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey found, the growing dissent among lawmakers is not surprising.
"But more time isn't going to help," Chait observes. There is "never going to be a Republican plan," he argues, "because it is conceptually impossible to design a health-care plan that meets conservative ideological goals and is also acceptable to the broader public."
Further, he points out, unless the GOP can muster the 50 votes needed for the "repeal and delay" strategy, they will have effectively lost their "best chance to destroy Obamacare. "
He explains:
The insurance regulations—requiring insurers to cover essential benefits, not discriminate against people with preexisting conditions, and so on—aren't taxes and spending. They can only be altered with a regular bill, subject to a filibuster. That means if Republicans want to actually put a new system into place, and not just turn the health-care market into a smoking crater, they need at least eight Senate Democrats to join them. What that means is that replacing Obamacare at the same time it's repealed would create completely different parameters for what happens next. There aren't going to be eight Democrats willing to support a right-wing bill that throws people into catastrophic coverage plans that don’t cover basic medical care, as conservatives would like. It would be a coalition to patch up Obamacare with incremental changes. Maybe Republicans would call it "repeal" of Obamacare and "replacement" with something that's about 90 percent similar, but that would be symbolic. A bipartisan law would advance Obamacare's goals rather than destroy them.
Facing intra-party dissent, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) are hoping to squeak by with a new strategy, Politico reports, "that includes adding some replacement provisions to the repeal bill." |
Telltale says episode two of The Wolf Among Us is coming and that the delays that held back its release shouldn't happen again.
When the first episode of Telltale's The Wolf Among Us was released back in October 2013, it was easily one of the month's best treats. Building off of the mechanical foundation laid down by The Walking Dead: Season One, it delved into the world of Fables in a way that was both accessible for franchise newcomers and interesting for veterans of the acclaimed comic series.
That being the case, news about the game's continued release became somewhat scant following the release of its initial episode. With the months dragging on Telltale did manage to make several other announcements about new games and partnerships, but failed to update gamers as to when The Wolf Among Us would be continuing. Now, Telltale has finally broken the silence and revealed that the game's second episode will be coming next month in the first week of February.
Posting on its forums, Telltale also assured its customers that the multi-month wait between episode one and episode two would not be the norm for the rest of the series. "We are very concerned about the long delay for this episode, but this is one of those occasions where several things conspired against us (not to mention the additional delays due to the holidays)," said a Telltale staffer. "It's been an unusual and specific set of circumstances and we do not anticipate it happening again as we go forward with the rest of the season." That's probably little solace for eager fans, especially after the cliffhanger at the end episode one. That said, we're willing to give Telltale the benefit of the doubt and look forward to playing through episode two in a few short weeks.
Source: Telltale |
As reward for claiming the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup, Raffaele De Rosa will join fellow Althea BMW riders Jordi Torres and Markus Reiterberger for the final round of the World Superbike championship.
De Rosa eased to the Superstock 1000 title at the final round in Jerez with fifth place, having seen championship rival Leandro Mercado crash out, and as is the traditional honour for riders affiliated with WorldSBK teams, the Italian has been gifted a wildcard entry for the Qatar round on the 28-30 October.
The Italian champion made a one-off outing for Althea BMW at Laguna Seca when he acted as replacement for the injured Reiterberger and is confident of a quick transition back to Superbikes thanks to that experience.
"Genesio Bevilacqua [Althea BMW general manager] is giving me this chance in Qatar and I can say that, having won the title, this is a really great prize," De Rosa said. "I have some idea of what to expect, seeing as I already rode the Superbike this year at Laguna. But in this case I know the track and, knowing that I have already won the championship, am feeling more relaxed.
"It's a track I like and I can't wait to get back to work. I'm really pleased to be able to take part in the final round at Losail."
De Rosa has enjoyed various outings at Qatar during his Grand Prix career in 125cc, 250cc and Moto2 while he has also raced there at World Supersport level in 2014. |
Since we launched this project back in September of 2015 with our Android app , many folks have asked us how to donate to MetroHero. Up until now, we've suggested either making a $0.99 donation to remove ads in our Android app, or donating directly to Rail Transit OPS , our partner. We're happy to announce this all changes today!
We're now up on Patreon and have completely removed ads from our Android app. Our mobile-friendly website designed for Desktop and iOS remains ad-free. If you made a $0.99 donation before, or have previously donated to Rail Transit OPS for us, thank you very much! Your donation is what has made this quick switch to Patreon possible without a transition period where we would still be displaying ads until a quota was met here on Patreon. Now everyone can enjoy a pure MetroHero experience right away.
If you're interested in becoming a patron, please consider donating today! For details, check out the rest of our Patreon page, which explains everything, including where your donations would go and how they'd be used. Thanks for your consideration!
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There has been a fair amount of sniggering that the government has announced a freeze in tuition fees - something the Telegraph heralded as part of a "revolution".
That will matter within the sector.
But it is unlikely to change Britain's electoral dynamics.
There is, however, one enormous and expensive change that is worth unpicking in all this: Theresa May also told the Telegraph that the government is going to raise the student loan repayment threshold from £21,000 to £25,000.
This has two big effects.
First, all graduates earning above the old threshold will now repay less in any given year.
A person earning, say, £30,000 a year would pay 9% of their income above £25,000 - not £21,000. So their flow of annual repayments would drop from £810 to £450.
Second, the interest rates charged on the outstanding balance for each student is tied to how far they are above the repayment threshold.
As a result, moving this threshold will also reduce the flow of interest accruing to the Treasury that might eventually be payable by ex-students.
A targeted cut?
There are good reasons for doing this.
Martin Lewis, founder of MoneySavingExpert, has been campaigning for the threshold to rise - it was, after all, promised.
And this change reduces the pinch on young people's pay very directly: it feels like a very targeted tax cut to some young graduates.
But, to channel the spirit of the Treasury, it is very expensive. Not in the short term, when I'd expect it would make a pretty small impact. But definitely in the longer term.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Demonstrations against the interdiction of tuition fees were held in 2010
Back in 2012, when the current student finance system took effect, the £21,000 threshold was supposed to rise steadily over time, but it was later frozen in nominal terms to save money.
The reason for the freeze was that the loss rate on student loans issued after 2012 was estimated to be around 45p in every pound lent out - higher than originally budgeted for. The freeze cut the cost and, combined with a few changes to how the cost is estimated, took the estimate down to about 30p.
By eye, I would estimate that this change would increase the cost by at least 10p in the pound. The losses would be over 40p in the pound. That is potentially a lot of money.
How much? This affects the so-called "Plan 2" debt pile, which stood at £44bn in the last debt statistics release.
This category is currently accruing at a rate of about £13bn a year. So with fees at current levels, it is heading to about £120bn at the end of this Parliament.
Even with the most conservative assumptions, we are talking well over £10bn of losses on the value of that debt by 2022.
Labour progress
That loss won't appear in any debt statistics in 2022 - but the losses will be there, and will slowly get added to the national debt between now and the 2050s.
It will happen subtly, but this is a "putting on the Olympics" level of outlay.
The politics of this are baffling, too.
The interest charge on outstanding debt - now at 6.1% for higher-earners and students still studying - was a major issue.
They could have gone for that without making the whole student finance system a lot more expensive.
This measure is a boon for current and recent students - but this looks like progress for Labour. It makes it harder for the government to defend the status quo by making it much dearer. |
Half of the U.S. population wants marijuana legalized, according to a Gallup poll taken last year. But not everyone is in on the smoke sesh.
In Los Angeles, there are anywhere from 800 to 900 marijuana dispensaries — outnumbering Starbucks in some neighborhoods — according to NPR. In addition, the Board of Equalization found that more than 400,000 Californians use marijuana on a daily basis.
Los Angeles City Council member José Huizar called this treatment of marijuana “de facto legalization,” and the council is now considering full prohibition.
This is a result of the recent federal crackdown, as dispensaries are raided by local and federal law enforcement, and owners are jailed. In Arizona, legislators writhed in fear for a whole year before actually implementing the voter-approved medical marijuana law. The federal crackdowns are unfounded, have caused panic and need to come to a stop. We, the people, need to instigate a marijuana revolution.
The Los Angeles City Council shouldn’t try to ban medical marijuana dispensaries. It should be jumping at the chance to sprout a movement from a major city government like Los Angeles, and help other cities to follow suit. The council should push for something less fake than medical programs and just legalize it.
Los Angeles wouldn’t be alone, either. Virginia caught on and is already set to put marijuana legalization on the ballot this November. Also rolled up in the joint legalization effort are Colorado and Washington, which are both experiencing the same unchecked use of marijuana among their residents. These states are on track to push the feds to legalize marijuana.
According to the 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, more than 16 million Americans used marijuana in the month prior to the survey. By those numbers, it’s safe to assume that everyone who gets out of their house has probably met a marijuana user or used it.
Despite the vast number of weed-loving Americans in the workforce and schools, NORML, an organization that lobbies for legalization, reports that 12 million users have been arrested on marijuana charges since 1965. If you’re hell-bent on arresting people for smoking a flower and being relaxed, then this probably seems like a great achievement. However, most people are
grounded in reality, where smoking weed doesn’t ruin the user’s life.
Marijuana is wrongly illegal. According to the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, marijuana has no medical value and is more harmful than cocaine. Yet, the law allows for a nicotine and alcohol market that kills hundreds of thousands of people every year. Marijuana, on the other hand, has never killed a person in recorded history.
Even the Nixon administration knew that marijuana was a minimal-risk drug. In 1972, that administration commissioned researchers to complete a full report on the social and medical implications of cannabis. The report, “Marihuana, A Signal Of Misunderstanding,” showed that users could survive ingesting more than 46 pounds of low-quality cannabis. However, most people “green out,” or go unconscious after smoking or eating several ounces worth of tetrahydrocannabinol, the active ingredient in the plant.
According to the Drug Abuse Resistance Education pamphlets everyone read in middle school, marijuana smoke contains more cancer-causing agents than tobacco. This is wrong. Smarter people, who had their research published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, surveyed marijuana smokers for 20 years, finding that smoking one joint every day does not cause cancer or lung damage. In fact, the study showed that, at low levels of exposure, lung strength is slightly improved because users hold their smoke in to get higher.
People who have done their research know cannabis is far safer than anything from alcohol to ibuprofen, so it’s heinously misplaced on the Schedule I list of drugs.
As many states have already set up medical marijuana programs, it would seem that the federal government is the only group that doesn’t get the joke that is the War on Drugs. There are millions of cannabis users across the country — police can’t reasonably arrest everyone who uses it. Every day, users flip the feds their funkiest finger and puff away.
The government lost the war the second it declared it, and rightly so. This country is putting people in jail for smoking a flower. Let’s show the federal government that the states know better and legalize marijuana at the local and state levels.
— Greg Gonzales is an interdisciplinary studies junior. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu or on Twitter via @WildcatOpinions .
Editor’s note: Due to a technical error, an early draft of this column went online. It has been updated. |
Whether you need them for the gym or lounging around the house, these leggings are sure to please.
The women’s Taylor Leggings PDF sewing pattern includes:
3 Views: plain one piece leg leggings, 3 piece leg with large pocket leggings, 4 piece leg for color blocking the mid panel; pocket included
All views can be made in knee, cropped, and ankle length
High and medium rise waist
Contoured waistband with elastic at the top for a secure fit
Optional full panel maternity waistband
Clearly written instructions with technical drawings to illustrate each step
Detailed fitting adjustment instructions such as how to blend sizes or adjust the length
Pants Fitting Guide Ebook is included for advanced help on fitting your leggings!
Detailed information on how to print with layers so you print only the size you need
Detailed fabric layout
Yardage and size charts
Finished length charts
Tested pattern pieces for women’s sizes XXS-3X (00-26)
No trim pages for US and A4 paper
A0 copy shop file
Note: The pattern may have changed slightly from the tester pictures on this listing
This pattern is for an advanced beginner sewist. Please view the size chart pictured on this listing to ensure the correct fit for your recipient. Note: This file is a pdf file and not a finished product.
The pdf file will be available for instant download once purchased. You will receive instructions for download after you complete your purchase.
The Taylor Leggings pattern is original to Laela Jeyne Patterns. The patterns and images are copyrighted by Laela Jeyne Patterns and may not be copied, shared, or resold. Please feel free to sell items made with this pattern on a small scale. And of course I would be grateful if you shared the pattern source!
Due to the nature of this item, no returns or refunds will be given. |
CaixaBank It is fashionable to laugh at Google Glass, the clumsy wearable computer that sits on your face like a pair of spectacles and uses one of the lenses as a screen.
But this scorn is misplaced. Google Glass is going to be a huge multibillion-dollar business for Google — eventually. Here's how that will happen, and why the critics are wrong.
There has been a line of high-profile tech writers forming in front of Glass's putative coffin, each with their own stake for its heart. Robert Scoble captured objections to Google Glass best:
What is going on here in a world where I am carrying around a camera and EVERYONE uses their phones or a GoPro but Glass feels freaky and weird?
Google has launched this product poorly, is what.
Jeff Bercovici of Forbes said the same thing. "Whatever the faults of Glass as a device, the backlash it has encountered during its prolonged beta test period is the result of misjudgments made in the campaign around it."
So did Gene Marks. "It's designed poorly. I bet if Steve Jobs were around now he'd chuckle every time someone wearing Google Glass walks by. Don't worry Steve — the rest of us have got your back. Google Glass looks ridiculous. And too obvious."
Some prominent early adopters have gone so far as to send the device back to Google, they dislike it so much. Matt Lake of Computerworld had a long list of complaints about it, including the way it disrupts eye contact between people when you talk to them. "It's called glassing out. Your eyes roll over to the right to look at the screen, and the rest of the world goes out of focus. People can't make eye contact with you, and if they're versed in popular psychology, they read things into your lack of eye contact."
And Washington Post tech reporter Hayley Tsukayama absolutely hated it. "It made me miserable. For wallflowers like me, wearing something that draws constant attention is more or less my personal idea of hell. I've heard just about every privacy concern raised about Glass, but, as the one wearing the device, I wasn't expecting that the privacy most invaded would be my own."
Glass makes you look ridiculous, and everyone hates you for wearing it
It seems so obvious: Glass makes people look ridiculous, and everyone who sees you wearing it hates it.
One of Business Insider's reporters was attacked for wearing a pair in the "wrong" part of San Francisco.
So was this woman, who wanted to wear them while eating at a restaurant. Another restaurant claimed Glass users ruined its online reputation when staff there asked them to stop wearing their glasses.
Clearly, this is a misbegotten device that will ultimately fail, right?
Wrong.
First take a look at the list of apps that can be used on Google Glass.
Sure, there are a lot of generic games and Instagram-like photo apps on that list. But there is also a huge number of apps that are obviously useful purposes for business: NavCook, so you can follow a recipe without using your food-covered hands. Glass Feed, an app that allows you to inject content created in Glass to an RSS feed for Facebook, Evernote or Twitter. Evernote, for, well — Evernote. YourShow, a sort of personal teleprompter for people who give a lot of presentations. And Crystal Shopper, which scans barcodes and prices and helps you check Amazon for cheaper prices.
Google Glass is a security device
It is business, not consumers, that will save Google Glass from itself.
One of the problems with the way critics view Glass is that they have tried wearing it in the wrong place — in public, in restaurants, with their friends — and have been shocked when it hasn't shown any benefits.
They should try wearing it for work purposes.
Anyone in the security industry will benefit instantly from Google Glass: Every police department, every private security firm, every military unit, every nightclub bouncer crew, every mall cop could use Google Glass and an always-on cloud video recording function. It would take almost all the guesswork — and the lying — out of eyewitness accounts from law enforcement personnel.
Some police departments are already doing this:
Police in the tiny Middle Eastern state of Dubai are using the face computer to help identify stolen cars, according to a report this week in the Gulf News.
Two apps have been created for the Dubai Police's Smart Services. "One," Colonel Khalid Nasser El Razooqui told Gulf News, "will allow them to take photos of traffic violations from the Glass," and the other app IDs wanted cars by cross-referencing license plates.
Google Glass is also being explored by such major police departments as those in New York City and Los Angeles as well as smaller ones like Byron, Georgia.
Most people think that Glass will thus usher in a surveillance state. (We're already living in one, according Edward Snowden's NSA leaks, but let's push on for the sake of argument.)
Google Glass could deter racial profiling
I worked for the New Jersey Law Journal in the early 2000s and wrote about the period when the N.J. state police were required to use dashboard cameras on their patrol cars as part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over racial profiling on the Garden State's turnpike system. At first the state troopers hated the cameras because they thought it was an invasion of their privacy. Some suspected they hated the cameras because they would record instances of police brutality at road stops. (And no doubt the cameras improved the behavior of some officers.) But months after they were installed, the cops came to love them: It turns out that motorists who are stopped file a large number of unfounded allegations against state troopers, and most of the time the dashcams proved that the motorists were lying, not the police.
You could easily see the same thing happening with Google Glass for police. A constant video record, stored in the cloud, of every law enforcement encounter would deter cops from racial profiling or other bad behavior. And the testimony of either the suspect or the cop in any encounter would be irrelevant — let's just go to the Glass video!
Surveillance is merely the most obvious use. But there is a larger use in private business at the enterprise level, too.
Pretty much every company on the planet has a reason to use Glass
Put simply, try to imagine the number of businesses that could use the ability to see something far away from a remote location, but would rather not fly their personnel there. If you've ever taken part in a conference call, using video or not, you'll know that businesses have an ever-growing need for remote services.
With Glass, there is no need to send anyone, anywhere. Just hire someone local who owns a pair of Glass. The oil-exploration industry has discovered this (apparently visual site inspections are a costly part of finding oil). Doctors are already distance-learning new surgical techniques via Glass. And deaf people can get sign language services on Glass when once they could not.
Some of Google's critics have vaguely come to realize that Glass will be huge, but not as a consumer product for everyday life. It will be huge as a specialist enterprise product for business. As The Washington Post's Tsukayama eventually figured out:
After a few earnest days of trying to make the thing work, I stopped trying to force the issue and used it as I would in real life - in situations when I needed to watch something hands-free, or when I wasn't required to actively engage with other people. In those cases, Glass worked as promised. It delivered updates to keep me informed without overwhelming me and acted as a useful second screen to my smartphone. |
Donald Trump. AP For a moment, it looked as if August 9 were the day the election was over.
Hillary Clinton was up by nearly 8 points in the RealClearPolitics polling average. High-profile members of the Republican Party were criticizing their own nominee. And Donald Trump, suffering through perhaps the most brutal stretch of his campaign, added to a spate of self-inflicted wounds when he made a remark that day suggesting Second Amendment supporters could take action against a President Clinton to prevent her from nominating Supreme Court justices who favor gun control.
Fast-forward five weeks. Trump, having overhauled his campaign staff and displaying a new approach on the campaign trail, has caught up.
"I think big picture this has been a 3-5 point race nationally that's had periods where it's blipped 5 points in Clinton's direction or 5 points in Trump's direction, but those blips have never been permanent and things eventually settle back where they were before," said Tom Jensen, the director of Public Policy Polling.
He added: "Clearly we're in one of those pro-Trump blip periods, like there was for instance in mid-to-late May. Time will tell if the shift is more lasting this time."
And so, seven weeks before Election Day, the race is as tight as can be. National polling shows Clinton leads by an average of 1.5 points in a head-to-head race. Her lead is even smaller in a four-way split including Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein — about 1.1 points.
Trump has also improved his standing in key battleground states. The biggest shocker came in Michigan, a state he has promised to put in play but so far has stuck to its reliably Democratic swing, having voted for the Democratic nominee in every presidential election since 1992. A recent Detroit Free Press/WXYZ-TV poll of the state, however, found Clinton's lead shrinking from 11 points to just 3 — within the poll's margin of error.
Michigan wasn't the only state that swung toward the Republican nominee:
In Ohio , Trump has a clear advantage at this point in the race. Polls there showed him up 3, 4, and 5 points this week.
, Trump has a clear advantage at this point in the race. Polls there showed him up 3, 4, and 5 points this week. Iowa, which has voted Democratic in six of the past seven elections, also looks firmly in the Trump camp right now. A Monmouth University survey of the state found him up 8.
which has voted Democratic in six of the past seven elections, also looks firmly in the Trump camp right now. A Monmouth University survey of the state found him up 8. Florida is as much of a toss-up state as they come, with a bit of a Trump bend in the past week. Two polls there gave the real-estate mogul a 4-point lead, while another showed Clinton up 2 points.
is as much of a toss-up state as they come, with a bit of a Trump bend in the past week. Two polls there gave the real-estate mogul a 4-point lead, while another showed Clinton up 2 points. Colorado and Virginia , two Democratic-leaning states that leaned more and more toward Clinton in recent weeks, both saw significant recent swings toward Trump. In the former, an Emerson College survey put Trump up 4 in the state. In the latter, Trump trailed by just 3 in a University of Mary Washington poll, though a Public Policy Polling survey found Clinton up a comfortable 8 points.
and , two Democratic-leaning states that leaned more and more toward Clinton in recent weeks, both saw significant recent swings toward Trump. In the former, an Emerson College survey put Trump up 4 in the state. In the latter, Trump trailed by just 3 in a University of Mary Washington poll, though a Public Policy Polling survey found Clinton up a comfortable 8 points. In Nevada, a Monmouth survey found Trump up 2, a 6-point swing from August. Clinton leads by less than a point in the state's polling average. |
He infamously referred to her as 'the most unrhythmic white woman'.
And on Tuesday, KIIS FM's Kyle Sandilands and Jackie Henderson brought up the 2014 Delta Goodrem incident when speaking to actor Marlon Wayans on their show.
Touching base with the 45-year-old, he was left shocked when he found out Delta was allegedly romantically linked to US artist Seal.
Scroll down for video
Second swipe: On Tuesday, actor Marlon Waynes took another dig at Delta Goodrem and her dancing after learning she was allegedly dating Seal
'Seal? Bring it on, bring it on, don't wait until tomorrow,' he replied singing the lyrics to Seal's hit Bring It On.
'I get it, I get it. She looks just like the other girl that he was with. He got a thing.'
'I met Heidi. I did America's Got Talent with her. He's got a thing for rhythmless pretty white women,' he continued.
His thoughts: 'I get it, I get it. She looks just like the other girl that he was with. He got a thing'
Taking his shot: After the radio duo burst out into laughter, Kyle also took a dig at the Kiss From A Rose singer
Not a fan of Heidi either? 'I met Heidi. I did America's Got Talent with her. He's got a thing for rythmless pretty white women'
After the radio duo burst out into laughter, Kyle also took a dig at the Kiss From A Rose singer.
'He wants to be the most rhythmic one in the bedroom,' he said.
Delta nor Seal have yet confirmed the relationship.
Not the best dancer: Giving her the side eye, he infamously called her 'the most unrythmic white woman'
In August 2014, Delta was snapped by the comedian at an LA Jay-Z and Beyonce concert.
Giving her the side eye, he infamously called her 'the most unrhythmic white woman.'
'Man I got the most UNRHYTHMIC WHITE WOMAN dancing next to me at the jay and bay concert....this b**** dancing to AC/DC,' he captioned the Instagram post.
At the time, the White Chicks actor was unaware Delta was actually one of Australia's most well known musicians and subsequently, the post went viral. |
Howdy, You Almost Evil Minion, You!
Okay my friend, there is a lot going on right now, so I don't have an article, just lots of news!
FiFi The Cat Therapist - Dreamworks TV
So here is my character Raymond, a neurotic foppy little British rat. He has all kinds of issues and we will be exploring those over the course of the show.
The good news is that they liked my interpretation so they are bringing him back and Dreamworks has ordered more episodes.
So check it out!
Knights of Sidonia - Netflix
This is the first Netflix original animation project, and I'm on it!
I believe I am playing The good news is that they liked my interpretation so they are bringing him back and Dreamworks has ordered more episodes.So check it out!This is the first Netflix original animation project, and I'm on it!I believe I am playing
I think you guys are gonna LOVE it!
EVANGELION 3.33
Well, I wish I could tell you more, but all I know is that I am heading to Dallas tomorrow to do some pick ups for the movie.
I would assume that means things are moving forward and they will be releasing the dub soon.
Here's hopin!
Stay tuned, always more to come!!!
See ya next week!
Don't forget to head over to my other site at Aaaaaaaaaaaaand, look at the monkey!Well, I wish I could tell you more, but all I know is that I am heading to Dallas tomorrow to do some pick ups for the movie.I would assume that means things are moving forward and they will be releasing the dub soon.Here's hopin!Stay tuned, always more to come!!!See ya next week!Don't forget to head over to my other site at DontKillYourDate.com for all kinds of Adventure/Foodie/Life Lovin goodness! |
Kimmy (Ellie Kemper), left, Jacqueline (Jane Krakowski) and Lillian (Carol Kane) in “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.” (Netflix)
Last year, the second season of Tina Fey and Robert Carlock’s “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” ended with a very specific cliffhanger: a plan to take down the Washington Redskins.
It all starts when socialite Jacqueline (Jane Krakowski) gets dumped by her billionaire husband and is determined to find another wealthy man. She begins dating Russ (David Cross), a powerful but socially inept lawyer, only to find out that he’s Russ Snyder — you know, part of the family that owns the Redskins. Jacqueline, however, is Native American and, thanks to a recently-developed social conscience, refuses to date a man whose family’s football team has such an offensive name. Luckily, Russ hates his corrupt father and brother, so he decides to collaborate with Jacqueline to bring the team down.
[In complex Redskins name debate, poll should give both sides pause]
As promised, the third season (which starts streaming Friday on Netflix) picks up this storyline in the third episode. Jacqueline and Russ have devised a complicated scheme — dubbed “Operation: Plan” — to finally get the Redskins to change the name. At first, it hinges on keeping Jacqueline’s background a secret. “The Snyders cannot know I’m Sioux,” she tells Kimmy (Ellie Kemper). “They have to accept me as one of them, which means they have to think I’m white.”
“Oh, that’s no fun,” Kimmy says. “We’re the worst!”
While “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” goes after the Redskins name — a real-life controversial debate in Washington for many decades — the show itself has been criticized for resorting to stereotypes in its jokes about Jacqueline’s Native American heritage. In the first season, Jacqueline is embarrassed by her upbringing (and her real name, Jackie Lynn), as viewers learn she ran away from her parents and tribe to move to Manhattan.
Russ Snyder (David Cross) and Jacqueline White (Jane Krakowski) on “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.” (Netflix)
The second season saw Jacqueline embrace her roots. When she briefly returns home to her parents, she has visions while sitting in the back of a hot car that inspire her to return to New York and start a charity for Native American causes. During her possible heat stroke, the show takes its first shot at the Redskins name: a picture of the Redskins mascot floats by as a voice cries out, “How am I still a thing?!”
Flash-forward to the second season finale, when Jacqueline is having Thanksgiving dinner with Russ and his father, Orson Snyder (Harris Yulin), an older stand-in for real team owner Daniel Snyder, and his brother, Duke (Josh Charles). All of a sudden, they don Redskins hats and jerseys and turn on the TV, where one of the announcers declares, “We are minutes away from kickoff here in Dallas, as the Cowboys prepare to take on the, uh … team that is from Washington.”
“So, you guys are Redskins fans?” Jacqueline asks, horrified.
“Honey, we’ve owned the Redskins since 1938,” Duke boasts. “You see, while the team was driving to Philadelphia for a game, they got lost on my grandfather’s land; and in exchange for the trademark, he let them live.”
“But don’t you think the name is a little, uh, old-fashioned?” Jacqueline asks.
Duke Snyder (Josh Charles) and Jacqueline White (Jane Krakowski) in “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.” (Netflix)
“Exactly!” Duke says. “It’s been around forever. And I happen to respect tradition. It’s why I get operated on by my barber.”
“And the name is honoring those native guys — it’s saying they’re tough,” Orson adds. “Plus, how do you know that Redskins isn’t about potatoes?”
When Jacqueline timidly offers that some people find the name offensive, Duke cuts her off. “Whoa, Jacqueline, look, some of my best statues are of Indians. And the Redskins’ very first coach was Lone Star Dietz, a man who pretended to be Indian so that he could get out of World War I.” The family then breaks into song: “Hail to the Redskins/Scalp the other team/Celebrate with fire water/Help Germany win the war.”
So the third season sees Jacqueline and Russ kicking off “Operation: Plan” to finally expunge the team name. The show wastes no time making the Snyder family as terrible as possible. Orson, 75, tells Jacqueline he has the heart of a 35-year-old Guatemalan gardener — who died of natural causes, of course. “He fell on a shotgun — thank God we had the bathtub full of ice ready to go!” Duke exclaims.
Naturally, the plan takes some twists and turns, especially when the Snyders are actually thrilled to discover Jacqueline’s heritage. (Jacqueline: “It’s an important part of who I am.” Duke: “Yes, perfect, say crap like that! Just imagine the optics of having a Native American in the family. We’ll be bulletproof!”) So, as the show debuts Friday and the storyline gets wilder throughout the season — how will Redskins fans respond?
Read more:
‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’ is back, but the first season may seem crueler than you remember
Dating lessons from Kimmy Schmidt
How ‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’ does romance better than rom-coms |
Anders Breivik's application to the University of Oslo for admission to the political science study programme created interest worldwide. Breivik did not qualify for the full programme, but will be able study specific topics. Here the university's rector explains the decision to grant him access to the course.
Through the atrocities he committed, Anders Breivik put to test our democracy and our legal institutions. The calm and reasoned way in which the Norwegian judiciary, the audience in the court room, and indeed the population in general dealt with Breivik, allowing him to be heard, indicates to me that we passed the test.
Why should we not trust our system when it comes to access to education? Our rules say that an inmate, like any other citizen in this country, has a right to pursue higher education on the basis of merit. The fact that his application is dealt with in accordance with extant rules and regulations does not imply that Norwegians lack passion or that anger and vengefulness are absent. What it demonstrates is that our values are fundamentally different from his.
By sticking to our rules and not clamouring for new ones we send a clear message to those whose misguided mission it is to undermine and change our democratic system. We do acknowledge that there are moral dilemmas in this case, but the last thing we need is a "lex Breivik". We keep to our rules for our own sake, not for his.
It falls on our universities to take responsibility for upholding democratic values, ideals and practices, including when these are challenged by heinous acts. We are on a slippery slope should we change the rules and adjust them to crimes committed. Having been admitted to study political science, Breivik will have to read about democracy and justice, and about how pluralism and respect for individual human rights, protection of minorities and fundamental freedoms have been instrumental for the historical development of modern Europe. Under no circumstances will Breivik be admitted to campus. But in his cell he will be given ample possibilities to reflect on his atrocities and misconceptions. |
Google is said to be negotiating a tax settlement with France worth three times more than it paid the British Exchequer even though it employs thousands more staff in the UK.
The UK arm generates about three times as much revenue as Google France and employs four times as many people.
The Times reported that French officials are chasing the internet giant for €500m (£381m) over a similar tax avoidance structure to the one it used in the UK which has caused controversy.
As the internet giant expands its operation in the UK, it and HMRC are in the firing line from campaigners after Google settled its tax bill with the British government for £130m over 10 years, compared with the company's $5.6bn (£3.9bn) annual UK revenues.
Downing Street distanced itself from Chancellor George Osborne's claim that the £130m agreement was a "victory" for the taxpayer as sources at the National Audit Office told the Daily Mail that it would be investigating the deal.
Despite HMRC spending six years investigating Google, The Times reported that tax officials never challenged the company's claim it had no "permanent establishment" in Britain. This allowed it to book its sales through an Irish subsidiary from where profits were diverted to the tax haven of Bermuda.
Meg Hillier, chairwoman of the public accounts committee, told the newspaper it was shocking that HMRC had failed to challenge Google on this point even after her committee had handed investigators evidence from two whistle-blowers that appeared to undermine the company's claims.
"It beggars belief that they didn't challenge that basic question. It underlines my real concerns about HMRC not keeping up with the big guys," she said,
The committee took evidence in 2012 from two former Google employees who claimed that many of its 2,000-plus London staff made sales and developed products although this was contradicted by Matt Brittin, Google's vice-president, who had told the committee no one in Google Ltd in the UK was selling Google products.
In February, officials from HMRC and Google will face questioning from the committee.
In a statement, Google said: "After a six-year audit by the tax authority we are paying the amount of tax that HMRC agrees we should pay. Governments make tax law, the tax authorities enforce the law and Google complies with the law."
Google plans to employ up to 5,000 people in new £1bn headquarters in London. |
Katrina is a sacrilegious horror comedy with tons of monster killing, action, and a trip to Hell to confront the Devil.
This 116 PAGE HORROR COMEDY GRAPHIC NOVEL is complete and ready to print...and it's a contained story! Everything we want to say is contained in these pages!
CHECK OUT A 10 PAGE PREVIEW HERE.
Or an exclusive, spoiler free preview here from further along in the story.
We've Unlocked STRETCH GOAL #1!
We hit $6,000, so everybody who pledges $20+ gets an awesome bookmark!
We've unlocked STRETCH GOAL #2!
We hit, $7000! That means everybody who pledges $25+ gets an awesome collector card with the original sketch of Katrina!
We unlocked stretch goal #3!
We hit $8000, so everybody that pledges $30+ gets a set of five collector cards full of original sketches with monsters and main characters!
Let's UNLOCK Stretch goal #4!
If we hit $9000, Everybody at the $30+ level will get a second 5 x 7 print of a page we had to cut out of the script! It's an awesome page too. Full of sacrilege and beautiful art.
WHAT IS KATRINA HATES THE DEAD?
Katrina Hates the Dead (KHTD) Is a 116 page single volume graphic novel. It's a complete story told in five issues. Katrina Hates the Dead is a tongue and cheek look at how crappy it would be to live in the Apocalypse.
Almost every story about the Apocalypse starts immediately after the Apocalypse begins, showing the horror and terror that follows the first days of living in "Hell on Earth".
The final prepress cover for the soft cover edition of Katrina Hates the Dead.
KHTD isn't that.
In Katrina, the Apocalypse is already old news. It happened years ago. Everything has settled down, and the Hellspawn have taken up residence on Earth. They are next door neighbors to the humans they slaughtered. They take hard working humans jobs.
It's a downright sucky row to hoe, but it's everyday life.
Katrina, our heroine, is a little sick of fighting monsters, waiting on monsters, and buying her groceries from monsters. She wants her old life back. So she sets out to do something about it.
She sets out on a journey to Hell to kill the Devil and end the Apocalypse once and for all.
We took that trope as old as time, the Apocalypse, put a new spin on it, and added a ton of comedy elements. This isn't a heavy handed book at all. It's a monster filled, sarcastic, satirical good time.
But don't just take it from me, here's what FANBOY COMICS had to say about Katrina:
"Take it from this Comic Book Slayer, fans of edgy horror comics like Hack/Slash or tongue-in-cheek horror tales like Shaun of the Dead or Zombieland will devour this book like starving zombies devour fresh brains. The creative team behind Katrina Hates the Dead is an impressive one. Artist Juan Frigeri’s work is expressive, exciting, and sets a fun, yet thrilling, tone throughout the story."
THAT'S FINE AND ALL, HOW DO I KNOW THIS BOOK WILL GET DONE?
It's really simple. It's already done. We've already taken it to SDCC 2013 and we already SOLD OUT @ SDCC 2013.
On top of that, this is my second Kickstarter. I raised 150% of my goal and delivered 100% of my pledges for my first one. I've learned from that and will get this book out more quickly and efficiently than the last.
I believe I can turn around this book and get it into your hands within 60 days of the Kickstarter ending, so you can have it by Christmas. I can't guarantee it, but I'm 85% confident.
YOU SOLD OUT SDCC 2013? SO WHY DO YOU NEED ME THEN?
To print more books and do a full release of Katrina. We only printed 75 for SDCC and it wasn't an official release, we were just testing the market.
This is the real deal. This is to launch a book on all mediums and all platforms.
Again, this book is done. It's 100% done. There is literally nothing that needs to be done to this book except get it into your hands.
All you're doing is pre-ordering my book with this Kickstarter. There is no doubt that the book will come out if we successfully fund. No doubt at all, unless the Apocalypse really does come.
Even I can't stop that, great as I am.
IS THE BOOK A COMPLETE ARC THOUGH?
Yes. This is the complete book. It fully tells the story I wanted to tell and I have no intention of going back into this world.
Of course, I thought Fight Club would never have a sequel too and now there's a graphic novel, so I can't guarantee anything.
I only can say this is everything I've ever wanted to say with Katrina.
LET'S TALK ABOUT THE ARTIST FOR A SECOND, OKAY?
Yes, let's.
The story is great, and I'm not biased at all, but what would my words be without Juan Frigeri's amazing work.
This was Juan's FIRST full length comic book. Yes, even though it's coming out so much later than some of his other work, this was his FIRST.
Since then he's gone on to draw for Dark Horse and Avatar, among others.
He even drew the DARTH MAUL: SON OF DATHOMIR series for Dark Horse
. That's right. Star Wars y'all. Geek Cred leveled up!
Not to brag, but Katrina did a little bit to launch his career. He's only going to do bigger and better things from here. Katrina is sort of like Juan's origin story. Who doesn't like a good comics origin story?
THAT'S ALL WELL AND GOOD, BUT WE ALL KNOW IT'S ABOUT THOSE STRETCHY STRETCHY GOALS. GOT ANY OF THOSE?
Ga duh! It IS all about she stretchy stretchy goals! That's how you get free stuff for just being awesome.
And we have a bunch of those.
- $6,000 -
Katrina bookmark for everybody that donates at the $20 level and above.
- $7,000 -
Katrina Collector Card for everybody that donates at the $25 level and above.
- $8,000 -
Set of 5 Katrina sketch cards for everybody that donates at the $30 level and above.
- $9,000 -
One additional 5" x 7" exclusive print of a never before released Katrina page for everybody that donates at the $30 level and above!
- $10,000 -
Katrina art print hand painted by the creator for everybody that donates at the $40 level and above!
- $15,000 -
An exclusive 8 page ashcan of my first book comic book ever, Wannabes, where my company gets its namesake, for everybody that donates at the $50 level and above!
- $20,000 -
An advance copy of my next graphic novel, Gherkin Boy, for everybody that donates above the $75 level and above!
So yeah, we got you covered with the stretchy stretchy goals.
ALRIGHT, I'M IN. DO YOU HAVE ANY SAMPLES OF WHAT WE GET FOR PLEDGING HIGHER THAN $30?
Absolutely. For those of you debating upping your pledges above original pledge let me show you a couple examples of what your additional pledge buys you.
KATRINA HARD COVER
Tell me this dope cover isn't worth upping your pledge to the $75 level. Not only do you get a hard cover, but you also get the amazing cover we used @ SDCC, one of my favorite images ever.
EXCLUSIVE 5" x 7" PRINT
We're doing a limited exclusive 5" x 7" print signed by the creator. Aside from buying the Hard Cover, it's the only way to get this image.
CREATOR ART COMMISSIONS
I know some of you will look at the below commissions and laugh at the gall I have even offering them, but I swear to you people love these things. Hang them in your kid's room, in your office, give them as gifts, or just enjoy them yourself!
If you're interested in the creator's paintings, here are a couple of examples of what people have commissioned in the past.
ICHABOD DOUBLE WHAMMY
Finally, if you haven't gotten a chance to read Ichabod, you can check out a preview here.
As you can see, you'll get amazing rewards the higher you back.
WHAT ELSE CAN I DO?
Word of mouth is HUGE for a Kickstarter. I can't tell you how many people found us last time because of Facebook and Twitter referrals. So please make sure to get the word out, like us on Facebook, follow me on Twitter @russellnohelty, and generally spread the word about Katrina to anybody you know.
WHAT ARE THE RISKS INVOLVED?
There are none. The book is done. If you donate you will get a book.
Well I suppose not no risks. There is always a chance of monsters. |
Andrea "Crazy Joe" Iannone and the Suzuki Ecstar MotoGP team may be at a crossroads due to the Italian's visible lack of effort during Catalunya GP. Photo courtesy of Michelin
This is not the season start that Team Suzuki Ecstar expected...nor is it for Andrea Iannone. The GSX-RR’s lack of competitiveness has led to a not-unexpected drop in motivation, and the team members feel constrained relying on only one rider to evaluate and help develop the Suzuki. Unfortunately Alex Rins’ continuing run of bad luck in the form of injuries since the beginning of the season has led the Suzuki Ecstar MotoGP team to this situation.
Montmeló was a continuation of the dynamics from the previous race at Mugello, where Iannone qualified 16th and finished tenth; at Catalunya, he qualified at the back of Q2, and finished out of the points. Hard to find motivation in a situation like this, yes, but this is a factory team, and riders are paid to ride at their maximum in order to help develop the bike. On Sunday afternoon after the race, the tension in the team box was so thick you could cut it with a knife...and the truth is, there were plenty of reasons for it.
After starting from 12th on the grid, Iannone crossed the finish line in 16th, just more than one second over his stand-in teammate Sylvain Guintoli, who was drafted in from the Bennetts Suzuki BSB effort (Rins should be back in two weeks at Assen). What in principle seems a simple continuation of the team’s struggles this season, is actually a situation that is very close to becoming the straw that broke the Suzuki engineers’ patience.
The tension in the Suzuki pitbox after the Catalunya MotoGP race was so thick you could cut it with a knife. The overall situation in the Suzuki team is not good at the moment. Photo courtesy of Michelin
The reason? Let's talk numbers. On lap 18 of the race, Iannone laps for first time in the 1:49s; on the next one however, he slows to a 1:50.507. His pitboard tells him that a rider is gaining on him from behind, but without specifying that it was Guintoli. The Frenchman catches and passes Iannone, overtaking him on the straight on lap 20.
Being passed by Guintoli turns out to be a wake-up call for Iannone, who reacts by turning up his speed on the next three laps—laps 21,22, and 23—to record a 1:48.576, a 1:48.576 and then a 1:48.878, a pace that allows him to quickly open up a comfortable advantage over his teammate by the time the checkered flag comes out.
The outrage among the Suzuki engineers for Iannone’s demonstrated lack of effort was manifest. Going 1.5 seconds faster only when he was in the embarrassing situation of being passed by his stand-in teammate is something that seems like...laziness? Lack of commitment? Lack of professionalism? Unfortunately, the environment on the team at the moment is not one that entices everyone to act as a unit.
Iannone's lap times seemed average considering the struggles the Suzuki Ecstar team have been encountering this season, but once stand-in teammate Guintoli (50) passed him late in the race, the Italian suddenly dropped his lap times by more than 1.5 seconds per lap to repass Guintoli and open up a gap before the finish. Suzuki engineers were understandably outraged by Iannone's lack of effort. Photo courtesy of Michelin |
GENEVA (5 February 2016) – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been arbitrarily detained by Sweden and the United Kingdom since his arrest in London on 7 December 2010, as a result of the legal action against him by both Governments, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said today.
In a public statement, the expert panel called on the Swedish and British authorities to end Mr. Assange’s deprivation of liberty, respect his physical integrity and freedom of movement, and afford him the right to compensation (Check the statement: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=17012&LangID=E)
Mr. Assange, detained first in prison then under house arrest, took refuge in Ecuador’s London embassy in 2012 after losing his appeal to the UK’s Supreme Court against extradition to Sweden, where a judicial investigation was initiated against him in connection with allegations of sexual misconduct. However, he was not formally charged.
“The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention considers that the various forms of deprivation of liberty to which Julian Assange has been subjected constitute a form of arbitrary detention,” said Seong-Phil Hong, who currently heads the expert panel.
“The Working Group maintains that the arbitrary detention of Mr. Assange should be brought to an end, that his physical integrity and freedom of movement be respected, and that he should be entitled to an enforceable right to compensation,” Mr. Hong added.
In its official Opinion, the Working Group considered that Mr. Assange had been subjected to different forms of deprivation of liberty: initial detention in Wandsworth Prison in London, followed by house arrest and then confinement at the Ecuadorean Embassy.
The experts also found that the detention was arbitrary because Mr. Assange was held in isolation at Wandsworth Prison, and because a lack of diligence by the Swedish Prosecutor’s Office in its investigations resulted in his lengthy loss of liberty.
The Working Group established that this detention violates Articles 9 and 10 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, and Articles 7, 9(1), 9(3), 9(4), 10 and 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Check the Working Group’s Opinion on Julian Assange’s case (No. 54/2015), adopted in December: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Detention/A.HRC.WGAD.2015.docx
NOTE TO EDITORS:
The Opinions of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention are legally-binding to the extent that they are based on binding international human rights law, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The WGAD has a mandate to investigate allegations of individuals being deprived of their liberty in an arbitrary way or inconsistently with international human rights standards, and to recommend remedies such as release from detention and compensation, when appropriate.
The binding nature of its opinions derives from the collaboration by States in the procedure, the adversarial nature of is findings and also by the authority given to the WGAD by the UN Human Rights Council. The Opinions of the WGAD are also considered as authoritative by prominent international and regional judicial institutions, including the European Court of Human Rights.
ENDS
Mr. Seong-Phil Hong (Republic of Korea) is the Chairman-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. Other members of the Working Group are Ms. Leigh Toomey (Australia); Mr. José Antonio Guevara Bermúdez (Mexico); Mr. Roland Adjovi Sètondji (Benin) and Mr. Vladimir Tochilovsky (Ukraine). Learn more, log on to: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Detention/Pages/WGADIndex.aspx
The UN Working Groups are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.
The Universal Declaration on Human Rights: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Library/Pages/UDHR.aspx
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CCPR.aspx.
UN Human Rights, Country Pages:
Sweden: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/ENACARegion/Pages/SEIndex.aspx
United Kingdom: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/ENACARegion/Pages/GBIndex.aspx
For more information and media requests please contact Mr. Sharof Azizov (+41 22 917 9748 / sazizov@ohchr.org), Mr. Christophe Peschoux (+41 22 917 93 81 / cpeschoux@ohchr.org), or write to wgad@ohchr.org
The Vice-Chair of the Working Group, Mr. Sètondji Roland Adjovi will be available for phone interviews (Off. +1 215 517 2689 / Mob. +1 267 252 3668 / Fax. +1 267 937 3195 / adjovir@arcadia.edu)
For media inquiries related to other UN mandates:
Xabier Celaya, UN Human Rights – Media Unit (+ 41 22 917 9383 / xcelaya@ohchr.org)
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Jeremy Clarkson is estimated to have earned more than £3m from his work presenting Top Gear, making the controversial presenter easily the highest-paid BBC star – according to documents filed by commercial arm Worldwide.
His income from the motoring programme was boosted by £900,000 after it emerged that dividends from the company behind the commercial exploitation of Top Gear had lept to £9m from £6m a year ago.
BBC Worldwide owns 50% of Bedder 6 and an obscure note to its accounts disclosed that it received a £4.5m dividend in 2011/12 up from £3m a year ago – fuelled by Top Gear DVD sales and income from live shows.
Bedder 6 has not yet filed its own accounts with Companies House, but its figures for the year to 31 March 2011 showed it paid a total dividend of £5.95m – which would fit in with the £3m received by the BBC last year.
Clarkson owns 30% of the company – making his share £2.7m, up from £1.8m the year before. On top of that Clarkson has previous drawn a fee of £350,000 and is paid a separate "talent fee" from the BBC licence fee of widely believed to be just short of £500,000.
That would take his estimated income to £3.5m – and compares to an estimated £2.65m for a year before. The increases make Clarkson easily the best-paid BBC star, ahead of Graham Norton who earns a little above £2m from the licence fee and his production company So Television and Gary Lineker who earns a presenter fee from the licence fee of about £2m a year.
However, because the majority of Clarkson's pay does not come from the licence fee, he will not be included as one of the BBC's 16 stars who earn more than £500,000, let alone one of the handful – estimated at between three and six – who earn more than £1m a year.
The remainder of Bedder 6, a 20% stake, is owned by Top Gear executive producer Andy Wilman. A £9m dividend will mean he will receive £1.8m. Wilman has also previously drawn a £60,000 fee for his role on the programme.
Bedder 6 was set up to allow Clarkson to benefit from the commercialisation of Top Gear without drawing large sums from the licence fee. The growth of Top Gear has meant that the deal has proved particularly lucrative, at a time when other BBC stars have had to face pay cuts because the Corporation is cutting back on its licence fee spending.
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OVO Sound boss Drake knows his history. The hip-hop superstar has reflected on the 10-year anniversary of his now-legendary Comeback Season street album.
Drizzy went to Instagram Friday (September 1) and celebrated his second mixtape’s birthday.
At last month’s OVO Fest, Drake promised to bless fans with a joint The Weeknd album at his annual OVO Fest concert.
“I want you to understand what this is. First of all, I don’t want to do this to you on stage, but I feel like that OVOXO project has to happen at some point. I just want to say that.”
Drake brought out The Weeknd to perform at the OVO Fest. pic.twitter.com/A6BAMO6QEz — xotwdie (@xotwdie) August 8, 2017
At the same event, the 6 God also updated fans on the status of putting out another LP.
The ‘One Dance’ rapper headlined his OVO music festival in his hometown of Toronto, Canada on Monday night (07.08.17) where he told the audience he’s set to return to the studio to prepare his follow-up to the hugely successful ‘Views’. Speaking on stage, with the backdrop of 2016 LP behind him, Drake told the crowd: ”Im going to go back to making this new album in Toronto, just for you.” (Contact Music) |
(read the book free online - read the Reddit AMA)
Imagine you live in a small apartment above a bookstore.
Like most bookstores, it has an area set aside for perusing novels and consuming refreshments where you can relax with a alluring and fragrant pile of books stacked in front of you. The only sounds come from the soft mood music the establishment is piping in and the contented signs of other customers. You’re free to evaluate each prospective purchase at your own leisure, languidly stroking their pages one-by-one, seeing if this one or that one’s spine has what you’re looking for attached to it.
No one who works there ever comes up and hassles you about hurrying up and buying something already, there’s an implicit pact between client and business – you’re free to lounge for as long as you’d like, but if you want the convenience of taking the book with you, a fee is required.
That’s really all you’re paying, a convenience fee. Each book sits on the shelf open and waiting, shyly beckoning you with coyly designed covers and promising words – tempting you to pick them up, sit them in your lap, fall in love with them, and pay to take them home. But whether or not payment is rendered, you can still have your way with as many books as you want, regardless of whether or not you pay a single cent.
If you actually lived in an apartment above a bookstore, how often would you actually pay to take a book home if you could take your time with each and every book right then and there in the store? Probably not very often if you could conveniently come and go whenever you wanted. So it’s been a good thing for the publishing industry that very few people actually live above or abreast a bookstore.
Unfortunately for the publishing industry, and just about everyone who works for it except the authors themselves, the internet went and got itself invented – so the publishing industry is now in the process of becoming well and thoroughly screwed.
Publishing has always been a notoriously fickle business: Harry Potter was rejected by nine publishers, A Time to Kill by twenty-six. The Diary of Anne Frank was labeled “very dull,” and “a dreary record of typical family bickering, petty annoyances and adolescent emotions.” George Orwell was told Animal Farm would never sell because “it is impossible to sell animal stories in the U.S.”
Before selling over 130 million copies worldwide, Chicken Soup for the Soul was passed on by over 100 publishing houses. And it took Doctor Seuss’s first book twenty-seven publisher rejections before it finally found a taker.
Talk to any literary agent and they’ll tell you that publishing has always been an absolute crap-shoot. If people inside the publishing industry themselves admit that “It’s an accidental profession, most of the time,” and that “people think publishing is a business – but it’s a casino,” how exactly does it make sense to argue that the current economic model isn’t hilariously broken?
The randomness of publishing wasn’t due to some inexplicable high variance, it was a result of the fact that most people in the publishing business have no fucking idea what a good book looks like. Walk into any bookstore in American and start randomly plucking books off the shelf. You’ll have to go through about a dozen before you find one that’s worth reading more than a few pages of.
But maybe the most absurd part of the process is that even if your book did manage to run the gauntlet – querying agents, getting one to bite, finally selling your manuscript to a publisher – there was still one massive trial you had to pass. Bookstores still have to order your book from the publisher, and for Barnes & Noble’s entire fiction department this order was controlled exclusively and entirely by one woman.
Ponder that for a moment.
Some nameless faceless entity, who probably ended up getting into the bookselling business only after she failed at actually producing art herself, would hold the life of your dream in her hands, adjust her reading glasses, maybe absentmindedly pet one of the fourteen or so cats, and render judgement.
Unsurprisingly, Barnes & Noble is a slowly sinking ship – it’s only a matter of time before it comes to rest at the bottom of the business ocean alongside Borders. But there’s good news, and hope out on the horizon. Because the thing is, pretty much no one actually lives above a bookstore.
The evolution of the alphabet is shrouded in mystery, although many archeologists accept the theory that the first instance of phonemes being broken down into discrete chalky semaphore occurred somewhere inside of the Levant and probably served as a code for the enslaved to communicate the means of freedom to each other.
Kind of like the modern hobo code, but somehow more profound.
Then comes what we know for sure – the printing press empowered the Protestant Reformation, as for the first time knowledge could be disseminated free from any authoritative oversight. And now revolution is beating down the doors of oppression and autocracy in the Middle East, riding waves of electronic dissent that never could have formed without the dissemination of the Internet to nearly every corner of the globe.
Tweeting and Facebook didn’t cause any of these revolutions, they merely allowed them to coalesce inside societies with incredibly strict laws about public gatherings.
Along with authoritarian regimes, the ongoing Information Revolution now seems to be well on its way to tearing down the crumbling facade of the book publishing industry. The flip side to that is that it’s being argued that “writing, as a profession, will cease to exist,” a conjecture which couldn’t be farther from the truth. It’s perhaps one of the more absurdly short-sighted and alarmist statements ever made in the short history of modern literature.
The only thing that might cease to exist is many of the superfluous managerial and bureaucratic jobs in the publishing industry, as well we writing as a profession… that can make you a multimillionaire who has a tank parked on his damn lawn. Not to single out Tom Clancy, his first dozen books or so were absolutely brilliant and firmly established the geopolitical military thriller as a genre – but the tail end of his career bears witness to just how absurd the publishing industry has become.
Instead of quietly going into retirement he leveraged his name out to a series of video games, which isn’t something you can really knock him for in and of itself. But he also slapped his name on a series of incredibly crappy books, as well as what’s hopefully one final gawdawful book that he supposedly “co-authored.” But if you’re at all familiar with Clancy’s earlier works, it becomes very readily apparent that Clancy didn’t contribute anything to that book other than maybe a plot roughly outlined on a cocktail napkin.
Or maybe on a one-hundred dollar bill, they’re probably interchangeable in the Clancy household. And the publishing industry welcomed this misleading farce with open arms, because they knew all they needed was Clancy’s name slapped on something with pages attached to it. It would sell, and they’d be able to roll in the dough it produced like greedy myopic pigs.
Ewan Morrison’s argument that writing is a dead profession because of the prevalence of e-books isn’t only short-sighted, it doesn’t even hold together logically. He jumps from the fact that “most notable writers in the history of books were paid a living wage: they include Dostoevksy, Dickens and Shakespeare,” which has continued to the modern system of authors receiving advances against royalties – all the way to the idea that the reduced advances are going to send authors straight to early retirements because they can’t live on the royalties from past books alone.
Even discounting the fact that Dostoevsky’s desperate need for advances came as a result of his compulsive gambling, and that J.K. Rowling isn’t alone in being able to write her first book without any hope of an advance, even living on welfare in her particular case – it becomes readily apparent that Morrison’s line of reasoning is deeply flawed:
To ask whether International Man Booker prizewinner Philip Roth could have written 24 novels and the award-winning American trilogy without advances is like asking if Michelangelo could have painted the Sistine Chapel without the patronage of Pope Julius II. The economic framework that supports artists is as important as the art itself; if you remove one from the other then things fall apart.
Conflating Philip Roth’s career, which was spent living in a modern American city, with an artist living in 16th century Renaissance Italy is about as asinine as it gets. The artistic market and map to success for someone authoring books in 20th century America has next to nothing in common with trying to make it as a painter and sculptor hundreds of years ago – the fundamental ideas of market and commerce were completely and utterly different. The economic framework Morrison cites has been holding up the publishing industry, not the authors themselves. |
28 February 2016, 08:41
Now here’s a very clever idea. Who hasn’t heard of Mac app bundles, where you pay a set small amount to buy heavily discounted apps in bulk? Hundreds of dollars can be saved compared to the standard retail price but you end-up with several apps you just don’t want in order to get the ones you do!
Well, how about this: the “Buy what you want” bundle lets you pick your OWN choice of 10 apps or subscriptions to useful services, from a total choice of 40 – and for just $19.95. There are some amazing bargains to be had, with discounts of many hundreds of dollars on individual apps, as you can see below.
You can choose any 10 of the following, many of which are classics of their app categories:
Droplr – 1Year Lite Plan – retails at $49.99
Share images, documents, files, and links.
StarryNight Enthusiast7 – retails @ $79.95
Turn Your Computer Into A Virtual Universe
Beamer – retails @ $19.99
Stream any movie file from your Mac to Apple TV.
Sticky Password Premium One Year plan – retails @ $19.99
Access Your Info Securely & Quickly Across Your Devices
Screens – retails @ $29.99
Connect to any computer from anywhere and control it like you were sitting in front of it
Hype 3 – retails @ $49.99
Create beautiful HTML5 web content
Lucid – retails @ $44.99
Lucid helps you create amazing Javascript Workflows and animations.
Kinemac – retails @ $299
3D Real Time Animation Software for OS X
iStat Menus – retails @ $18
Monitor your system right from the menubar.
TypeIt4Me – retails @ $19.99
The original text expander for Mac
Chronicle – retails @ $14.99
Chronicle is the easiest way to manage your bills
Candy Apple – retails @ $29.99
Graphic design and illustration app for any professional or beginner
Unclutter – retails @ $5.99
A new handy place on your desktop for storing notes
Flip PDF – retails @ $99
Transform PDFs into Dynamic, Page-Flipping Magazines, Catalogs, Brochures & E-Books
Hands Off! – retails @ $49.99
Monitor and control application access to your network and disks.
YummyFTP – retails @ $24.99
Pro-level, Fast, Reliable FTP Client
DiapoSheet – retails @ $24
Quickly layout your photo & metadata-exif on a PDF Contact Sheet
Softorino YouTube Converter – retails @ $19.95
Download YouTube Videos & Music to iPhone, iPad or Mac for Offline Playback.
PhotoWatermark – retails @ $19.99
Batch-watermark and protect your photos
App Uninstaller – retails @ $7.99
The best way to uninstall applications on Mac OS X
Duplicates Expert – retails @ $9.99
Ultimate Duplicate Files Finder
Decompose – retails @ $29.99
Extract objects from images with ease
Barsoom – retails @ $6.99
Keep your menu bar in order
VidConvert – retails @ $7.99
Simple and easy video and audio converter.
PDF Watermarker – retails @ $19.99
Easily watermark your PDF
MacOptimizer – retails @ $29
Utility to help you clean, repair and organize your Mac.
MenuBar ReArranger2 – retails @ $9.99
Take control of your menu bar
Back In Focus – retails @ $99.95
Refocus Blurry Images: Quickly increase the sharpness of your photos.
Whoosh – retails @ $59.99
Whoosh is a client for Amazon SES, Simple Email Service
Disk Expert – retails @ $9.99
Space Usage Analyzer & Cleanup Utility
iPhone Backup Extractor for Mac – retails @ $49.95
Coolmuster iPhone Backup Extractor for Mac
Duplicate Finder – retails @ $29.99
Finds and removes duplicate files in batches on Mac OS X.
AppCrypt Password Protection – retails @ $24.99
Easily Lock Your Apps with the Best Mac App Block
VideoConverter – retails @ $39.99
The most stable and quickest video converter for Mac OS X (El Capitan Included)
PDF Image Extractor – retails @ $39.95
Coolmuster PDF Image Extractor for Mac
ClearDisk – retails @ $8.99
Free Your Mac Hard Drive
iPad iPhone iPod to Mac Transfer – retails @ $35.95
Coolmuster iPad iPhone iPod to Mac Transfer
PDF Password Remover – retails @ $29.95
Coolmuster PDF Password Remover for Mac
Folx Pro – retails @ $19.95
Easier & Faster Way to Download Files With This Ultimate Download Manager
SyncMate Expert – retails @ $39.95
All-in-one sync tool for Mac
TripMode – retails @ $7.99
TripMode help you save data and Time. |
Slideshow: Gunman opens fire at Sikh temple in Wisconsin Jeffrey Phelps / AP A gunman opened fire Sunday morning at a Sikh temple outside of Milwaukee, killing six people and wounding at least three others, including a police officer, before being shot to death, authorities said. Launch slideshow
Updated at 10:36 p.m. ET: A gunman opened fire Sunday morning at a Sikh temple outside of Milwaukee, killing six people and wounding at least three others, including a police officer, before being shot to death, authorities said.
A mass shooting at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisc., leaves seven dead, including the suspected gunman, and three wounded, including an ambushed police officer. NBC's John Yang reports.
The identity of the shooter was not released and his motive was unknown.
"We're treating this as a domestic terrorist-type incident," Oak Creek Police Chief John Edwards said at a late afternoon press conference. He did not elaborate.
It was not immediately clear why local police were classifying the shooting as domestic terrorism.
Federal law enforcement officials told NBC News the suspected gunman had no obvious connection to domestic terror or white supremacist groups and apparently was not on any list of suspected terrorists. The suspect was in his early 40s, and while he had an arrest record, it was for minor offenses, one federal official said.
Greenfield Police Chief Bradley Wentlandt, acting as public information officer at the scene, said the shooting was reported at 10:25 a.m. at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek, south of Milwaukee along Lake Michigan. The shooting took place shortly before Sunday services were to begin.
A police officer responding to multiple 911 calls came upon a gunman outside the temple and was shot multiple times, Wentlandt said.
The gunman shot at another officer, who returned fire, striking and killing the suspect, Edwards said. The wounded officer was taken to a hospital where he underwent surgery and was expected to survive, officials told NBC News.
Wentlandt said four bodies were found inside the temple and three, including the suspected gunman, were outside. He did not identify or describe the victims.
Tactical police officers swept through the temple several times and found no signs of additional suspects despite earlier reports of a possible second gunman.
Police officials says that they are treating the shooting by a gunman that left seven people dead, including the gunman, as a "domestic terrorist" incident.
Reports of multiple shooters “were likely reports of the same shooter from different perspectives,” Wentlandt said.
A law enforcement official told NBC News the gunman was dressed in a white T-shirt and black tactical-style pants, which had several pockets for holding ammunition magazines. He was armed with a single handgun, the official said. His name was not released but police say they have a tentative ID and were searching his home.
FBI and police converged on a duplex in Cudahy, south of Milwaukee and about six miles from Oak Creek late Sunday. Witnesses told NBC station WTMJ that neighbors and residents were told to stay away as authorities were investigating the home. An ambulance, armored vehicle and bomb squad were on the scene.
A police official later confirmed that law enforcement officials were executing a search warrant at the house.
Officials told NBC News the suspect, who served in the U.S. Army, had many tattoos. The suspect had some kind of radical or white supremacist views but, as far as officials said they had heard, he was not in any kind of radical organization. His previous run-ins with law enforcement involved traffic offenses, they said.
Tight-knight Sikh community shocked by shooting
A Wisconsin police official says that at least seven people are dead, including the gunman, in a shooting at a Sikh temple outside Milwaukee. Watch the entire news conference.
Edwards earlier praised the "heroic actions" of the responding officers. "They stopped this from being worse than it could have been."
The temple's president, Satwant Kaleka, was among those shot, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported.
Sukhwindar Nagr, of Racine, said he called his brother-in-law's phone and a priest at the temple answered, The Associated Press reported. Nagr said the priest told him that his brother-in-law had been shot, along with three priests. Nagr said the priest also said women and children hid in closets at the temple.
A temple committee member, Ven Boba Ri, told the Journal-Sentinel that people inside the temple described the shooter as a white male in his 30s.
"We have no idea," he said of the motive. "It's pretty much a hate crime. It's not an insider."
Ri told the Journal-Sentinel the gunman walked up to a priest who was standing outside the temple and shot him. Then he went inside and started shooting.
People inside the temple used cell phones to call people outside, saying please send help, Ri said.
Three male victims, including the wounded police officer, were being treated at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee for gunshot wounds. All were in critical condition, hospital officials said. One suffered injuries to the abdomen and chest, one suffered injuries to the extremities and face, and one suffered injuries to the neck, Dr. Gary Seabrook, Froedtert's director of surgical services, said in a prepared statement.
Oak Creek police, the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department and other law enforcement agencies responded, the Journal-Sentinel reported. The FBI also assisted.
Watch US News crime videos on NBCNews.com
Authorities closed roads and set up a staging area near the temple, WTMJ reported.
Wisconsin state Rep. Josh Zepnick, who came to the scene, said he has been inside the temple many times. He described the shooting as senseless.
"On a beautiful Sunday morning, the absolute last thing you would expect is a place of peace and love and spiritual worship would be torn to shreds by gun violence," Zepnick told WTMJ.
"Our hearts go out to the victims and their families, as we all struggle to comprehend the evil that begets this terrible violence," Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said in a statement.
"At the same time, we are filled with gratitude for our first responders, who show bravery and selflessness as they put aside their own safety to protect our neighbors and friends."
Police from Brookfield, Wisc., west of Milwaukee, were sent to a Sikh temple there as a precaution after news of the Oak Creek shootings spread.
President Barack Obama was notified of the shooting shortly before 1 p.m. by his Homeland Security adviser, John Brennan. In a statement, he said he and first lady Michelle Obama were "deeply saddened" by the shooting and that his administration would provide whatever support is necessary.
"As we mourn this loss which took place at a house of worship, we are reminded how much our country has been enriched by Sikhs, who are a part of our broader American family," Obama said.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, in a prepared statement, said he and his wife, Ann, "extend our thoughts and prayers to the victims of today's shooting in Wisconsin. This was a senseless act of violence and a tragedy that should never befall any house of worship. ... We join Americans everywhere in mourning those who lost their lives and in prayer for healing in the difficult days ahead."
The New York Police Department said it was increasing coverage in and around Sikh temples in New York City as a precaution. "There is no known threat against Sikh temples in New York City, however, the coverage is being put in place out of an abundance of caution," the department said.
Sikh rights groups have reported a rise in bias attacks since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The Washington-based Sikh Coalition has reported more than 700 incidents in the U.S. since 9/11, which advocates blame on anti-Islamic sentiment. Sikhs don't practice the same religion as Muslims, but their long beards and turbans often cause them to be mistaken for Muslims, advocates say.
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Sikhism is a monotheistic faith that was founded in South Asia more than 500 years ago. It has roughly 27 million followers worldwide. Observant Sikhs do not cut their hair; male followers often cover their heads with turbans -- which are considered sacred -- and refrain from shaving their beards. They are neither Muslim nor Hindu.
There are roughly 500,000 Sikhs in the U.S., according to estimates. The majority worldwide live in India.
The Sikh Temple of Wisconsin was founded in October 1997 with 20 to 25 families, according to its website. It currently has 350 to 400 people in its congregation and has grown rapidly, the group says. The congregation started in rental facilities in Milwaukee and formerly established itself in a building in 1999. It later bought 13 acres in Oak Creek and broke ground on the current temple in 2006.
This article includes reporting by NBC station WTMJ of Milwaukee, NBC's Pete Williams and The Associated Press.
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Elizabeth Warren is clearly getting on the Administration’s nerves.
The Massachusetts senator has come out forcefully against the misleadingly named trade deals, the TransPacific Partnership and its ugly sister, the TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Mind you, these treaties are not about trade. Trade is already substantially liberalized and in keeping, only five of the 29 chapters of the TransPacific Partnership deal with tariffs.
What these pacts are primarily intended to do is strengthen intellectual property laws to help US software and entertainment companies, along with Big Pharma, increase their hefty profits, and to aid multinational by permitting the greatly increased use of secret, conflict-ridden arbitration panels that allow foreign investors to sue governments over laws that they contend reduced potential future profits. I am not making that up.
Warren focused on the so-called investor-state dispute settlement process in a Washington Post op-ed last week. We’ve discussed these panels in gory detail in previous posts.
That article led the White House to issue a “lady doth protest too much” rebuttal that we’ll shred shortly. But let’s first review the state of play.
The Administration had no luck in the last Congress getting so-called “fast track” authorization for the TPP due to widespread opposition. It wasn’t just that Majority Leader Harry Reid refused to table it in the Senate. John Boehner made it clear that he couldn’t get the votes in Republican-controlled House to pass it either. Over 200 representatives, including some Republicans, signed letters or otherwise voiced reservations about the trade deals, and another 30 to 40 were believed to be against it. Although the Administration has tried to claim otherwise, the opposition goes well beyond the small cohort of “progressives”.
Part of the reason for the Congressional revolt is that the Administration has made it impossible for Congress to review the drafts properly. But another is that even some conservatives are willing to come out against these agreements as pork for big multinationals. For instance, the right wing think tank Cato supported the Warren op-ed:
An important pillar of trade agreements is the concept of “national treatment,” which says that imports and foreign companies will be afforded treatment no different from that afforded domestic products and companies. The principle is a commitment to nondiscrimination. But ISDS turns national treatment on its head, giving privileges to foreign companies that are not available to domestic companies. If a U.S. natural gas company believes that the value of its assets has suffered on account of a new subsidy for solar panel producers, judicial recourse is available in the U.S. court system only. But for foreign companies, ISDS provides an additional adjudicatory option. As a practical matter, investment is a risky proposition. Foreign investment is even more so. But that doesn’t mean special institutions should be created to protect MNCs from the consequences of their business decisions. Multinational companies are savvy and sophisticated enough to evaluate risk and determine whether the expected returns cover that risk. Among the risk factors is the strength of the rule of law in the prospective investment jurisdiction. MNCs may want assurances, but why should they be entitled to them? ISDS amounts to a subsidy to mitigate the risk of outsourcing. While outsourcing shouldn’t be denigrated, punished, or taxed – companies should be free to allocate their resources as they see fit – neither should it be subsidized.
The trade deals are coming up again for a fast track vote, perhaps as soon as this week. Warren’s focus on the investor panels has the potential to raise awareness of how dangerous they are and stir more voters to press their Congressmen to nix fast track authority. Here is the guts of her case against these tribunals:
ISDS would allow foreign companies to challenge U.S. laws — and potentially to pick up huge payouts from taxpayers — without ever stepping foot in a U.S. court. Here’s how it would work. Imagine that the United States bans a toxic chemical that is often added to gasoline because of its health and environmental consequences. If a foreign company that makes the toxic chemical opposes the law, it would normally have to challenge it in a U.S. court. But with ISDS, the company could skip the U.S. courts and go before an international panel of arbitrators. If the company won, the ruling couldn’t be challenged in U.S. courts, and the arbitration panel could require American taxpayers to cough up millions — and even billions — of dollars in damages. If that seems shocking, buckle your seat belt. ISDS could lead to gigantic fines, but it wouldn’t employ independent judges. Instead, highly paid corporate lawyers would go back and forth between representing corporations one day and sitting in judgment the next. Maybe that makes sense in an arbitration between two corporations, but not in cases between corporations and governments. If you’re a lawyer looking to maintain or attract high-paying corporate clients, how likely are you to rule against those corporations when it’s your turn in the judge’s seat? If the tilt toward giant corporations wasn’t clear enough, consider who would get to use this special court: only international investors, which are, by and large, big corporations. So if a Vietnamese company with U.S. operations wanted to challenge an increase in the U.S. minimum wage, it could use ISDS. But if an American labor union believed Vietnam was allowing Vietnamese companies to pay slave wages in violation of trade commitments, the union would have to make its case in the Vietnamese courts.
And what was the White House’s response? It was dishonest at a high level and in detail.
On a high level, it asserts that subordinating the jurisdiction of US courts to secret, undemocratically accountable arbitration panels and given them the power to fine the US government for its laws and regulations is not a loss of sovereignity. Help me.
Last week, Lambert flagged that the Administration can’t even get its story straight. The text states:
The reality is that ISDS does not and cannot require countries to change any law or regulation. Looking more broadly, TPP will result in higher levels of labor and environmental protections in most TPP countries than they have today.
Not only are those two statements inconsistent, but extensive work by Public Citizen demonstrates that the claims are misleading.
Narrowly speaking, suing ex post facto to make a government pay a foreign investor for his future lost profits does not “require” a country to revamp its rules. But who are you kidding? The ISDS mechanism vitiates enforcement.
In addition, the claim that the TPP will strengthen environmental protection is spurious. Wikileaks published a draft of the environment chapter. From Professor Jane Kelsey of New Zealand’s analysis:
The most egregious threat to the environment is the investment chapter, in particular the prior consent by all countries except Australia to investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). The vast majority of investment arbitrations under similar agreements involve natural resources, especially mining, and have resulted in billions of dollars of damages against governments for measures designed to protect the environment from harm caused by foreign corporations. The US is also demanding that contracts between investors and states that involve natural resources also have access to ISDS.
Moreover, notice how the White House claims is “ISDS does not and cannot require countries to change any law or regulation. ” as opposed to “the TPP does not and cannot”? That word choice was deliberate. Other provisions in the agreement explicitly require all signatories to conform their laws to the TPP. From Public Citizen’s analysis:
What is different with TAFTA [pending Trans Atlantic Free Trade Agreement] (and TPP) is the extent of “behind the border” agenda • Typical boilerplate: “Each Member shall ensure the conformity of its laws, regulations and administrative procedures with its obligations as provided in the annexed Agreements.” … • These rules are enforced by binding dispute resolution via foreign tribunals with ruling enforced by trade indefinite sanctions; No due process; No outside appeal. Countries must gut laws ruled against. Trade sanctions imposed…U.S. taxpayers must compensate foreign corporations. • Permanence – no changes w/o consensus of all signatory countries. So, no room for progress, responses to emerging problems • Starkly different from past of international trade between countries. This is diplomatic legislating of behind the border policies – but with trade negotiators not legislators or those who will live with results making the decisions. • 3 private sector attorneys, unaccountable to any electorate, many of whom rotate between being “judges” & bringing cases for corps. against govts…Creates inherent conflicts of interest…. • Tribunals operate behind closed doors – lack basic due process • Absolute tribunal discretion to set damages, compound interest, allocate costs • No limit to amount of money tribunals can order govts to pay corps/investors
• Compound interest starting date if violation new norm ( compound interest ordered by tribunal doubles Occidental v. Ecuador $1.7B award to $3B plus • Rulings not bound by precedent. No outside appeal. Annulment for limited errors.
In detail, the White House arguments were just as disingenuous. The text starts out by saying that arbitration is widely used and therefore the public should see it as safe and uncontroversial. Bollocks. Arbitration in the US is most often used in take-it-or-leave it contracts like brokerage and credit card agreements and cell phone contracts. And arbitration is hardly squeaky-clean even in the US; see the lawsuits and controversies faced by the National Arbitration Forum, for instance.
Moreover, the rebuttal attempts to depict these corporate star chambers as consistent with constitutional Fifth Amendment protections:
But when government takes its citizen’s property from them – be it a person’s home or their business – the government is required to provide compensation. This is a core principle reflected in the U.S. Constitution and recognized under international law and the legal systems of many countries.
So since this premise is so well accepted (and Warren reminds us that the TPP signatories all have grown-up legal systems), pray tell why do we need a special system of de facto above the legal system panels for the biggest, richest companies who are in a better position than just about anyone to press for their legal rights? The idea that a special legal venue that is for well-heeled multinationals has anything to do with the rights of ordinary citizens is an insult to the reader’s intelligence.
It’s ludicrous to compare run-of-the-mill US arbitration panels to ISDS forums. For example, in the US, arbitration clauses can be circumvented for reasons including failure of contract formation, unconscionability, and public policy. There’s no way out of ISDS. And recall Warren’s mention of conflicts of interest? It’s even worse than she intimated. Public Citizen examined how go between working for the companies and serving on the panels. A small and tight-knit group has disproportionate influence (click to enlarge):
Consider the implications of the fact that the 15, and the larger community of panel “regulars,” work both sides of the street. They draw cases that go before the trade panel, as well as hear them. Thus it’s in their interest to issue aggressive rulings in order to facilitate more cases being filed. Yet the White House has the temerity to describe repeatedly ISDS as “neutral arbitration”!
Voters are also supposed to take comfort from the fact that only 50 ISDS cases have been filed against the US and the US has won them all. That figure is meaningless without knowing the total filed, and irrelevant given, as Public Citizen stresses, investor rights are believed to be greatly strengthened in the TPP and TTIP, thus greatly increasing the role of these panels. Look at how this self-reinforcing system has been producing more case even before its gets its hoped-for turbo-charging through the pending trade deals:
And these cases are typically high stakes for the targeted country. Naked Capitalism readers have often referred to the Philip Morris suit against Australia for its requirement of plain packaging for cigarettes with prominent health warnings. The Administration statement also tries hair-splitting over another case that galvanized opinion in Germany against these trade forums, also described briefly in Elizabeth Warren’s Washington Post article, that of Swedish power company Vattenfal suing the German government over lost potential future profits due to the phase-out of nuclear power in Germany. Vattenfal is a serial trade pact litigant against Germany. In 2011, it sued for expected €1 billion plus losses in the case mentioned by Warren. In 2009, Vattenfall sued the German federal government over stricter environmental regulations on its coal-fired power plant in Hamburg-Moorburg, seeking €1.4 billion plus interest in damages. The parties settled out of court in August 2010.
So how did the Administration try to brush that off? By saying basically that the case didn’t require Germany to change the law, just to pay investors “for abrogating existing commitments”. Since when do companies have a right to a stable business environment? Written law, case law, the competitive environment, consumer appetites, and input prices change all the time. The Administration is, with a straight face, trying to defend the notion that running a business should be made free of risk. And it brushes aside the point we raised earlier, that vitiating enforcement is tantamount to vitiating regulation.
The Administration also tries to minimize the area where the regulatory race to the bottom created by the pending trade deals is almost certain to work against the US: in the financial regulatory realm. As weak as US reforms have been, the US is nevertheless generally seen as having done more to re-regulate than European countries. Moreover, even to the extent UK and European regulators have strengthened their rules, they’ve taken approaches that differ somewhat from those of the US, such as using contingent capital (aka “bail ins”) while we have had stronger requirements for higher capital levels.
Now the White House missive does point out that “prudential measures” for financial firms are exempted from the ISDS process. But that notion is vague and untested. And some areas where the US has been very aggressive in taking action against foreign firms, such as money laundering, are clearly not about the safety of the financial system.
And finally, for the Administration to insinuate that the TPP will result in greater transparency is dubious, given that it’s made it well-nigh impossible for anyone in Congress to do a proper review of the text. While the US Trade Representative technically allows access, in practice, that right is empty. The Congressman himself must read the text; no sending staffers or bringing experts allowed, and only staffers from the committees with direct oversight of trade bills (the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee) are allowed to join their bosses. The USTR insists that the Congressman specify what chapter he wants to review in advance. The USTR then insists that the negotiator of those chapters be present. Since those negotiators travel, it usually takes three or four weeks to find a convenient time.
No note-taking is allowed. The text is full of bracketed sections where if language is disputed, the revisions suggested by other countries are in the brackets, with the country initials listed but then redacted, making it difficult to read (as in you can’t even read this dense text straight through; the flow of the document is interrupted by the various suggested changes). Having people from the USTR staring over your shoulder is distracting. And it’s an open question as to whether asking them questions is prudent, since it gives the USTR insight into what the Congressman is concerned about.
Perhaps these Congressmen have exceptional powers of concentration. But I read cases and legally dense material with some regularity, and I find my concentration starts going after an hour to an hour and a half. And I also find it difficult to get much more than a general sense of a contract of any length in one pass. You need to go over it again and again to see how the various sections tie together to even have an approximate grasp of what it means. There’s simply no way that any Congressman has anything more than a very fuzzy idea of what is in the TPP and the TTIP.
They very fact that the Administration is going to such absurd lengths to prevent informed Congressional review should be sufficient reason in and of itself to turn down the Administration’s request for fast-track authority.
Call your Senators and Representative (find phone numbers here and here) and tell them to vote against fast track authority. If they are Democrats, stress that Elizabeth Warren is right, that the investor panels are a danger to America’s legal protections, and the Administration’s rebuttal is contradictory and belied by information already in the public domain. If they are Republicans, refer to the Cato analysis, that this is an unjustified de facto subsidy to multinational corporations that are better able to watch out for themselves than any other type of business. Encourage friends and family members to do the same. And tweet and circulate this post to help get the word out. |
Finnair's Flight 666 arrives in HEL for the last time on Friday the 13th
Updated
Helsinki airport says Flight 666 has arrived safely in HEL, the airport code for the Finnish capital, for the last time.
The Finnair flight took off from Copenhagen, Denmark, in the 13th hour of Friday the 13th, headed for Helsinki-Vantaa Airport.
Finavia, which operates Finland's 21 airports, said the flight landed eight minutes ahead of schedule at 3:47pm local time.
The flight started 11 years ago and has fallen on Friday the 13th 21 times with no reported ill effects.
Still, Finnair has decided to retire the flight number, but said it was not because of the superstition associating 666 with the devil.
The carrier is switching around some flight numbers later this month and Flight AY666 will become AY954.
"We're growing, so we need more flight numbers. This is why we've done the re-numbering," the airline said on Twitter.
However, the airline will still have the eerily-named flight from SIN (Singapore's Changi Airport) to HEL.
AP
Topics: human-interest, offbeat, finland, denmark
First posted |
A person of interest was named Monday by D.C. police in connection with the fatal shooting of an American University graduate in the Shaw area of Northwest Washington.
Police said in a statement that Andre Dudley, 19, was a person of interest in the Aug. 15 shooting in the 1800 block of 7th Street NW in which Matthew Shlonsky was killed. Police have said Shlonsky was not the intended target.
A man identified as Marcus King, 19, a resident of the Shaw area, has been arrested in the Shaw shooting and charged with second-degree murder.
Several people have been described as persons of interest. But it appeared that Dudley was the first person to be identified by name as a person of interest. There was no indication that he had been charged with any crime in connection with the shooting.
In their statement, police said Dudley was charged in a warrant in a burglary in the District three days before the shooting. The incident occurred Aug. 12 in the 4200 block of Argyle Terrace NW, and Dudley was charged with second-degree burglary, the police said.
No address was given for Dudley. |
WASHINGTON — The Senate voted narrowly on Tuesday to begin debate on a bill to repeal major provisions of the Affordable Care Act, but hours later, Republican leaders suffered a setback when their most comprehensive plan to replace President Barack Obama’s health law fell far short of the votes it needed.
The Tuesday night tally needed to reach 60 votes to overcome a parliamentary objection. Instead, it fell 43-57. The fact that the comprehensive replacement plan came up well short of even 50 votes was an ominous sign for Republican leaders still seeking a formula to pass final health care legislation this week.
For Republicans, the failure ended the day on a sour note, hours after a more triumphant scene on the Senate floor. Lawmakers from both parties had risen to their feet in the afternoon and applauded when Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, showed up in the chamber despite his diagnosis of brain cancer. He cast a crucial vote in favor of opening what promises to be a freewheeling, hard-fought debate over the future of the Affordable Care Act. |
I'm writing about arrays in the Modern Perl book now. While writing about push and unshift yesterday, I looked in perlfunc to see if I'd missed anything subtle about push -- and I had:
Returns the number of elements in the array following the completed push .
I can't think of a time when I'd used this in the past decade. Every use of push I can think of is in void context:
push @some_array, qw( some list of items );
Curiosity convinced me to look at the bleadperl source code. The push op is in a file called pp.c in a function called pp_push :
PP(pp_push) { dVAR; dSP; dMARK; dORIGMARK; dTARGET; register AV * const ary = MUTABLE_AV(*++MARK); const MAGIC * const mg = SvTIED_mg((const SV *)ary, PERL_MAGIC_tied); if (mg) { *MARK-- = SvTIED_obj(MUTABLE_SV(ary), mg); PUSHMARK(MARK); PUTBACK; ENTER; call_method("PUSH",G_SCALAR|G_DISCARD); LEAVE; SPAGAIN; SP = ORIGMARK; if (GIMME_V != G_VOID) { PUSHi( AvFILL(ary) + 1 ); } } else { PL_delaymagic = DM_DELAY; for (++MARK; MARK <= SP; MARK++) { SV * const sv = newSV(0); if (*MARK) sv_setsv(sv, *MARK); av_store(ary, AvFILLp(ary)+1, sv); } if (PL_delaymagic & DM_ARRAY) mg_set(MUTABLE_SV(ary)); PL_delaymagic = 0; SP = ORIGMARK; PUSHi( AvFILL(ary) + 1 ); } RETURN; }
I know this is a big chunk of lots of macros, but it's not too difficult to understand. The first if branch handles the case where the array on which to push has magic -- if it's a tied array, for example. Ignore that. The second branch loops through every list item provided to the op and appends them to the array.
I've emboldened a line at the end of that branch. The PUSHi macro pushes an integer value (an IV, in core parlance) onto the stack. The AvFILL macro returns the index of the final element in the array. Adding one to that number gives the number of elements in the array.
Every execution of this branch retrieves that value and pushes it on the stack. Even if the opcode takes place in void context such that the compiler can determine that at compilation time, this push occurs.
I wrote a patch:
diff --git a/pp.c b/pp.c index 9cedc3f..fbdc90c 100644 --- a/pp.c +++ b/pp.c @@ -4561,7 +4561,9 @@ PP(pp_push) PL_delaymagic = 0; SP = ORIGMARK; - PUSHi( AvFILLp(ary) + 1 ); + if (GIMME_V != G_VOID) { + PUSHi( AvFILL(ary) + 1 ); + } } RETURN; }
I've emboldened the important condition. The GIMME_V macro evaluates to the current context of the expression. Usually this context is statically determinable, but if this push is the final expression in a subroutine, the calling context matters. The G_VOID macro represents void context. In other words, don't push anything onto the stack to return a value from this expression unless something wants that return value.
Yitzchak Scott-Thoennes commented on my patch to say that GIMME_V may be more expensive than I intended. This is because looking up through calling scopes to find the runtime context is not always cheap. He suggested the simplification of:
OP_GIMME(PL_op, 0) != G_VOID
... to check only the compile-time context of the operator. You can see that this cheaper check is still correct in ambiguous cases:
$ perl -MO=Concise,check_push_context sub check_push_context { push @_, 'static void context'; push @_, 'dynamic context'; }^D d <1> leavesub[1 ref] K/REFC,1 ->(end) - <@> lineseq KP ->d 1 <> nextstate(main 61 push_ctx.pl:6) v:%,*,&,$ ->2 6 <@> push[t3] vK/2 ->7 2 <0> pushmark s ->3 4 <1> rv2av[t2] lKRM/3 ->5 3 <#> gv[*_] s ->4 5 <$&;gt const[PV "static void context"] s ->6 7 <> nextstate(main 61 push_ctx.pl:7) v:%,*,&,$ ->8 c <@> push[t6] sK/2 ->d 8 <0> pushmark s ->9 a <1> rv2av[t5] lKRM/3 ->b 9 <#> gv[*_] s ->a b <$> const[PV "dynamic context"] s ->c
I've emboldened the lines representing the push opcodes and I've emphasized the relevant context flags for these ops. The first opcode has a flag of v , which indicates that it occurs in void context. The second opcode has a flag of s , which indicates scalar context. Thus Yitzchak's suggestion will work for both cases without ruining any dynamic context call of this function.
As is the case with such optimizations, the question is whether the cost of checking such an optimization possibility is worth the cost of doing the work anyway. Measuring that, however -- well, you're not getting huge speed improvements out of this code. For a one-line patch and a very common use of this op, it may be worthwhile. |
The Trump administration is looking to return the two Russian compounds that were closed by the Obama administration as part of sanctions for Moscow's election meddling. The two compounds are located in Maryland and New York. (WUSA 9)
On Thursday afternoon, the Obama administration announced its long-awaited retaliation for what has been characterized as Russian interference in November's presidential election.
Among the wide-ranging measures, the White House announced that the State Department would be closing two Russian-owned compounds — one in Maryland and one in New York — that it says were used by Russian personnel for intelligence-related purposes. It is also declaring 35 Russians “persona non grata” for their alleged role in intelligence operations.
How hidden were these alleged spy compounds? At least in the case of Maryland, the answer is simple: not very.
[U.S. takes action against Russia for election hacking]
The compound in Maryland sits on around 45 acres of land at Pioneer Point, a peninsula where the Corsica and Chester rivers merge — around a 90-minute drive from downtown Washington, by the Eastern Shore town of Centreville in Queen Anne's County.
The site was purchased by the Soviet government in 1972, and became something of a resort for Soviets living in the United States. It is the former estate of John J. Raskob, a former executive for DuPont and General Motors perhaps best known as the builder of the Empire State Building. The Soviets later added to the estate by making a deal with the State Department, which received two properties in Moscow in return.
At the time of its purchase, there was some resistance to the sale of the building to the Soviets, with the local newspaper reporting there were “fears of nuclear submarines surfacing in the Chester River to pick up American secrets and defectors.”
[Why do so many people miss the Soviet Union?]
1969 photo of the Pioneer Point property near Centreville, Md. (Baltimore Sun)
But by 1974, the New York Times reported that many locals had been won over, with the help of dinner parties and gifts of vodka and caviar. “As far as neighbors are concerned you couldn't ask for better,” Joe Handley, a former estate manager for Raskob, told The Washington Post in 1979. “They don't bother anybody.”
A reporter from the local Star Democrat newspaper in Easton visited the site in 1987 — in large part because of the long-standing rumors that it was being used for espionage. The resulting article, also published in The Post, noted the tall chain-link fence outside the compound and the video cameras monitoring the gate, but also the lime-green bungalows, swimming pools and numerous tennis courts.
“Tomorrow we have a game,” one tennis player identified as Yevgeny told the reporter. “We have a tournament with the International Monetary Fund. They have a beautiful team. But this year, God knows who will win.”
After the turmoil of the collapse of the Soviet Union, Pioneer Point was bought by the Russian Federation — at the time, the Associated Press reported its value was $3 million. Local residents told the AP that they didn't have any problems with the Russians who visited the compound.
''I live down the road from them. We fish and crab with them. There's usually one that speaks English for the group,'' a woman named as Bonnie Delph told the AP.
1 of 21 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Russian compounds in Maryland and New York shut down View Photos Two luxury retreats, in Centreville, Md., and Oyster Bay, N.Y., where Russian diplomats have gone for decades to play tennis, sail and swim, were shut down by the Obama administration in retaliation for Moscow’s alleged hacking in the presidential election. Caption Two luxury retreats, in Centreville, Md., and Oyster Bay, N.Y., where Russian diplomats have gone for decades to play tennis, sail and swim, were shut down by the Obama administration in retaliation for Moscow’s alleged hacking in the presidential election. Dec. 30, 2106 The Russian Embassy’s compound near Centreville, Md. NBC4/WRC-TV via Reuters Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.
The compound has been in the news very little since then. Nine years ago, the Russian ambassador to the United States, Yuri Ushakov, invited a reporter from Washington Life magazine to tour the grounds, explaining that for him it was like the traditional Russian summer house, or dacha, he was used to back home. “Because we have such a hectic life in Washington, we need a place to hide for a while,” his wife, Svetlana, was quoted as saying.
A man who answered the phone for a number listed online for the Pioneer Point compound said it was a wrong number, before adding that he did not speak English.
On Thursday, U.S. officials would not confirm the location of the New York compound being shut down — saying only that it was a 14-acre property on Long Island that had been purchased by the Soviet government in 1954. However, a number of Russia-watching bloggers pointed to the Killenworth estate on Dosoris Lane in Glen Cove, which acts as the country home for Moscow's delegation to the United Nations. The grand country house was once owned by American philanthropist George Dupont Pratt.
The announcement culminates months of vigorous internal debate over whether and how to respond to Russia's unprecedented election-year provocations, ranging from the hacks of the Democratic National Committee to the targeting of state electoral systems. (The Washington Post)
Julie Tate contributed to this report.
Read more:
Kremlin spokesman vows retaliation against U.S. sanctions
Putin to Democratic Party: You lost, get over it
Russia could disconnect itself from global Internet during a crisis, Putin adviser says |
Silicosis Fine silica dust Specialty Pulmonology
Silicosis (also known as miner's phthisis, grinder's asthma, potter's rot and other occupation-related names[1], or by the invented name pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis[2][3]) is a form of occupational lung disease caused by inhalation of crystalline silica dust, and is marked by inflammation and scarring in the form of nodular lesions in the upper lobes of the lungs. It is a type of pneumoconiosis.[4]
Silicosis (particularly the acute form) is characterized by shortness of breath, cough, fever, and cyanosis (bluish skin). It may often be misdiagnosed as pulmonary edema (fluid in the lungs), pneumonia, or tuberculosis.
Silicosis resulted in 46,000 deaths globally in 2013 down from 55,000 deaths in 1990.[5]
The name silicosis (from the Latin silex, or flint) was originally used in 1870 by Achille Visconti (1836–1911), prosector in the Ospedale Maggiore of Milan.[6] The recognition of respiratory problems from breathing in dust dates to ancient Greeks and Romans.[7] Agricola, in the mid-16th century, wrote about lung problems from dust inhalation in miners. In 1713, Bernardino Ramazzini noted asthmatic symptoms and sand-like substances in the lungs of stone cutters. With industrialization, as opposed to hand tools, came increased production of dust. The pneumatic hammer drill was introduced in 1897 and sandblasting was introduced in about 1904,[8] both significantly contributing to the increased prevalence of silicosis.
Signs and symptoms [ edit ]
Because chronic silicosis is slow to develop, signs and symptoms may not appear until years after exposure.[9] Signs and symptoms include:
Dyspnea (shortness of breath) exacerbated by exertion
Cough, often persistent and sometimes severe
Fatigue
Tachypnea (rapid breathing) which is often labored,
Loss of appetite and weight loss
Chest pain
Fever
Gradual darkening of skin (blue skin)
Gradual dark shallow rifts in nails eventually leading to cracks as protein fibers within nail beds are destroyed.
In advanced cases, the following may also occur:
Cyanosis, pallor along upper parts of body (blue skin)
Cor pulmonale (right ventricle heart disease)
Respiratory insufficiency
Patients with silicosis are particularly susceptible to tuberculosis (TB) infection—known as silicotuberculosis. The reason for the increased risk—3 fold increased incidence—is not well understood. It is thought that silica damages pulmonary macrophages, inhibiting their ability to kill mycobacteria. Even workers with prolonged silica exposure, but without silicosis, are at a similarly increased risk for TB.[10]
Pulmonary complications of silicosis also include chronic bronchitis and airflow limitation (indistinguishable from that caused by smoking), non-tuberculous Mycobacterium infection, fungal lung infection, compensatory emphysema, and pneumothorax. There are some data revealing an association between silicosis and certain autoimmune diseases, including nephritis, scleroderma, and systemic lupus erythematosus, especially in acute or accelerated silicosis.
In 1996, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) reviewed the medical data and classified crystalline silica as "carcinogenic to humans." The risk was best seen in cases with underlying silicosis, with relative risks for lung cancer of 2–4. Numerous subsequent studies have been published confirming this risk. In 2006, Pelucchi et al. concluded, "The silicosis-cancer association is now established, in agreement with other studies and meta-analysis."[11]
Pathophysiology [ edit ]
Slice of a lung affected by silicosis
When small silica dust particles are inhaled, they can embed themselves deeply into the tiny alveolar sacs and ducts in the lungs, where oxygen and carbon dioxide gases are exchanged. There, the lungs cannot clear out the dust by mucous or coughing.
When fine particles of crystalline silica dust are deposited in the lungs, macrophages that ingest the dust particles will set off an inflammation response by releasing tumor necrosis factors, interleukin-1, leukotriene B4 and other cytokines. In turn, these stimulate fibroblasts to proliferate and produce collagen around the silica particle, thus resulting in fibrosis and the formation of the nodular lesions. The inflammatory effects of crystalline silica are apparently mediated by the NALP3 inflammasome.[12]
Characteristic lung tissue pathology in nodular silicosis consists of fibrotic nodules with concentric "onion-skinned" arrangement of collagen fibers, central hyalinization, and a cellular peripheral zone, with lightly birefringent particles seen under polarized light. The silicotic nodule represents a specific tissue response to crystalline silica.[8] In acute silicosis, microscopic pathology shows a periodic acid-Schiff positive alveolar exudate (alveolar lipoproteinosis) and a cellular infiltrate of the alveolar walls.[13]
Silica [ edit ]
Silicon (Si) is the second most common element in the Earth's crust (oxygen is the most common). The compound silica, also known as silicon dioxide (SiO 2 ), is formed from silicon and oxygen atoms. Since oxygen and silicon make up about 75% of the Earth's crust, the compound silica is quite common. It is found in many rocks, such as granite, sandstone, gneiss and slate, and in some metallic ores. Silica can be a main component of sand. It can also be in soil, mortar, plaster, and shingles. The cutting, breaking, crushing, drilling, grinding, or abrasive blasting of these materials may produce fine to ultra fine airborne silica dust.
Silica occurs in 3 forms: crystalline, microcrystalline (or cryptocrystalline) and amorphous (non-crystalline). "Free" silica is composed of pure silicon dioxide, not combined with other elements, whereas silicates (e.g., talc, asbestos, and mica) are SiO 2 combined with an appreciable portion of cations.
Crystalline silica exists in 7 different forms (polymorphs), depending upon the temperature of formation. The main 3 polymorphs are quartz, cristobalite, and tridymite. Quartz is the second most common mineral in the world (next to feldspar). [14]
exists in 7 different forms (polymorphs), depending upon the temperature of formation. The main 3 polymorphs are quartz, cristobalite, and tridymite. Quartz is the second most common mineral in the world (next to feldspar). Microcrystalline silica consists of minute quartz crystals bonded together with amorphous silica. Examples include flint and chert.
consists of minute quartz crystals bonded together with amorphous silica. Examples include flint and chert. Amorphous silica consists of kieselgur (diatomite), from the skeletons of diatoms, and vitreous silica, produced by heating and then rapid cooling of crystalline silica. Amorphous silica is less toxic than crystalline, but not biologically inert, and diatomite, when heated, can convert to tridymite or cristobalite.
Silica flour is nearly pure SiO 2 finely ground. Silica flour has been used as a polisher or buffer, as well as paint extender, abrasive, and filler for cosmetics. Silica flour has been associated with all types of silicosis, including acute silicosis.
Silicosis is due to deposition of fine respirable dust (less than 10 micrometers in diameter) containing crystalline silicon dioxide in the form of alpha-quartz, cristobalite, or tridymite.
Diagnosis [ edit ]
There are three key elements to the diagnosis of silicosis. First, the patient history should reveal exposure to sufficient silica dust to cause this illness. Second, chest imaging (usually chest x-ray) that reveals findings consistent with silicosis. Third, there are no underlying illnesses that are more likely to be causing the abnormalities. Physical examination is usually unremarkable unless there is complicated disease. Also, the examination findings are not specific for silicosis. Pulmonary function testing may reveal airflow limitation, restrictive defects, reduced diffusion capacity, mixed defects, or may be normal (especially without complicated disease). Most cases of silicosis do not require tissue biopsy for diagnosis, but this may be necessary in some cases, primarily to exclude other conditions.
For uncomplicated silicosis, chest x-ray will confirm the presence of small (< 10 mm) nodules in the lungs, especially in the upper lung zones. Using the ILO classification system, these are of profusion 1/0 or greater and shape/size "p", "q", or "r". Lung zone involvement and profusion increases with disease progression. In advanced cases of silicosis, large opacity (> 1 cm) occurs from coalescence of small opacities, particularly in the upper lung zones. With retraction of the lung tissue, there is compensatory emphysema. Enlargement of the hilum is common with chronic and accelerated silicosis. In about 5–10% of cases, the nodes will calcify circumferentially, producing so-called "eggshell" calcification. This finding is not pathognomonic (diagnostic) of silicosis. In some cases, the pulmonary nodules may also become calcified.
A computed tomography or CT scan can also provide a mode detailed analysis of the lungs, and can reveal cavitation due to concomitant mycobacterial infection.
Chest X-ray showing uncomplicated silicosis
Complicated silicosis
Silicosis ILO Classification 2-2 R-R
Fibrothorax and pleural effusion caused by silicosis
Classification [ edit ]
Classification of silicosis is made according to the disease's severity (including radiographic pattern), onset, and rapidity of progression.[15] These include:
Chronic simple silicosis Usually resulting from long-term exposure (10 years or more) to relatively low concentrations of silica dust and usually appearing 10–30 years after first exposure.[16] This is the most common type of silicosis. Patients with this type of silicosis, especially early on, may not have obvious signs or symptoms of disease, but abnormalities may be detected by x-ray. Chronic cough and exertional dyspnea (shortness of breath) are common findings. Radiographically, chronic simple silicosis reveals a profusion of small (<10 mm in diameter) opacities, typically rounded, and predominating in the upper lung zones. Accelerated silicosis Silicosis that develops 5–10 years after first exposure to higher concentrations of silica dust. Symptoms and x-ray findings are similar to chronic simple silicosis, but occur earlier and tend to progress more rapidly. Patients with accelerated silicosis are at greater risk for complicated disease, including progressive massive fibrosis (PMF). Complicated silicosis Silicosis can become "complicated" by the development of severe scarring (progressive massive fibrosis, or also known as conglomerate silicosis), where the small nodules gradually become confluent, reaching a size of 1 cm or greater. PMF is associated with more severe symptoms and respiratory impairment than simple disease. Silicosis can also be complicated by other lung disease, such as tuberculosis, non-tuberculous mycobacterial infection, and fungal infection, certain autoimmune diseases, and lung cancer. Complicated silicosis is more common with accelerated silicosis than with the chronic variety. Acute silicosis Silicosis that develops a few weeks to 5 years after exposure to high concentrations of respirable silica dust. This is also known as silicoproteinosis. Symptoms of acute silicosis include more rapid onset of severe disabling shortness of breath, cough, weakness, and weight loss, often leading to death. The x-ray usually reveals a diffuse alveolar filling with air bronchograms, described as a ground-glass appearance, and similar to pneumonia, pulmonary edema, alveolar hemorrhage, and alveolar cell lung cancer.
Prevention [ edit ]
A video discussing a field-based approach to silica monitoring. Monitoring could help reduce exposure to silica.
The best way to prevent silicosis is to identify work-place activities that produce respirable crystalline silica dust and then to eliminate or control the dust ("primary prevention"). Water spray is often used where dust emanates to control the kick up of silica dust. To avoid dust accumulating on clothing and skin, place your clothes in a seal-able bag and, if possible, shower once returning home. When dust starts accumulating around a workplace, utilize an industrial vacuum to contain and transport dust to a safe location.[17] Dust can also be controlled through personal dry air filtering.[18]
Following observations on industry workers in Lucknow (India), experiments on rats found that jaggery (a traditional sugar) had a preventive action against silicosis.[19]
Treatment [ edit ]
Silicosis is a permanent disease with no cure.[13] Treatment options currently available focus on alleviating the symptoms and preventing any further progress of the condition. These include:
Experimental treatments include:
Epidemiology [ edit ]
Silicosis resulted in 46,000 deaths in 2013 down from 55,000 deaths in 1990.[5]
Occupational silicosis [ edit ]
Silicosis is the most common occupational lung disease worldwide; it occurs everywhere, but is especially common in developing countries.[22] From 1991 to 1995, China reported more than 24,000 deaths due to silicosis each year.[9] In the United States, it is estimated that between one and two million[23] workers have had occupational exposure to crystalline silica dust and 59,000 of these workers will develop silicosis sometime in the course of their lives.[9]
According to CDC data,[24] silicosis in the United States is relatively rare. The incidence of deaths due to silicosis declined by 84% between 1968 and 1999, and only 187 deaths in 1999 had silicosis as the underlying or contributing cause.[25] Additionally, cases of silicosis in Michigan, New Jersey, and Ohio are highly correlated to industry and occupation.[26]
Although silicosis has been known for centuries, the industrialization of mining has led to an increase in silicosis cases. Pneumatic drilling in mines and less commonly, mining using explosives, would raise fine-ultra fine crystalline silica dust(rock dust). In the United States, a 1930 epidemic of silicosis due to the construction of the Hawk's Nest Tunnel near Gauley Bridge, West Virginia caused the death of at least 400 workers. Other accounts place the mortality figure at well over 1000 workers, primarily African American transient workers from the southern United States.[27] Workers who became ill were fired and left the region, making an exact mortality account difficult.[28] The Hawks Nest Tunnel Disaster is known as "America's worst industrial disaster.[29] The prevalence of silicosis led some men to grow what is called a miner's mustache, in an attempt to intercept as much dust as possible.
Chronic simple silicosis has been reported to occur from environmental exposures to silica in regions with high silica soil content and frequent dust storms.[30]
Also, the mining establishment of Delamar Ghost Town, Nevada was ruined by a dry-mining process that produced a silicosis-causing dust. After hundreds of deaths from silicosis, the town was nicknamed The Widowmaker. The problem in those days was somewhat resolved with an addition of a nozzle to the drill which sprayed a mist of water, turning dust raised by drilling into mud, but this inhibited mining work.
Because of work-exposure to silica dust, silicosis is an occupational hazard to mining, sandblasting, quarry, ceramics and foundry workers, as well as grinders, stone cutters, stone countertops, refractory brick workers, tombstone workers, workers in the oil and gas industry[31], pottery workers, fiberglass manufacturing, glass manufacturing, flint knappers and others. Brief or casual exposure to low levels of crystalline silica dust are said to not produce clinically significant lung disease.[32]
Protective measures such as respirators have brought a steady decline in death rates due to silicosis in Western countries. However, this is not true of less developed countries where work conditions are poor and respiratory equipment is seldom used. For instance, life expectancy for silver miners in Potosí, Bolivia is around 40 years due to silicosis.
Recently, silicosis in Turkish denim sandblasters was detected as a new cause of silicosis due to recurring, poor working conditions.[33]
Silicosis is seen in horses associated with inhalation of dust from certain cristobalite-containing soils in California.
Social realist artist Noel Counihan depicted men who worked in industrial mines in Australia in the 1940s dying of silicosis in his series of six prints, 'The miners' (1947 linocuts).[34]
Desert lung disease [ edit ]
A non-occupational form of silicosis has been described that is caused by long-term exposure to sand dust in desert areas, with cases reported from the Sahara, Libyan desert and the Negev.[35] The disease is caused by deposition of this dust in the lung.[36] Desert lung disease may be related to Al Eskan disease, a lung disorder thought to be caused by exposure to sand dust containing organic antigens, which was first diagnosed after the 1990 Gulf war.[37] The relative importance of the silica particles themselves and the microorganisms that they carry in these health effects remains unclear.[38]
Regulation [ edit ]
In March 2016, OSHA officially mandated that companies must provide certain safety measures for employees who work with or around silica, in order to prevent silicosis, lung cancer, and other silica-related diseases.[39]
Key Provisions [ edit ]
Reduce the permissible exposure limit (PEL) for respirable crystalline silica to 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air, averaged over an 8-hour shift.
Use engineering controls (such as water or ventilation) to limit worker exposure to the PEL; provide respirators when engineering controls cannot adequately limit exposure; limit worker access to high exposure areas; develop a written exposure control plan, offer medical exams to highly exposed workers, and train workers on silica risks and how to limit exposures.
Provide medical exams to monitor highly exposed workers and gives them information about their lung health.
Provide flexibility to help employers — especially small businesses — protect workers from silica exposure.[40]
Compliance Schedule [ edit ]
Both standards contained in the final rule take effect on June 23, 2016, after which industries have one to five years to comply with most requirements, based on the following schedule:
Construction – June 23, 2017, one year after the effective date.
General Industry and Maritime – June 23, 2018, two years after the effective date.
Hydraulic Fracturing – June 23, 2018, two years after the effective date for all provisions except Engineering Controls, which have a compliance date of June 23, 2021.[40]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ] |
Women in East Asia are putting tiny pegs into their nostrils so their nose could look more European.
The beauty trend apparently started from South Korea about two years ago and has spread to Japan, mainland China and Taiwan, where women with a pointier European nose are considered more attractive.
The beauty trend, however, has sparked serious health concerns. In a recent case from China, a woman reportedly swallowed a peg by accident and the small item was later found in her stomach.
Before (left) and after (right) pictures show a model's nose apparently becoming pointier after she used the nasal pegs. The image was posted by a seller on Taobao, a Chinese shopping site
Women in Asia are using the nasal pegs and hook to make their nose look more attractive. The advertisement on Taobao shows models posing for before-and-after pictures with the product
One advertisement, using a Western model, asked the public 'is your nose perfect enough'. As the it shows, the curved pegs are to be put inside the nostrils and remain there
The non-surgical nose-lifting trend apparently involves a set of tools which are popular on shopping websites in East and South-east Asia.
A typical set consists of two small curved pegs, measuring two to three centimetres long, as well as one adjusting hook.
The most popular brand seems to come from South Korea, but various other copycat products have cropped up and sell for as little as £1.
According to the instructions online, users should first insert the two pegs into their nostrils respectively. The pegs are said to be made with silicone.
Then they should use the hook to adjust the pegs so they stand in a 45-degree angle inside the nose.
A typical set consists of several pegs of different sizes and a hook for adjusting the angle
The beauty trend apparently started from South Korea about two years ago. Above is an advertisement found online showing the nasal sets which were made in South Korea
Online instructions say users should first insert the pegs into their nostrils. Then they should use the hook to adjust the pegs so they stand in a 45-degree angle inside the nose
One seller on China's popular shopping site, Taobao, claimed that because the product was invisible, it could be a woman's secret weapon in getting a beautiful nose without surgery.
An advertisement posted by the seller said the product, said to be 'anti-bacteria', could change the shape of a nose in less than 10 seconds and is safe to use.
However, potential customers are advised not to wear them for more than eight hours.
Although the nasal pegs are popular among beauty-conscious females, they have also brought health issues to the customers.
Eurasian actresses with pointier noses are huge popular in Asia. Above are Maggie Q (left), half American and half Vietnamese, and Michelle Reis (right), half Chinese and half Portuguese
Angelababy (left), who is a quarter German, and Cecilia Cheung (right), who is a quarter English, are also considered to have the perfect features by people in East Asia
Last November, a 25-year-old woman in Taipei nearly lost her nose after a peg poked through her nasal membrane and caused a bacterial infection, according to Apple Daily.
It was reported that the woman wanted to change the shape of her nose tip, but couldn't afford plastic surgery.
Dr. Liao Guoliang, who treated the woman, warned against the nasal beauty product.
Dr Liao said he noticed more and more female patients had come to the hospital after suffering from nasal diseases and injuries caused by the silicone pegs.
In another report from mainland China last week, a women from Chongqing had to be taken to the hospital after she accidentally inhaled the pegs then swallowed it.
After a medical checkup, doctors found the object in her stomach and it was eliminated from her body two days later.
The woman, surnamed Zeng, told a reporter from Chongqing Broadcasting Group that she had bought the product online, and that many other customers had suffered from similar problems judging from the comments left on the online shop.
Dr Zhou Xin, an ear-nose-throat specialist, called the beauty trend 'life-threatening'.
Dr Zhou said in the same report that the tiny objects could block a person's respiratory tract, causing difficulties in breathing and even posing danger to life.
Dr Zhou suggested women not use the nasal pegs. |
Washington has enjoyed a full-circle ascent to the College Football Playoff. When the Huskies square off against No. 1 Alabama in Atlanta on Dec. 31st in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, they'll also reunite with former head coach Steve Sarkisian -- who is now part of Nick Saban's Crimson Tide staff.
Let's take a chronological look back at the key steps the Huskies took on their path to college football's promised land:
1. Washington hires Sarkisian, who delivers the 2013 recruiting class: The Huskies went 0-12 in a dreadful 2008 season, leading to the termination of Tyrone Willingham. Sarkisian took his spot at the helm. Though Washington didn't morph into an elite program under Sarkisian's leadership, it improved into a consistent winning team. This set the foundation for an eventual conference championship.
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In hindsight, Sarkisian's greatest contribution was his final recruiting class. The Huskies' 2013 haul included receiver John Ross, running back Lavon Coleman, linebackers Azeem Victor and Keishawn Bierria, pass-rush specialist Joe Mathis, cornerback Kevin King, defensive linemen Connor O'Brien and Elijah Qualls, offensive linemen Andrew Kirkland and Coleman Shelton, and kicker Cameron Van Winkle -- all key 2016 contributors.
It also featured quarterback Troy Williams, who transferred and is now starting at Utah.
Sarkisian struck gold with his last Washington recruiting class, and it ended up fueling this version of the Huskies with veteran speed and power capable of winning a Pac-12 championship.
2. Sarkisian heads to USC: The Huskies won seven regular season games in three straight years under Sarkisian before winning eight in 2013. Despite consistent finishes above .500, unrest materialized because of Washington's inability to surpass Oregon and Stanford in the Pac-12 North. "Seven-win Sark" became a popular complaint in Seattle.
When Sarkisian left for USC following the 2013 season, the Huskies had an opportunity to infuse the program with fresh blood that could catapult them to the next level.
3. Washington hires Chris Petersen: In December 2013, the Huskies turned to a coach whose name was synonymous with 11-plus win seasons at Boise State. Washington hoped that Petersen could successfully mesh the lethal efficiency he had established in the Broncos with some of the top-level talent that the Huskies were attracting.
Petersen presided over seven and eight wins over his first two years. On paper, that wasn't an improvement over the Sarkisian era. But some key moments within those two years set the table for Washington's 2016 explosion.
Quarterback Jake Browning got his feet wet as a true freshman in 2015 against Boise State. AP Photo/Otto Kitsinger
4. Beaten in Boise: Petersen opened 2015 with his own quarterback, Jake Browning, in charge of Washington's offense. This was a critical part of the plan in the Huskies' effort to successfully leverage their bevy of emerging talent at the skill positions. Petersen, returning to his own stomping grounds at Boise State, opted to start Browning as a true freshman on the blue turf in the season opener. The Huskies lost 16-13, but this trial by fire spurred the growth of Browning and the rest of the young offense.
5. Big win at the Coliseum: Washington's first reunion with Sarkisian was a sweet one. The Huskies beat USC 17-12 on the road. This was a coming out party of sorts for true freshman running back Myles Gaskin, who rushed for 134 yards. The Washington defense, which would go on to lead the Pac-12 over the next two seasons, also announced its presence here. The Huskies held the Trojans out of the end zone until the fourth quarter.
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6. Setback in Tempe: Many Washington players point to this November 2015 loss as the final motivational fuel they needed to enter the realm of the elite. The Huskies blew a 17-0 lead at Arizona State, eventually losing 27-17. After that point, Washington won three straight to close 2015 with a bowl win. The Huskies have won 15 of 16 games since that meltdown in the desert.
7. John Ross' triumphant return: On paper, the Huskies were loaded with the league's best defense, an offensive line returning four of five starters and maturing talent at both quarterback and running back entering 2016. The remaining question mark waited at receiver, but Washington answered it when Ross returned even faster than his pre-ACL tear self. Ross ran a hand-timed 4.25 40-yard dash in spring before returning his first kick-off back for a touchdown -- just as he had envisioned in a dream. Ross leads all Power 5 receivers with 16 touchdown catches in 2016.
8. Changing of the Pac-12 North guard: Entering 2016, the Huskies had gone 1-11 against Oregon and Stanford this decade. They finally reversed that troubling hex in a two-week stretch. It began with a 44-6 Friday night spanking of Stanford and finished with a 70-21 obliteration of Oregon at Autzen Stadium eight days later. Suddenly, Washington was the Pac-12 North's new top dog -- and it wasn't even close.
9. The goal line stands: One final regular season test awaited Washington in Pullman. That's where the Huskies muscled up and stuffed rival Washington State twice at the 1-yard line. Those rugged stops paved the way to a 45-17 Apple Cup victory and a spot in the top four of the College Football Playoff rankings.
10. Dominating ugly: Colorado's nation-leading secondary stymied Browning's normally sensational efficiency in the Pac-12 championship game, holding him to only nine completions for 118 yards. But the Huskies proved they could win in a bar fight, too. Both Gaskins and Coleman rushed for over 100 yards, and Washington's defense -- especially its elite secondary -- absolutely smothered the Buffs in a 41-10 victory.
This finished the journey to the playoff, where a reunion with Sarkisian -- now an offensive analyst on Alabama's staff -- awaits. Now, we'll see how this story ends. |
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COLONIAL HEIGHTS, Va. -- Mark Middlebrooks disappeared from Colonial Heights nearly two weeks ago. His last communication with his wife was a day later to say he was heading home.
He never showed up. Now, his family is desperate to find him safe.
"Baby please come home. We need you, we love you. I don't know what has happened but we need you home,” said Amy Middlebrooks.
She’s a wife and mother, desperate to find out why her husband has disappeared.
"It's terrifying,” said Amy. “I have no answers, nobody has seen him. But he is a big dude, he's 6’5” and 240. He's just gone."
Mark Middlebrooks was last seen by a friend on November 18 and texted his wife that afternoon, to say he was heading back home. But he never showed up.
"A little more time has passed, and this has gone from just missing to highly suspicious at this point," said Colonial Heights Capt. William Anspach.
Colonial Heights detectives made a trip to Essex County Tuesday, searching for anyone who may have had contact with Middlebrooks.
His family and friends say as a son, and a father of six, it's not like Middlebrooks to vanish without a trace, considering he has one child who is special needs, and parents who depend on his help.
And he always has his cell phone in his hand.
"He’s a heavy phone user, and is always on social media, none of which he has used,” said his distraught wife.
Mark Middlebrooks has a noticeable king of hearts tattoo on his neck and is believed to be driving a 1996 white Lexus 4 door sedan, with Virginia license plate VXS7260.
His wife is begging for answers.
"Someone has to know something, somewhere," said Amy Middlebrooks.
Crime Insider sources tell Jon Burkett that Middlebrooks’ debit card has also gone unused.
If you have any information about the whereabouts of Middlebrooks or his vehicle you are asked to contact the Colonial Heights Police Department at (804)520-9300 option 7. |
CALGARY - Former Conservative cabinet minister Jim Prentice is urging Canada and the United States to look beyond the contentious and high-profile Keystone XL oil pipeline when it comes to their trade relationship, calling the debate over the US$5.4-billion project a "distraction."
"We have become largely preoccupied by a dispute over a single pipeline," he said in a speech to the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute in Calgary.
Prentice — who handled the environment and industry files during his time in government — reiterated his staunch support for the 830,000-barrel-per-day line, which would enable oilsands crude to flow to Texas refineries, saying it's in the "national interest" for both countries.
"But we must move beyond this distraction," he said Thursday. "In my view, we need a renewed focus on the bigger picture and the longer term."
Prentice, who is now an executive with CIBC (TSX:CM), zeroed in on three broader areas in which the United States and Canada should be working together.
First, he calls for greater harmonization on transportation or renewable fuel policies, rather than leaving it to a patchwork of sub-national standards. He says the two countries have made good progress on fuel consumption standards for passenger cars and trucks, but those can be expanded to heavy truck, rail and aviation. He'd also like to see more collaboration on making the continental energy grid more green with Canadian hydroelectric power.
Secondly, Canada and the United States should pursue environmental policies that are in their mutual interest.
"In a world focused on environmental issues generally, and climate change specifically, energy leadership and environmental leadership have become two sides of the same coin. Today, if you are in the energy business, you are in the environment business," he said.
Lastly, Prentice said the ability to export both oil and natural gas to global markets is a major issue not only Canada, but for the United States as well, with the continent on track to be energy self-sufficient by 2020.
In an interview Friday, Prentice expressed optimism as far as Keystone XL is concerned.
"I've been an outspoken supporter of the Keystone project and I continue to hope and believe that the president will approve it, because I think it's in the national interest of both Canada and the United States," he said.
The Obama administration's delays in making a decision on the pipeline — the regulatory process is now in its sixth year — has put a strain on Canada-U.S. relations.
"I think for sure the entire process on Keystone has been harmful, certainly not helpful, to the overall Canada-U.S. energy relationship," he said.
"I think the free market that we have created in North America is so strong and the need for continued integration is so compelling that I personally believe that at the end of the day... the United States will see its way clear to approve the project. But in the meantime, it is not helpful to the overall relationship."
Both countries have enjoyed the "biggest, most successful energy trading relationship in the world," but "there are signs that perhaps we're beginning to take aspects of that relationship for granted," added Prentice.
"Let's stand back from Keystone and look at what it is that we'll need to do to renew the North American energy relationship over the next 10 years."
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by
Today in the UK, people are waking up to their first week of a five-year rule under a Conservative majority government. It’s been the first time the Tories have managed to form such a government since 1992. Only 37 percent of those who bothered to vote actually voted Conservative. In fact, the current administration is in government with 24 percent of support from all those who were eligible to vote.
Under the UK’s ‘first past the post system’, the Scottish Nationalist party gained 56 seats with 4.8 percent of votes cast. The Greens gained one seat with a share of 3.8 percent. Under a system of proportional representation, the Greens would now have 25 seats in the new parliament. With the current system, a party could theoretically gain the most number of seats nationally but fail to gain a single seat. This is the nature of the ‘democratic’ voting system in the UK.
What the UK now has in store is five years of an ideologically driven administration that will push through its welfare-cutting, pro-privatisation policies wrapped up in talk of a need for austerity and presided over by a millionaire-dominated cabinet which represents the interests of the richest echelons of global capital.
Out of those who voted Tory, a good deal comprised people of relatively modest means: people who will have been led to believe that ordinary people’s interests equate with the ‘national interest’ as defined by Tory politicians. These are people who for some strange reason believe that more privatisation, more deregulation, more austerity, more inequality, more concentration of wealth and more attacks on the public sector will be good for them as individuals and good for the economy.
The acceptance of this ideology is not just down to Tory methods of persuasion but is also due to its perpetuation by the corporate mainstream media and the other main political parties, which have fully embraced neoliberalism. However, many people feel that the Tories can be best trusted to see through such things, unlike Labour (Tory-lite) or the Liberal Democrats who might mismanage, waver or may not be quite as committed to the neoliberal cause. As a party by the rich, for the rich of and of the rich, they may have a point.
What we can now expect to see is the attempted completion of a project that had begun under Thatcher in the eighties: the complete subservience of ordinary working people to the needs of powerful corporations, the tax-evading corporate dole-scrounging super rich and the neoliberal agenda they have imposed on people. And key to securing this is the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
The European Commission tries to sell TTIP by claiming that the agreement will increase GDP by one percent and will entail massive job creation. These claims are not supported even by its own studies, which predict a growth rate of just 0.01 percent GDP over the next ten years and the potential loss of jobs in several sectors. Corporations are lobbying EU-US trade negotiators to use the deal to weaken food safety and restrictions on GM food and agriculture as well as labour, health and environmental standards, among other things. Through certain regulatory and investor trade dispute stipulations, the outcome would entail the by passing of any existing democratic processes in order to push through the ultimate corporate power grab.
This proposed trade agreement (and others like it being negotiated across the world) is based on a firm belief in ‘the market’ (a euphemism for subsidies for the rich, cronyism, rigged markets and cartels) and the intense ideological dislike of state intervention and state provision of goods and services. The economic doctrine that underpins this belief attempts to convince people that they can prosper by having austerity imposed on them and by submitting to neo-liberalism and ‘free’ trade: a smokescreen the financial-corporate elites hide behind while continuing to enrich themselves.
Current negotiations over ‘free’ trade agreements have little to do with free trade. They are more concerned with loosening regulatory barriers and bypassing any current democratic processes that hinder their profits. These deals could allow large corporations to destroy competition, enforce privatisations and secure lucrative government procurement markets and siphon off wealth to the detriment of smaller, locally based firms and producers. We see this from TTIP, to the US-India Knowledge Agreement on Agriculture, CETA, TPP and beyond.
Cameron: handmaiden to the rich
Whether based in New York, London, Berlin or Delhi, the planet’s super rich and their corporations comprise a global elite whose members have to varying extents been incorporated into the Anglo-US system of trade and finance. For them, the ability to ‘do business’ (exploit labour – or automate – and make profits) is what matters, not national identity or the capacity to empathise with an ordinary working person that was born on the same land mass and who will lose their livelihood.
Notions of the ‘national interest’ that governments churn out are merely rhetorical devices to be used to rally the masses. And notions of being ‘against the national interest’ are used to curtail of destroy dissent, as we currently see happening with Greenpeace in India.
In order ‘to do business’, government machinery has been corrupted and bent to serve their ends. In turn, organisations that were intended to be ‘by’ and ‘for’ ordinary working people to challenge capital have been successfully infiltrated and dealt with.
The global takeover of agriculture by powerful agribusiness, the selling off and privatisation of assets built with public toil and money and secretive corporate-driven trade agreements represent a massive corporate heist of wealth and power across the world.
Whether it concerns rich oligarchs in the US or India’s billionaire business men, corporate profits and personal gain trump any notion of the ‘national interest’. 300,000 dead farmers in India who killed themselves or the ranks of the unemployed in Spain or Greece are regarded as mere ‘collateral damage’ in what is ultimately a war on working people and the environment itself.
Looting economies for personal gain is disguised as ‘free trade’. Austerity is sold as ‘growth’. Massive profits is ‘wealth creation’. Ecological degradation is ‘progress’. From Obama in the US to Cameron in the UK or Modi in India, their neoliberal agenda betrays them as handmaidens to the rich.
In Britain expect to see militarism, brutality and imperialism continuing to be sold under the banner of ‘humanitarianism’ and ‘democracy’. Expect more cronyism, an increasingly wider revolving door to facilitate the flow between private interests and government, more insidious lobbying by big business and a continued free for all in the corrupt City of London.
Some 11,334,000 voted Conservative in the UK last Thursday. The other 53 million in the country now face having deal with the outcome for the next five years.
Colin Todhunter is an extensively published independent writer and former social policy researcher based in the UK and India. |
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Nearly every morning for eight years, my husband would go into the shower with the news blaring on the radio, and I could hear him over the rush of water grumbling, "I hate George Bush. I hate George Bush." And, occasionally, "Won’t somebody kill George Bush?"
Don’t call the Secret Service, Newsmax: My husband was, of course, simply filled with rage that Bush had seized office with fewer votes than Al Gore, invaded a country that had never attacked us, killed thousands of our soldiers and scores of thousands of Iraqis, legalized torture, allowed comprehensive government eavesdropping, shipped jobs overseas, and encouraged Wall Street to enrich the few while impoverishing the rest. You gotta yell something sometimes, and who hasn’t?
The thing about liberals is they do this standing naked in a shower and come out merely wet and spluttering. The thing about rightwingers is they work themselves up into a similar rage, strap on a .45 loaded with dum-dums, and go to political meetings screaming that something must be done about Adolf Obama–or maybe write columns seriously suggesting a military coup "to resolve the ‘Obama problem.’"
And whenever someone points out that the rhetoric on the right could lead to actual violence (as it has, um, a time or two in American history), the Republicans either call you "shameless," "a disgrace," or "dangerous," as House speaker Nancy Pelosi was when she tearfully recalled the deaths of George Moscone and Harvey Milk, or they call you "a nutjob," as RNC chief Michael Steele tagged New York Times columnist Tom Friedman, who wrote that the vitriol out there reminds him of the days just before Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated.
Look, I don’t want to whitewash all the left’s overheated rhetoric. Antiwar demonstrators carried signs depicting George Bush as Hitler, too (maybe a few more at European demos than at American ones, but still, it happened), and the British fictional documentary Death of a President did stage an assassination of Bush. But when it comes to dangerous rhetoric, any media-borne equivalency between conservatives and liberals is transparently ridiculous.
And not just when Maria Bartiromo (the CNBC anchor who apparently doesn’t know you have to be 65 to qualify for Medicare) says (around 4:30) that corporate-sponsored townhall craziness is "exactly what is happening on the other side. I mean, who’s directing MoveOn.org?" As soon as polls started coming in showing that Tea Baggery has made the GOP look like a bunch of loons and driven away the center, the Republicans set off on a mad scramble through their Googles to find even the dimmest suggestion of liberal excess against the Bushies to provide a Fair’n’Balanced fig leaf. But it’s pretty thin stuff, compared to signs reading "Bury Obamacare with Kennedy" and "We Came Unarmed–This Time." Right now, the Republican leadership is actively pushing the idea that Florida Rep. Alan Grayson’s saying the GOP health plan is "Don’t get sick and if you do, die quickly," is identical to South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson’s shouting "You lie!" during President Obama’s health care address to a joint session of Congress.
Can the party that has been screaming about "death panels" for months get away with outrage over a very similar criticism of their refusal to do anything about health reform at all? Probably not, but it isn’t hard to see why they feel they need to.
Right, left, center, we all have rage and can lash out–verbally, at least–when we believe our way of life or deeply held beliefs are threatened. But by and large, lefty rage (at least the non-Euro kind) rarely goes beyond the shower curtain. We want the right to be proved wrong (as, indeed, recent political and economic events have shown them to be), in the belief that evidence and logic will help justice to prevail. They, on the other hand–and especially since a black man was elected president–are filled with an exclusionary zeal. They don’t want to prove anything about the left so much as they want it removed, defunded, delegitimized, kept off the screen. In a word, killed.
Maybe that’s the difference between right and left humor, too. Remember how so many of us said, back in the wardays of Rovian command of the media, that we’d have gone crazy without The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, or Air America’s Al Franken and Marc Maron endorsing our own disgust? Instead of actually killing Bush or Cheney, the humor quasi-killed them. Humor both told the truth and delivered the scorn you could find echoed nowhere else in the national discussion.
It’s worth remembering that Fox News tried, and failed, at a rightwing version of The Daily Show, knee-slappingly called The Half-Hour News Hour. There’s a real difference, say, between Stephen Colbert dismissing comparisons of the Bush administration to the sinking Titanic because, as he told George Bush directly at the White House Correspondents Dinner in 2006, it was really more like a flaming Hindenburg, and Glenn Beck dousing a colleague with pretend gasoline and then lighting a match to demonstrate what he thinks Obama is doing to the "average American." One of those is frustrated and funny, and the other is frustrated and very revealing about an instinctive urge. |
Mitch McGovern will consult specialists after injuring his hamstring
Forward Mitch McGovern will consult specialists this week after sustaining a serious hamstring injury.
McGovern, 22, was helped from the ground by trainers in the last quarter of Showdown XLII.
Crows General Manager of High Performance Matt Hass said specialists would determine whether McGovern requires surgery.
“Unfortunately, scans have revealed a fairly significant amount of damage,” Hass said.
“Across the rest of this week, we’ll consult specialists and come up with a plan of action.
“It’s fair to say, he (McGovern) will spend a period of time on the sidelines.”
Josh Jenkins has also been ruled out of Adelaide’s clash with Essendon after consulting a Thoracic Specialist.
Jenkins injured his ribs in Adelaide’s Round Two win over Hawthorn at the MCG.
The injury hasn’t settled as quickly as hoped, prompting the Club to investigate further this week.
Consultation with a Thoracic Specialist revealed Jenkins has significant damage to the Costochondral Cartilage as well as deep Thoracic bruising. He will be a week-by-week proposition.
Experienced midfielder Scott Thompson faces a fitness test this week.
Thompson was a late withdrawal from Adelaide’s SANFL clash with Sturt after failing to recover from a corked adductor sustained in the Club’s last State League trial game.
“Scott is experiencing some soreness in his rehab, coming back from the knock to the groin,” Hass said.
“He’ll be a ‘test’ for this weekend’s match.”
In positive news, onballer Brad Crouch made a successful return from injury in Sunday’s SANFL win.
Crouch, who has overcome a hamstring strain, collected 40 possessions in his first game of the year.
Young defender Tom Doedee (knee) is also set to make his first appearance of 2017 in Adelaide’s SANFL Easter Sunday clash with South Adelaide at Encounter Bay.
Injury Update as of Tuesday, April 11
Tom Doedee (knee) – Available
Josh Jenkins (ribs) – TBC
Scott Thompson (groin) – Test
Kyle Cheney (hamstring) – 2 weeks
Alex Keath (hamstring) – 3 – 5 weeks
Mitch McGovern (hamstring) – TBC
Paul Seedsman (groin) – TBC
Ben Davis (foot) – Indefinite
Cam Ellis-Yolmen (knee) – Season |
A FRENCHMAN has allegedly attacked two Muslim tourists in the spa of a Gold Coast hotel, telling them ‘we’re going to bomb you, we’re going to bomb you all’.
Francky Guise, 37, is accused of spitting in the face of a 17-year-old Muslim male and grabbing the breast of his 25-year-old female relative in an ugly racial attack at Q1 hotel in Surfers Paradise on Monday night.
Guise, a French-born, Melbourne-based man also holidaying on the Gold Coast, faced Southport Magistrates Court today charged with making threats and common assault.
He allegedly told them ‘you bombed us in France’ before spitting in the man’s face.
Guise allegedly then said: “We’re going to bomb you, we’re to bomb you all.’’
Guise was given bail despite police objections and will re-appear in court on Thursday. |
Nippon Ichi Software has released new ClaDun Sengoku details and screenshots introducing games characters, facilities in Arcanus Cella, Magic Circles, and more.
Get the information below.
■ Story
ClaDun Sengoku is set in a world called “Arcanus Cella,” where the protagonist (the player) awakens and the story begins.
From where the protagonist awakens, you meet a mysterious character named “Yukimura,” and from him learn that “Arcanus Cella” is the world of the dead, and in order to escape this world, you must fulfill the dead’s “regrets.”
The protagonist is pressed by Yukimura to release the souls that wander the area by heading out to dungeons that hold clues to their regrets.
The protagonist will safely find the clues of their regrets and return from the dungeons. However, the souls wandering about will not be released. On the contrary, they will return to the form they had while living… the form of a military commander.
Search for the reason why the souls can not be reincarnated, and take on dungeons in order to be reincarnated yourself.
■ Characters
In ClaDun Sengoku, by releasing the souls of those who left behind regrets, your circle of friends will continue to increase.
Yukimura
The first military commander the player meets in “Arcanus Cella.” He explains what Arcanus Cella is and presses players to release the souls of those who left behind regrets.
Chacha
The wife of a certain Sengoku military commander. She left behind a regret related to “romance.”
Ranmaru
A military commander who lost his master due to a certain event and died a regretful death. His motto is to get along well with other military commanders.
Masamune
A military commander known by the popular name, “One-Eyed Dragon Masamune.” In reality, there is something unknown about the “One-Eyed Dragon,” and that is a regret.
■ Dungeons
The dungeons of ClaDun Sengoku resemble Japan’s Sengoku period, and are connected to the military commanders who have become souls.
Osaka Castle
Kansai’s greatest castle is the setting for a dungeon. Not only will you have to defeat enemies, you’ll need to use your head to get past its compilcated, maze-like paths.
Anegawa
The first dungeon you’ll challenge. In order to enter the room where the exit lies, you must open the gate and defeat the enemy gatekeeper.
Michinoku
A waterside dungeon. A boss related to Masamune’s regret waits inside.
■ Story Base: “Arcanus Cella”
As the base of the story, “Arcanus Cella” has various facilities that you can use to prepare for dungeons and customize your character.
Everything Shop
At the “Everything Shop,” you can buy and trade weapons, armor, shields, as well as artifacts and stone walls, which are items necessary to strengthen your character.
Temple
In the “Temple” lives owls who speak the words of various people. The owls provide the player with character creation, painting, and other features helpful to your adventure.
New System: Suggestion Box
At the “Suggestion Box,” you can receive requests from the inhabitants of Arcanus Cella. By doing requests, you can earn Gane (money) and fame, as well as obtain rare items.
New System: Blacksmith
At the “Blacksmith,” you can attach new “titles” to your weapon by forging them again. With a title attached, you can increase the equipment’s original status, adding “ATK +20” or “Vassal HP +10”-like effects.
New System: Castle Construction
In “Arcanus Cella,” there is a “Castle.” Using the stone walls you can buy at the “Everything Shop,” you can construct your own castle. By fitting in these stone walls and building the castle, you can enhance the abilities of your General (player character). Additionally, by making building additions, you can increase the castle’s size and fit in even more stone walls.
■ Magic Circle
The Magic Circle is a system where you can power up your General with the support of “Vassals.” While fighting in the dungeon, Vassals will act as shields to protect the General from taking damage. In this update, we will introduce the “Artifacts” that can do things such as increase your stats and strengthen your magic.
Artifacts
When you arrange Vassals on the Magic Circle, you can place adjoining items called “Artifacts” in the boxes. Artifacts inject Vassals with a hidden power known as “Mana.” Artifacts have many useful effects—they can raise statuses such as attack power and HP, decrease the amount of SP consumed when using magic or techniques, increase stats when you level-up, and more. By forming your Magic Circle, since the type of Artifacts you can arrange vary, you can discover a play style all your own.
Awakening
Some Magic Circles will have boxes known as “Awakening Boxes.” They are activated by using the “Awakening” technique in the dungeon, the displayed “Mana” will be added, and the next connecting Artifact will activate. During Awakening, because you obtain the effects of many more Artifacts than normal, your stats will significantly increase. The Awakening technique effects last for a fixed amount of time, so take advantage of it to unleash your hidden power.
Attendant
Among the Artifacts that can strengthen the “Magic” action command, there are those with the “Attendant” title. If you use Artifacts marked with this title, magic becomes “Prohibited Magic Treatment,” and its power jumps. However, when you activate this magic, it is possible to damage both enemies and allies, so you must be cautious.
■ More Unseen Military Commanders and the EX Dungeon
In ClaDun Sengoku, in addition to the military commanders you befriend through the story, there are various other military commanders’ souls wandering Arcanus Cella. Different from the story dungeons, you can take on “EX Dungeons” to release their souls and befriend them. There are a total of 50 military commanders you can befriend.
Ii Naomasa
One of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Tokugawa. He has great loyalty to Tokugawa Ieyasu, and he is occasionally reckless.
Miyamoto Musashi
A famous swordsman in the battle in Ganryujima. It is said he is purposely late to hit his opponents off guard.
Sen no Rikyu
A master of the tea ceremony who took the name of tea master. He perfected the style of wabi-cha.
Tachibana Muneshige
An excellent man of character described as a sample warrior. Despite his defeat in the Battle of Sekigahara, he is the sole military commander to return to his territory.
Kato Kiyomasa
A military commander who is the protege of Hideyoshi. He was in an armed battle group, but also a castle construction expert. |
It looks like the Democrats’ convention organization is taking a leaf out the Most Transparent Administration Evah‘s playbook, promising in advance that they’re going to do something for the sake of transparency and then, you know… not doing it. The Democrats have been pretty vociferous about their plans to not accept donations from corporations and to regularly disclose the names of the their convention’s monetary contributors, but alas — raising money is hard, and such transparency hasn’t come to pass, reports WaPo:
In its marketing materials, the party promises that the “people’s convention,” set to begin Sept. 3 in Charlotte, N.C., will be the “most open and accessible ever.” But the names of donors, some of whom are giving up to $100,000, will remain secret until federal disclosure documents are filed Oct. 15, six weeks after the parties have ended and public attention has shifted to Election Day. Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Responsible Politics, said the decision not to disclose donors until October “just seems to run counter to the message that this is the people’s convention. You’d think transparency would be something celebrated, not reduced.” … The host committee for the convention, known as Charlotte in 2012, had published on its Web site its policy that donors would be disclosed online “on an ongoing basis.” And the contract city officials signed with Democratic Party officials specified that “all contributions, monetary or in-kind, shall be disclosed publicly . . . within an agreed upon regular timeframe on the host committee’s website.” The committee removed that language from its Web site last week following an inquiry from The Washington Post. … The Charlotte host committee, in an agreement with the Democratic Party, banned direct corporate donations but accepts corporate donations of goods and services. City officials also have created a separate entity that accepts corporate money to fund events around the convention, including a welcoming party for journalists paid for by Time Warner Cable.
I’d say that Democrats are feeling the squeeze after their decision to ban corporate money, which traditionally accounts for a hefty bit of the financing for both parties’ conventions (although unfortunately, it seems, there weren’t any adequate non-corporate stadiums to be had, heh) — hence the decision to cut the convention from four days to three, and the channels in place for conveniently getting around their own no-corporate-cash rules.
Team Obama is constantly criticizing Republicans for their lack of campaign-related disclosure, and the Democrats make explicit promises that they’re going to do things more nobly… but then reality sets in and they’re forced to walk it back. What’s up with their apparent eagerness to be hoisted upon their own petard? |
At a campaign rally March 7 in Concord, N.C., Donald Trump holds up notes showing a March 1 CNN poll where he held a commanding lead over Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz. An ABC/Washington Post poll released the following day shows his lead shrinking. | Getty Trump slides in national GOP poll
Donald Trump's standing among Republican registered voters nationwide fell slightly in the latest ABC News/Washington Post national poll released Tuesday.
Trump, who earned 34 percent (down 3 points from January), is losing steam to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, up four points from the last survey, conducted in January, to 25 percent. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio came next with 18 percent, while Ohio Gov. John Kasich finished last with 13 percent.
Story Continued Below
Trump falls short against Cruz and Rubio when matched one-on-one, by 13 points and six points, respectively.
As far as a contested convention is concerned, 53 percent of Republican and Republican-leaning independents said they would oppose such an outcome, with 42 percent supporting. Among those not supporting Trump, however, 63 percent said they would like the Cleveland convention to be a contested one, while just 30 percent in that camp would oppose.
On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton holds a narrow seven-point advantage over Bernie Sanders — 49 percent to 42 percent. Both candidates hold similar favorability ratings. Her edge is down from a 19-point advantage — 55 percent to his 36 percent— in the previous poll.
Langer Research Associates conducted the poll via landlines and cellphones from March 3-6, among a random national sample of 1,000 adults with an overall margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. The exact number of Republican and Democratic voters was not available in the initial release data, though the margin of error among Republicans is plus or minus 5.5 percentage points and plus or minus 6 percentage points among Democrats. |
Elizabeth Warren Campaigns With Hillary Clinton, Goes After Donald Trump
Enlarge this image toggle caption John Sommers II/Getty Images John Sommers II/Getty Images
There was a time when it wasn't even clear Sen. Elizabeth Warren would endorse Hillary Clinton. That time has passed.
As they took the stage together Monday in Cincinnati, the two politicians locked arms, waved (the old half hug-half wave move) and smiled widely. Warren is among the names buzzed about as a possible pick for vice president on a Clinton ticket. Any questions about chemistry were answered today.
"I'm here today, because I'm with her, yes her," Warren said, alluding to a popular slogan of support for Clinton, to roaring applause from a capacity crowd at the Union Terminal.
Clinton, though, said she wouldn't be "making any news today" when asked whether she would consider Warren for VP.
Try try and try again...
.@HillaryClinton tells me "I'm not making any news today" re: @SenWarren as VP pick pic.twitter.com/anrSnEuhgM — Cecilia Vega (@CeciliaVegaABC) June 27, 2016
Warren is a hero of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, someone who has battled with bank executives and campaigned to reduce student debt. Before Bernie Sanders became a progressive cause, activists on the left had hoped Warren would be the one onstage as the Democratic nominee. They set up "Ready for Warren" and tried to draft her into the presidential primary, but she said no. That energy was transferred to the Sanders campaign, but Clinton hopes with Warren on her side, Sanders holdouts will begin to trickle over to her.
Warren, though, has also been an outspoken critic of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, an Obama administration agreement Clinton was slow to take a position on during the campaign after calling it the "gold standard" as secretary of state. She ultimately opposed it, as she was being pushed in the primary against Sanders.
The onstage endorsement from Warren was full-throated and enthusiastic. But she also continued her role in recent weeks of attack dog against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, calling him "a nasty man."
Warren went on to say he "will never become president of the United States. Because Hillary Clinton will be the next president of the United States. Hillary Clinton will be the next president of the United States, because she knows what it takes to beat a thin-skinned bully who is driven by greed and hate."
Enlarge this image toggle caption Andrew Harnik/AP Andrew Harnik/AP
In a statement headlined "Sellout Warren," Trump's campaign said "Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has become a turncoat for the causes she supposedly supports."
"Warren's campaigning for Clinton stands in stark contrast to the liberal ideals she once practiced," the Trump statement continues. "This sad attempt at pandering to the [Bernie] Sanders wing is another example of a typical political calculation by D.C. insiders."
Trump has dubbed Warren "goofy Elizabeth Warren" and has also repeatedly called her "Pocahontas" because of an issue during her Senate campaign about claiming Native American heritage to get preference in hiring.
Warren seemed to relish going after Trump (incidentally, attacking opponents is often a key role for the vice presidential nominee).
"Donald Trump believes poor, sad, little Wall Street bankers need to be free to defraud anyone they want," said Warren, hitting on one of her favored issues. "Hillary Clinton believes we need strong rules to prevent another financial crisis. Yes, Hillary fights for us. Donald Trump cheats workers and wants to abolish the minimum wage."
With Warren by her side, Clinton said, "I do just love to see how she gets under Donald Trump's thin skin."
It seemed to have worked. Shortly after the speech, Trump called a network TV correspondent to express his displeasure with Warren, calling her "racist" while again using the name Pocahontas.
"She made up her heritage," Trump tells me of Elizabeth Warren. Adds "what she did was very racist." Again calls her "Pocahontas." (more tk) — Hallie Jackson (@HallieJackson) June 27, 2016
On a Republican National Committee conference call responding to the Clinton-Warren event, former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, who lost his seat to Warren in 2012, challenged her to take a DNA test to prove her Native American lineage.
Scott Brown, on RNC call, says Warren could get Harvard to release records or “take a DNA test” to prove she’s part Native American. — daveweigel (@daveweigel) June 27, 2016
At a few points during the speech, Warren led the cheering crowd in chants of "Hillary, Hillary."
On the walls of the hall where they spoke, there were murals depicting moments in history, including workers building skyscrapers, plowing earth and laboring on train tracks. The murals seemed intended to complement Clinton's economic message but also highlight the very types of voters Clinton could struggle the most to reach this election year.
Trump is making a direct appeal to these voters, with his opposition to trade deals and pledge to bring good jobs back to America. He is scheduled to deliver a speech Tuesday in Pennsylvania about trade.
Perhaps trying to get out ahead of this speech, Clinton repeated a little-noticed pledge she made earlier in the campaign.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Andrew Harnik/AP Andrew Harnik/AP
"I'm going to appoint a trade prosecutor who will report to the president, so we are going to end the abuse of our market," Clinton said.
Clinton pledged to say no to "bad trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership." Trump in his big attack speech last week said Clinton would break her campaign pledge and sign it once she becomes president. Some progressive voters are also skeptical about this pledge.
Another area where some voters, especially supporters of Sanders, are skeptical of Clinton's pledges is Wall Street reform. Warren, who came to prominence advocating on these issues, could give Clinton a dose of credibility there.
Clinton praised Warren, saying that when she is on C-SPAN in Senate hearings pressing bank executives and regulators for answers, "She is speaking for every American who is frustrated and fed up. She is speaking for all of us, and we thank her for that."
One of Clinton's biggest challenges in this campaign is convincing voters, who are fed up with the status quo, that someone who has been in public life for 25 years and has been part of Washington is the right person to fix what so many believe is broken. |
Labor will challenge the government to allow a conscience vote on same sex marriage as soon as possible with a formal motion to be lodged on Monday to bring on the vote.
Bill Shorten and Labor deputy leader Tanya Plibersek intend to force a decision on the vote in the wake of last weekend’s Irish referendum to approve the social reform, sparking calls for similar changes in Australia.
“I have given notice that I will move a Private Member’s Bill in the House of Representatives on Monday which will finally bring about marriage equality in Australia,” Mr Shorten said in a statement.
Read Next
“I believe the time has well and truly come for the Parliament to debate marriage equality.
“Our current law excludes some individuals – and to me, that is unacceptable.
“It says to them: your relationships are not equally valued by the state, your love is less equal under the law.”
I have given notice that I will move a Bill on Monday which will finally bring about #marriageequality in Australia pic.twitter.com/sOdY3R2gb1 — Bill Shorten (@billshortenmp) May 26, 2015
Labor does not have the numbers in the upper house to force the vote to be held but it will challenge the government to allow a conscience vote.
Senior left Labor figure Anthony Albanese has rejected calls from his own faction to have a binding vote on gay marriage, declaring it was “time to get this done” through a conscience vote.
Mr Albanese, whose electorate is the inner-Sydney seat of Grayndler, said his constituents were “overjoyed” at Ireland’s overwhelming vote in support of marriage equality on the weekend but that a conscience vote would be “the most appropriate model” and pragmatic.
“It is now time for Australia to join the nations which have recognised that people should be allowed to marry the person that they love,” Mr Albanese told the Federation Chamber.
“I fail to see how the institution of marriage is weakened if more people have the right to participate. I strongly believe there should be a vote in this Parliament this year. It should be a conscience vote.
“That would enable parliamentarians to have a mature debate in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.”
Luck of the Irish spreading - #marriageequality will be a reality by the end of this year. — Alannah MacTiernan (@AlannahMac) May 26, 2015
It's time for #marriageequality — Andrew Giles MP (@andrewjgiles) May 26, 2015
The Private Members Bill I brought forward in 2012 fell short. In 2015 let's make #MarriageEquality in Australia happen. It's time #auspol — Stephen Jones MP (@StephenJonesMP) May 26, 2015
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has declined his frontbenchers a free vote, leading to the defeat of Labor private legislation in 2012.
However, Cabinet minister Malcolm Turnbull said he expected parliament to legalise same-sex marriage before the end of the year.
“I have never seen a social issue which has changed attitudes as rapidly as this one,” he said, adding his feeling was that legislation was “very likely to pass”.
Liberal MP Russell Broadbent, who opposes the laws, said he would be in favour of a free vote within his party.
Junior minister Simon Birmingham has flagged Liberal supporters of gay marriage, like him, will make sure the issue is raised in the party room but only “when it is the right time”.
But cabinet minister Ian Macfarlane says same-sex marriage is not a priority issue for the government and he will oppose it based on the views of his conservative Queensland electorate of Groom. Environment Minister Greg Hunt said he would be comfortable with allowing a free vote.
“I think there is a certain history that is evolving here and I think we can all see that emerging,” he said.
Recent polls have put public support for gay marriage as high as 72 per cent.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said it was “wonderful” to see more MPs pushing for marriage equality.
“We don’t really need more bills in the parliament, but we do need more votes,” she tweeted.
Earlier the Greens announced they would bring on a vote for marriage equality in November, with a debate on the party’s same-sex marriage bill to start next month.
“Cupid doesn’t discriminate and neither should the law,” she said.
Adam Bandt, the Greens only MP in the lower house, also questioned the benefits of another same-sex marriage bill.
Labor’s will be the third bill before parliament but the first presented to the House of Representatives.
“Another marriage equality bill? We should be working together, not having duelling legislation,” Mr Bandt tweeted. “We need more votes from Labor, not more bills.”
With AAP
Read Next |
On the CoachDaveTV YouTube account, Dave Daubenmire uploaded a video Monday where he went to Target to get an employee there to explain to him their new policy regarding bathrooms.
The Target employee explained the policy to him by saying, “The policy that headquarters sent down was whatever you identify yourself as is the restroom you are welcome in.”
Daubenmire asked her what would prevent him from just walking into the women’s restroom.
She replied, “The only thing they sent to us, honestly, what you identify yourself as per gender is where you can choose to go to the restroom. There’s nothing from us that we can check… We don’t have permission or anything to do that.”
She then told Daubenmire that they are still waiting on “more information” on the new company-wide policy, but right now if he identified himself as a woman then he could go into the women’s restroom right now. |
The man who allegedly killed a teacher and a student and wounded two others in a sword attack at a Swedish school Thursday morning was dressed in a black Darth Vader-esque mask and helmet. Two students posed for a photo with him in the midst of what they later learned was a stabbing spree. The girl who took the photo told Sweden’s Aftonbladet that immediately afterward, the man stabbed a teacher in front of them, then chased them through the halls of the school.
“Sara,” the photographer, said she had left class to get a pen when she saw a man with a suit and a bloody sword approach two of her friends. The girls thought the silent man, who “played strange, horrible, Halloween music,” was just dressed up for Halloween, and they wanted a photo.
After they’d finished posing, a teacher came out and asked the man to leave, Sara said. She said he just nodded and stabbed the teacher in the side. The only thing she heard him say during the entire encounter was “call an ambulance.”
The three girls ran through the school, up and down stairs, with the man chasing them, Sara said. By the entrance of the school, she saw three people lying on the floor.
News reports Thursday afternoon claimed that the attacker had stabbed four people—two students and two teachers—and that one teacher and one student had died. The two deceased victims were later identified as a 20 year-old teaching assistant and a 17-year-old student (not an 11-year-old, as initially reported). The surviving victims are a male teacher, 42, and a 15-year-old student.
The swordsman was shot once by police, and died later in a hospital after surgery.
Police haven’t yet released information on the attacker’s motives or his connection to the school, but “there have been some discoveries, which we cannot go into,” according to a spokesperson.
Swedish news sources including Aftonbladet and Nyheter24 have identified 21-year-old Anton Lundin Pettersson as the suspected school attacker. They report his social media profiles showed “extreme right-wing sympathies,” and that the anti-terrorist Swedish Security Service, Säpo, is now involved in the investigation.
[Screengrab via Aftonbladet] |
Philip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers' offense have been one of the most pleasant surprises in the NFL all season. They just lacked a signature win on a big stage.
That changed in the best way possible Thursday night.
The Chargers authored the biggest upset of the 2013 NFL season with a 27-20 victory in Denver over the Broncos. The victory gives San Diego's playoff hopes a huge boost, while putting Denver's hammerlock on the No. 1 seed in jeopardy.
The country saw Thursday what we've seen all season out of Rivers, our No. 2 quarterback in the entire league. The Chargers have a precise, ball-control offense that thrives on third downs. Ryan Mathews and Danny Woodhead have formed one of the league's most effective one-two punches at running back. Mathews racked up 129 yards on 29 carries.
San Diego chewed up the clock by running 44 times and passing only 20 times. You don't see a ratio like that often, unless you are looking through 1970s box scores. San Diego held the ball for more than 38 minutes. When Rivers was asked to throw, he came through with accuracy and great decision-making. He's been a poor man's Peyton Manning all year.
The bigger surprise was the performance of the Chargers' defense. Denver's record-breaking 18-game streak of 25 points or more came to an end. The Broncos had only 13 yards on 13 plays in the second and third quarters combined.
Chargers defensive coordinator John Pagano dialed up some blitzes that gave Manning problems. Third-year defensive lineman Corey Liuget made the biggest play of the game with a hit on Manning late in the fourth quarter, leading to an interception.
This was a stunning result, but the ingredients that made it possible have been simmering for a while. Denver's defense gets less impressive by the week. They are banged-up and searching for answers, especially in the secondary.
The Chargers are better than their 7-7 record indicates. They have beaten four teams currently in line to make the playoffs. They have lost only one game by more than one score.
This is a result that makes the AFC race a lot more interesting. Denver needs help from New England to get the No. 1 seed now. The Broncos have to win out to make sure they win the AFC West. And the Chargers are very much alive in the wild-card race.
When you have a great quarterback and a great offense, you have a chance to win any game. Denver has been the only offense consistently better this year than San Diego.
For one night, Rivers and his friends earned the spotlight.
The latest "Around The League Podcast" reviewed our biggest disappointments of the 2013 season and much more. |
By Rachael Rettner, Senior Writer
Published: 09/18/2014 10:36 AM EDT on LiveScience
Women with symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may be more likely to have food addiction, or a feeling of dependence on food, new research suggests.
In the study, researchers surveyed more than 49,000 female nurses ages 25 to 42 and asked the women whether they had ever experienced a traumatic event, such as childhood abuse, the violent death of a loved one, or a miscarriage or stillbirth. Researchers then asked the women who had experienced such an event whether they had also experienced PTSD symptoms as a result of the trauma. Those symptoms could include losing interest in activities that were once enjoyable, and feeling isolated or distant from other people.
Participants were also asked whether they experienced symptoms of food addiction, such as frequently eating when they were not hungry, feeling sluggish or fatigued from overeating, and having physical withdrawal symptoms when they cut down on certain foods. The researchers considered women to have a food addiction only if they reported at least three of the condition's symptoms. [8 Tips for Fighting Sugar Cravings]
Overall, 66 percent of those who had experienced a traumatic event reported at least one symptom of PTSD, according to the study.
The researchers also found that 8 percent of all women in the study had food addiction. But this disorder was more common among those with PTSD symptoms: Nearly 18 percent of women with 6 to 7 symptoms of PTSD had food addiction, compared to 6 percent of women who had no PTSD symptoms during their lifetime. (Although the study did not ask whether a doctor had diagnosed the women with PTSD, people with four or more symptoms of PTSD may have the condition, the researchers said.)
The link between food addiction and PTSD symptoms was strongest among those whose PTSD symptoms occurred before age 10.
Previous studies have found that people with PTSD are at increased risk for obesity, and the new study provides one explanation for that link: People with PTSD may use eating to cope with psychological distress, the researchers said.
"Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that observed links between PTSD and obesity might be partly explained by a tendency to use food to self-medicate traumatic stress symptoms," the researchers, from the University of Minnesota, wrote in the Sept. 17 issue of the journal JAMA Psychiatry.
However, because the study did not ask women when they started experiencing symptoms of food addiction, the study cannot determine which came first, the PTSD or the food addiction.
If studies that follow people forward over time can replicate the new results, "these findings suggest that interrupting the pathway from PTSD to obesity may require psychological and behavioral interventions that address dependence on eating to cope with distress," the researchers said.
Follow Rachael Rettner @RachaelRettner. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.
Copyright 2014 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
One of the best drafts in terms of lining up needs and getting guys at spots where I didn't think they'd still be around. They moved up to get Fletcher Cox, an immediate starter. Mychal Kendricks is a perfect fit, and at No. 46, a really good value. The Eagles look a lot better up the middle after this weekend. If Vinny Curry came off the board really early in the second round, nobody would have been surprised, so to get him at No. 59 is a steal. Nick Foles has the upside of an NFL starter, and Andy Reid could turn him into something. Brandon Boykin is my No. 9-ranked corner, so I love the value as a fourth-rounder. I thought they might get a tackle earlier, but it's hard to quibble given the value they got with every pick early on. |
**Note:** As this is a forecast, this won't have many specifics in it. I'll have my usual style of post with the specifics of item changes on Friday when we try to coordinate a PBE push. **Attack Damage - B.F. Sword normalization** **Items Affected:** {{item:1038}} {{item:3031}} {{item:3072}} {{item:3139}} We're going to be normalizing everything that builds out of B.F. Sword to have 80 Attack Damage with minimal price increases to compensate - as well as shifting B.F. Sword to have 50 Attack Damage at the 1600 Gold price point, instead of 45 Attack Damage at the 1550 Gold price point. On the whole, we like what this does to the overall decision making when purchasing a B.F. Sword - you know it will eventually morph into an 80 Attack Damage item - the only question being what sorts of side utility you want out of the whole deal. There's a slight caveat here in that this puts an unfortunate damper on **Bloodthirster** - whose presence is too dominant and skews the power between Ratio driven carries and more traditional basic attack oriented carries. Essentially, BT goes down in power - everything else goes up in power - including the midgame where you build up to BT. **Attack Speed Itemization - Dagger Retuning** **Items Affected:** {{item:1042}} {{item:3006}} {{item:3086}} Attack Speed isn't a particularly attractive statistic to overcommit to at the moment given the natural Attack Speed growth of carries. We're making some slight buffs to Dagger to help mitigate some of the mid-game power issues that carries are facing at the moment where Attack Speed only feels good at the final completed item rather than during the build-up, where it matters. Basically, you usually do get enough Attack Speed by the end of the game with your build. It's just that the entire way to the end item, you don't have nearly enough. You can expect these items to have slightly more attack speed with a minimal price increase. For example: Berzerker's Greaves giving 5% more Attack Speed and costing 50 more Gold. **Lifesteal** Going to start with a quick item preview as a framing piece: {{item:1055}} **Doran's Blade** 80 Health --> 70 Health 8 Attack Damage --> 7 Attack Damage 3/5 Life on Hit --> 3% Life Steal For a long time, we were trying to phase out early life steal as a statistic and replacing it with other mechanisms such as life on hit. However, with the rise of non-sustain supports - this avenue no longer makes sense. With non-sustain based supports being the norm rather an exception - Life Steal needs to be easily accessible from a variety of sources in order for the ADC to not be locked into a single early build path - the one that includes Life Steal. With this in mind, it makes more sense for Life Steal to be more expensive overall but easier to 'stack' from a wider variety of sources rather than have Life Steal be a single specific path. Hence, we're going to lower the life steal amounts of all items - but introduce it back into Doran's Blade in order for carries to have a wider range of possible % Life Steal values - this allows carries to basically build the 'right' amount of life steal for their carry type, their support and the power of their lane opponents - rather than having one single overpowered choice that tries to cover every situation in which you might need sustain. On the whole, you can expect there to be less life steal on each of the life steal items but more available % life steal options. What we expect to see is a slightly wider range of potential first order buys - especially since this version of Doran's Blade has more mid game potential. {{item:1055}} {{item:1055}} {{item:1055}} {{item:3031}} {{item:1055}} {{item:3072}} {{item:1055}} {{item:3153}} {{item:1055}} {{item:1055}} {{item:1053}} --> ? {{item:3072}} **Bloodthirster** 70 Attack Damage --> 80 Attack Damage 12% Life Steal --> 15% Life Steal Stacking Passive --> **Removed** New Unique Passive --> Your life steal effects can overheal you, granting you a shield equal to the excess up to X (based on character level). This shield decays if you haven't dealt or taken damage in 15 seconds Bloodthirster becomes a problem when its too commonplace as it creates a situation where it basically comes down to who acquires it first. This is both due to the power and build path of the item as well as the stacking mechanic on it. Additionally, it favors Attack Damage ratio-driven carries who traditionally have weaker end-games to begin with. We're retuning Bloodthirster to be a more consistent choice and to give other damage options a more favorable comparison point. We know that this will leave certain ranged characters that rely on Bloodthirster Stacking in a bit of a bind at the moment - Certain heavy AD Varus and Miss Fortune builds will be in a bit of a pinch without a stackable Attack Damage source. However, given how Bloodthirster both supports these characters *and* suppresses them by being **more** favorable to other characters - it's not really contributing to a healthier ecosystem. Melee will generally come out favorably as they have a very offensive life steal item (Hydra) and a more defensive one (Bloodthirster). {{item:3222}} **Mikael's Crucible** Lastly, I want to talk about Crucible - this item is too commonplace and negates a lot of decision making in the end game. Crucible does odd things where it devalues long cooldown initiation patterns in exchange for repeated pick patterns. This **heavily** suppresses utility centric carries like **Ashe** or **Varus** who rely on these patterns to be strategically interesting. We do like that Crucible is an option in the game but it is currently too broad of a pick and appearing too frequently on a much wider array of supports than intended. Mikael's is just as good as a buy on offensive tanky supports as defensive ones - which skews the balance of power even farther away from initiation based carries as their unique niche both gets countered *and* replaced by the same character. We're going to both raise the cost of this item and adjust the statline to favor more Mana intensive supports to shifts Mikael into favoring more mage-centric supports rather than Tank supports. We'll be adding another support item in Mikael's price point in order to grant a wider breadth of items - the details of which will be on the PBE post on Friday. **Note - 11:43 a.m.:** Gotta run. Won't be responding to posts for the rest of the night. I'll check back in this thread tomorrow. **Note - 1:11 p.m.:** Can't.. respond to every post in this thread based system. Nested hierarchy too strong. Also need food. **Note - 3:55 p.m.:** Okay - way too many comments. I actually need to work on the items some more based on feedback from this thread. I'll be responding again when I post the specifics on PBE. Probably won't reply to this thread - though I'll probably read it again - then my attention will be focused on the PBE post. **Notes - 8:34 p.m.:** PBE specifics post is up! I won't be responding to this thread anymore. If you note the specifics - there's already some minor numerical adjustments based on concerns raised in this thread. Link: http://community.pbe.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/champions-gameplay-feedback
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Such a Little Thing: The Semicolon in Rust
I was very happy to see Rust 0.4 being released yesterday. It's the first language in a really long time that genuinely interests me. It might be the next language besides C, C# and Python that I would really enjoy. The language design strikes such an exciting balance between doing new things and staying familiar enough to feel easy to pick up.
One of the exciting things of Rust is how it learns from other languages before in an experimental way. The language is designed and overthrown as it's being used and seeing the process unfold is very reminiscent of how Python's early days must have looked like.
One of the surprising features of Rust is how it deals with statement termination and it has not been without criticism. Personally: I am absolutely in love with how it does it but I have seen some people being very opposed to it. So here is me explaining why I think it's the best thing since sliced bread.
What Ruby does that Python Lacks Before we can get to that, we need to do a detour into the dynamic language camp, mostly into the Ruby and Python camps. The languages seem familiar on the surface but they are actually very far apart. In fact, the languages could not be different in many ways. One of the most striking differences is how Ruby and Python deal with methods and statements versus expressions. In Python everything is an object and that includes functions. In fact calling it a function would be wrong, Python programmers like to call them callables. The reason for that is that there are a lot of things you can call but they behave differently in their lowlevel implementations. That's something you will not notice as a Python novice but it certainly shows up at times, especially when it comes to changing the implementation and exposing unintended side effects. For instance str() in Python used to be a function and was later converted into a type. dir() in Python is a builtin function whereas quit() is an instance of a quitter type. cgi.escape() is a “function”. On the surface they all work exactly the same, but really the only thing they have in common is that you can call them. In Ruby there are no functions, instead there are objects that have methods. The idea is that instead of invoking a method on an object you send a message to an object, at least that is the original design. Not having functions has some profound implications. The most obvious one is that without first class functions, functional programming works differently. Ruby developers will generally tell you that functional programming works better in Ruby than it does in Python and will point out that blocks are preferable over anonymous functions. What are blocks? They are basically syntactic sugar to create an object (called a Proc ) with a method called call that can be invoked. This proc is then passed to a function in a special parameter. Let's talk a bit more practice here. Given a list of four numbers, here is how you would calculate the power of two for each item. First in Python: >>> def power_it ( x ): ... return x ** 2 ... >>> map ( power_it , [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]) [1, 4, 9, 16] Then in Ruby: >> [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. map { | x | x ** 2 } => [1, 4, 9, 16] The Python version is obviously not the way you would write that in Python. Making a function like this is not very useful. Instead what you do in Python is either using a list comprehension (avoiding the problem) or to use the lambda keyword that allows you to create an unnamed function that has a single expression as body. Let's ignore that for a moment though. The example above shows something very interesting: it shows how different the languages treat expressions. In Python there are statements and expressions. The syntax allows for statements to contain other statements and expressions to contain other expressions. If an expression is used in the spot where a statement is expected it's wrapped in what the grammar calls an “expression statement”. The purpose of the expression statement is to throw away the resulting value of the expression. This is obvious in both the syntax representation as well as the bytecode. Take this very benign example: foo () On a syntax level this is the representation: Module ( body = [ Expr ( value = Call ( func = Name ( id = 'foo' , ctx = Load ()), args = [], keywords = [], starargs = None , kwargs = None ))]) The call appears on module level, a module has multiple statements in the body. In this case it calls the name “foo” (which is loaded) with no arguments or keyword arguments of any sort. Since it's an expression it is wrapped in an Expr node. This allows an expression to be used there and also then tells the code generator to throw away the result. This would be the bytecode for it: 2 0 LOAD_GLOBAL 0 (foo) 3 CALL_FUNCTION 0 6 POP_TOP It tells the interpreter: load the value for the global variable “foo”, then call it without arguments, then throw away the return value. This is very different from Ruby. In Ruby many statements are implemented in a way that they are either expressions or at least behave in such a way. The language also very often does not throw away values like Python does. This is helpful because for instance methods return the value of the last expression when they return. Ruby follows that design mantra to ridiculous ways. For instance the following example defines a variable called foo and an empty class Bar where foo contains the last expression within Bar 's body: >> foo = class Bar >> 42 >> end => 42 >> foo => 42 (Notice also how the assignment is also an expression that returns the value that was assigned in the expression) Neat idea huh? But there is also a problem with that, and that's that you could return something as a side effect. For instance imagine you have a function that acts as a setter in ruby: >> class Foo >> def set_x val >> @x = val >> end >> end => nil >> f = Foo . new => #<Foo:0x007fcaa09b1500> >> f . set_x 42 => 42 The setter now returns the value as a side-effect. Since you can just ignore that in Ruby it's generally not a problem, but people might now start to rely on that. Very often people are countering that problem by writing nil at the end of the function to prevent the unintended result: >> class Foo >> def set_x val >> @val = val >> nil >> end >> end => nil >> f = Foo . new => #<Foo:0x007feab11af4e8> >> f . set_x 42 => nil I can already see the argument that is brought up against that example from people doing more Ruby than me which is that nobody writes setters in Ruby. That is correct since ruby as special callback methods for setting attributes. The reason I did not use them is because they have their own semantics attached where the return value of the setter is ignored and overridden with the right hand of the assignment: >> class Foo >> def x = val >> @x = val >> nil >> end >> end => nil >> f = Foo . new => #<Foo:0x007fa17b92ff80> >> f . x = 42 => 42
Blocks are not Functions So let's stick with Ruby for a bit. Often it's argued that blocks are basically just anonymous functions. That however is not the case because they do more things than just functions, and that's important due to how the language works. Notice how we did not use return anywhere in the above examples despite the fact that ruby has return . That's because return is doing something else than just returning the last value when used within a block. A return within a block returns from the calling scope (which is pretty crazy if you think about it): >> def foo >> [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. each { | x | puts x ; return 42 ; } >> end => nil >> foo 1 => 42 How does it do that? It users interpreter internal magic by setting a jump point before the invocation. That also means the block behaves differently when returned from the function: >> def foo >> Proc . new { return 42 } >> end => nil >> p = foo => #<Proc:0x007ff25b0efda8@(irb):10> >> p . call LocalJumpError: unexpected return from (irb):10:in `block in foo' from (irb):13:in `call' So it's pretty clear that blocks are a whole different beast and pretty much require the fact that the last expression is the return value from the block since return is there to have other purposes. Why does return return from the calling method and not the block? That's because of how iteration works in Ruby. Iteration is implemented exactly the other way round compared to Python. In Python iteration works by creating an iterator that can be called to produce more values until an exception is raised. If needs be that iterator keeps a interpreter frame alive in a suspended state (called generators in Python). In Ruby iteration is implemented by letting something call a block repeatedly until the end of the iteration. The interpreter provides jump points in order to implement skipping or breaking the iteration. A continue is implemented as a form of jumping to the end of the block, a break is implemented by jumping past the call to the iterator function. Without the return it would be very awkward to return something from the function. Imagine a function that returns the first even item from a list: >> def find_even iterable >> iterable . each { | x | return x if x % 2 == 0 } >> end => nil >> find_even [ 1 , 3 , 5 , 6 ] => 6 Imagine the non-local return was not available, you would have to rewrite it like this: >> def find_even iterable >> done = false >> rv = nil >> iterable . each { | x | >> if x % 2 == 0 >> done = true >> rv = x >> break >> end >> } >> rv >> end
Back to Rust Now what does any of this have to do with Rust? Quite a lot actually. If you have not paid much attention to Rust here is a very short primer of what the language is about: compile time verification of a lot of things. The language is designed to catch many errors at compile time. It's operating on a similar low level than C or C++ do so you get direct access to memory if you want, but it will still verify at compile time that you are never dealing with uninitialized memory by accident. The way it does that is by using different pointer types with different associated semantics. You have pointers where the compiler determines statically that at any point in time there is only one owner, there are pointers with limited garbage collection and there are pointers that are lent memory temporarily. There is a lot more to the language, but that's the most important aspect of it if you have no idea of the language otherwise. This has a lot of implications of how the language works. For instance it's quite easy to give a loan to memory if you can guarantee that a caller will only temporarily use the memory (for the duration of the call). All you need to do is to verify that the value never persists for longer than the duration of the call. If you think about it: that's how iteration in ruby works as well. You have a block that closes over some variables and that closure lives for as long as the iteration is ongoing. Rust in fact models it's iteration model very close to ruby and even uses some of the same syntax. The iteration protocol however itself works slightly different by utilizing the return value to indicate a break or continue. In accordance with Rust's memory model there are different “blocks” (called closures) as well. Here is also where Rust diverges from Ruby. In Ruby a block is a syntactical suffix to a method invocation, in Rust a closure is a syntactical construct that can stand on itself. Closures can either be store on the stack (perfect for things like iteration) or be tracked by the garbage collector or unique in which case only one variable at the time can own the memory. In this example I'm only talking about stack stored closures which are special in a number of ways. The first and most obvious one is that the syntax looks slightly different (basically like ruby blocks) but also that they can only be passed around, not stored. They additionally also have compiler support which I will come to later. As mentioned, the syntax for closures is ruby inspired: /* a closure that takes a variable, creates the power of two and returns it */ | x : int | -> int { x ** 2 } Since Rust has powerful type inference the type annotations can be ignored in places where such a closure is passed as a callback to something else. For instance the map example from above in Rust looks very much like Ruby: let powers = [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. map ( | x | { x ** 2 }); In fact, you can even leave out the braces if they only contain a single expression: let powers = [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. map ( | x | x ** 2 ); Looks like it can only hold an expression, but in fact in Rust — like in Ruby — almost everything is an expression. For instance you could do this if you want: let powers = [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. map ( | x | { let power = x * 2 ; power }) Like in Ruby, the last expression returns. But it comes with a twist. Notice how there is a lack of semicolon at the end?
The Semicolon! Now we finally arrive where I wanted to go all the time: the semicolon in Rust. So Rust shares with Ruby that almost everything is an expression, but Rust also has static typing with type inference. That can very much be asking for trouble due to unintended side effects of the last expression. For instance remember how the assignment in Ruby leaks the right hand side in the expression? That would be quite annoying in Rust where the closure would suddenly return a value that is not expected by the caller's callback signature. Rust has solved that problem currently in an incredible elegant way and that is by giving the presence or absence of the semicolon a meaning. Trailing semicolon in the last expression in a block means: ignore value (or convert it to “nil” ( () )), the absence of it means to bubble up that expression. Before we go further with that I want to point out how amazing semicolons are. I love extreme solutions because they are generally more stable than some wonky ideas in between. Python for instance has a very strong stance on statement termination: newlines terminate statements. C has one as well: semicolons terminate statements. JavaScript is flailing. Are semicolons annoying to type? Probably, I got used to them. But the alternative to semicolons is making line endings significant. Ruby gets away quit well with (what I think is magic or with) some sort of controlled chaos in the grammar. I really despise what Erlang is doing where the semicolon is not a terminator but a separator and a dot is used as terminator. Why? Because it makes for awkward diffs where you affect the line before if you add a new statement. I understand why Erlang does it, but that does not make it a good idea. So hereby I declare: I love semicolons and I love languages that take a strong stance on them. Semicolons in Rust have a lot of value. Since only the last expression can be bubbled anyways the fact that the last semicolon can be present or absent does not even cause a problem in the language grammar. Some semicolon terminated grammars traditionally did not care about the last semicolon in a block anyways (like PHP or CSS for instance).
Iteration Protocol So why is Rust not requiring an explicit return? Well first of all because it would be ugly, but secondly because it shares part of the iteration protocol with Ruby. For instance here is the Rust version of accepting a list of values and returning the first even one: fn find_even ( vector : &[ int ] ) -> Option < int > { for vector . each | x | { if * x % 2 == 0 { return Some ( * x ); } } None } Since the language is statically typed and the type system is algebraic there is no special null type that can be used for any value. As such the return value from the function is either the value wrapped or None. Also the iterator yields pointers that need to be dereferences, but ignore that part for the moment. The important part is the return . It's inside a stack closure yet it returns from the outer function. How the hell does that work? And what's that for statement. Let's answer the latter question first. The function above could be rewritten like this: fn find_even ( vector : &[ int ] ) -> Option < int > { let mut rv : Option < int > = None ; vector . each ( | x | { if * x % 2 == 0 { rv = Some ( * x ); false } else { true } }); rv } As you can see, the iteration callback closure has a return value by itself and that is the indication if the iteration should continue or terminate. The for statement is a neat little syntax abstraction around the iteration protocol that adds the return true and return false for you to make it look nicer. Since the return at that point is up for new use it can be repurposed to mean “return from outer function”, and that's what it does. So Rust, like Ruby benefits greatly from having the return up for other use. Why is Rust using Ruby style iteration and not Python style iteration? Because it's much easier to understand given the restrictions the type system gives you. It's a small price to pay for what the language gives you in return.
Intermission: Make it Generic One thing that should be noted here is that unlike the Python or Ruby version this will not work for floating point values. Traditionally that particular example is really hard to implement in languages that have generics and not full templates. This however is still somewhat trivially solvable in Rust due to the support of the language. The following would be a version of find_first_even for arbitrary numbers: fn find_even < T : Copy num :: Num cmp :: Eq > ( vec : &[ T ] ) -> Option < T > { let zero : T = num :: from_int ( 0 ); let two : T = num :: from_int ( 2 ); for vec . each | x | { if * x % two == zero { return Some ( * x ); } } return None ; } The function becomes generic and some trait requirements are defined. The type has to be a number and a number that can be compared with the equivalency operator. Since we are now dealing with arbitrary numbers literals directly are no longer possible. Instead we need to use num::from_int(0) and have that convert into a value of the specific number type before we can use it in the comparison expression. But even with all that extra stuff, it's still very readable code and possible. Something that cannot be said about generics in C# for instance. |
The medals awarded at next year's Winter Olympics in South Korea will feature diagonal ridges, which have been formed from extrusions of the country's 600-year-old alphabet.
Seoul-based industrial designer Sukwoo Lee designed the medals for the 2018 Winter Olympics, which will take place in Pyeongchang – a county in South Korea's Gangwon Province.
The jagged front of Lee's medals, which were unveiled in a ceremony at the end of last month, are formed from extrusions of the letters of Hangeul – the Korean alphabet that dates back to the 15th century.
To create the surface, he digitally laid out letters from the alphabet in two vertical lines, and wrapped the text to form the edges of a disk. Rendering software was used to join the edges diagonally, creating ridges that warp from end to end, dictated by the curved and flat shapes of the character profiles. The alphabet can still be read around the medal rims.
"The stems of Hangeul, the seeds of culture, are cut into a circular shape," said the designer. "The side of the medal show Hangeul – the seed – and the obverse shows the stem and the process."
In contrast with the fronts, the medal backs will be detailed with the winner's sports discipline, event, and the Games' emblem.
Lee also looked to traditional aspects of Korean culture for the design of the medal ribbons and boxes.
The medals will hang from teal and red-coloured ribbons made from a fabric called gabsa, a delicate gauze textile commonly used for Korean Hanbok clothing. The ribbons will also be decorated with letters from the Hangeul alphabet.
The wooden medal boxes will feature tops that gently curve at the edges, as a reference to the "elegantly flowing curves of Korean traditional architecture". On the outside, they will be embossed with PyeongChang 2018 and the Olympic logo.
The XXIII Olympic Winter Games will take place from 9 to 25 February 2018 in Pyeongchang County.
South Korea has long been preparing for an international sports event, with new projects designed to cater for the influx of tourists. Among these is a Richard Meier-designed waterfront hotel and a golden entertainment complex designed by MVRDV.
The Winter Games will be followed by the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The medals for this event have yet to be designed, but Olympic organisers are reportedly considering using Japan's discarded smartphones and computers.
Paris recently scored the bid for the following 2024 Olympics, which could see designer Philippe Starck make medals that winners can split into four to share with their families. |
In its strongest terms yet, the opposition demanded the ouster of Veteran Affairs Minster Julian Fantino — with NDP leader Tom Mulcair calling on him to “finally, for once in his life, do the honourable thing and resign.”
Mulcair’s choice of phrase was a particularly loaded one, considering Mr. Fantino’s decades-long career as a police officer and a five-year stint as the Toronto Police chief.
“This person has caused the harm,” Mr. Mulcair shouted during question period. “And he says it’s somebody else’s fault? No, Mr. Speaker, he’s responsible.
“What is he waiting for?”
Mr. Fantino has been dogged by calls for his walking papers in recent weeks — stemming, in part, from an Auditor General’s report on his department
. But with the House of Commons winding down ahead of a holiday recess, the NDP seemed determined to land a death blow.
“The minister of veterans affairs is living on another planet,” NDP deputy critic for veterans affairs Sylvain Chicoine said. “It’s more than time for the Prime Minister to give a great gift to veterans and fire this minister.”
With Prime Minister Stephen Harper not in the House Thursday, Mr. Fantino responded directly to calls for his sacking — leaning on his list of “programs and services” available to veterans and noting pro-veteran initiatives the opposition voted against.
“We take no lessons from a party [the NDP] that speaks one thing and does another,” Mr. Fantino said.
After question period, the Prime Minister’s office backed Mr. Fantino. Asked if Mr. Harper had confidence in the minister, PMO spokesman Carl Vallée replied: “Of course he does.” |
The Steam Summer Sale is a powerful entity. It's converted many of us into shady, virtual card-dealing swindlers looking to make a quarter or two. Previously held convictions have been thrown out the door as well, as Fez creator Phil Fish, a man who has a tumultuous past with online community, has sold over 105,000 copies of his infuriatingly clever puzzle-platformer in a mere 48 hours.
Fish posted a Steam sales graph, appropriately labeling the huge sales spike as “BANANERS” after thanking “cheap people everywhere.”
— PHIL FISH (@PHIL_FISH) July 14, 2013 July 14, 2013
Fish's precarious relationship with the Internet aside, we're big fans of Polytron's labyrinth of ciphers and hope the sequel skirts the year-long moratorium we saw in the original's PC release.
Fish said Fez II is “ Coming to ???? in ???? ,” but told Polygon that it wasn't coming to Xbox. Considering the only other platform Fez released on was the PC, there's a good chance the sequel will return there—hopefully sooner rather than later. |
The Delhi High Court has pulled up the National Commission for Women (NCW) for adopting "procedures not sanctioned in law" and exceeding its jurisdiction, while dealing with a matrimonial dispute, resulting in the man losing his job.
It also imposed a fine of Rs 30,000 on NCW. NCW, on the basis of the woman's complaint against her husband, had written to the High Commission of Singapore directing it to advise the man's employer not to post him outside India, which Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw found to be "illegal and beyond its jurisdiction".
The man was working in Singapore as a marine engineer with a Japanese maritime transport company and as a result of the advisory lost his job, prompting him to move the high court seeking withdrawal of the advisory and compensation of Rs 75,49,958 jointly and severally from NCW and his wife.
The court declined to award compensation to the man as it was a matrimonial dispute. However, since NCW, "acted beyond its jurisdiction", the court deemed it appropriate "to award costs of this petition of Rs 30,000 to the petitioner payable by the NCW within four weeks of today (March 31)".
The court also observed that role of NCW was to act as a co-ordinating agency "to ensure that the women in distress are guided to appropriate agencies/authorities empowered and constituted to take action on their complaints, and such agencies act on the complaint and that the orders/directions issued by such agencies/authorities are in turn implemented by other agencies/authorities empowered/constituted/required to implement the same".
"However, NCW appears to have abrogated to itself the task of the judge as well as of executing its own decisions and which it is not entitled to... NCW chose to adopt a procedure not sanctioned in law. "The apprehensions of respondent No.2 (wife) on which NCW acted thus, had no basis and appear to be guided by desire to cause harm to the petitioner and in which NCW appears to have played along," the court observed while disposing of the man's plea. |
SAN DIEGO -- Not visible during the early portion of practice, San Diego Chargers outside linebacker Dwight Freeney appears to have gotten onto the field at some point Wednesday afternoon.
Freeney was listed as limited with a knee issue on the team’s injury report. Others who practiced on a limited basis include three players who did not play against Jacksonville over the weekend: tight end Ladarius Green (hamstring), tight end David Johnson (shoulder) and cornerback Jason Verrett (hamstring).
Outside linebacker Jarret Johnson (shoulder), defensive tackle Corey Liuget (concussion) and inside linebacker Donald Butler (shoulder) also were limited participants on Wednesday.
Players who did not practice include cornerback Shareece Wright (knee), outside linebacker Jeremiah Attaochu (hamstring), receiver Malcom Floyd (illness), running back Ryan Mathews (knee), center Rich Ohrnberger (back), inside linebacker Manti Te’o and linebacker Reggie Walker (ankle).
Outside linebacker Cordarro Law (ankle) was a full participant.
Chargers head coach Mike McCoy would not provide an update on Te’o or Mathews, stating it is not his policy to comment on the status of injured players.
“I’m not going to set a timetable on when anyone is coming back, or when they are healthy and ready to go,” McCoy said. “I can just say this -- everyone’s working extremely hard right now.” |
207 Beer Week Is Back
207 Beer Week is back and ready to celebrate the vibrant and growing craft beer community of the Portland, Maine area. Festivities this year feature more than 100 local breweries and businesses coming together to create more than 50 beer-filled events! Join other beer enthusiasts and partake in the various events celebrating the culture of all things beer in Maine!
Be sure to get out and enjoy some great Maine beer to unlock this year’s badge. Check-in any beer at three (3) different participating venues listed below between November 5 - 11th to earn the “207 Beer Week (2017)” badge. Be sure to add the participating location to your check-in for it to count.
Participating Venues:
$3 Dewey’s
33 Elmwood
Arcadia National Bar
Bayside Bowl
Bao Bao Dumpling House
Bull Feeney’s
Blyth & Burrows - Broken Dram
Central Provisions
Craft Beer Cellar
Flatbread Company
The Great Lost Bear
Jager
The Maine Brew Bus
Maine Brewers Guild
Mami Portland
MAPS
NOSH Kitchen Bar
Novare Res Bier Cafe
OTTO Pizza Portland
Pai Men Miyake
Portland House of Music and Events
Portland Pie Company
El Rayo Taqueria
Salvage BBQ
Shay’s Pub Grill
Slab Sicilian Street Food
Sonny’s Portland
Spare Time Portland
Terlingua
The Thirsty Pig
You can learn more about 207 Beer Week and see a full lineup of events at http://www.portlandbeerweek.org. |
A recent bit of on-air passive aggression between Philly news anchor Nicole Brewer and CBS 3 meteorologist Carol Erickson has exposed the fact that the former Miss Pennsylvania and her colleague have been exchanging less-than-subtle barbs for some time now.
One website went back through the archives and pulled some of Brewer and Erickson's testier (and tastier) on-air beefs for this "master class in highly public passive-aggressive behavior," as The Philly Post calls it.
UPDATE: CBS' VP of Public Affair Joanne Calabria claims the video above has been "grossly edited out of context." In a statement to the Daily Intelligencer, Calabria says "Carol and Nicole are professional broadcasters who have great respect for each other and happen to be the closest of colleagues — both inside and outside the office."
Boy, that deescalated quickly.
[H/T: Uproxx] |
On her show Saturday, Melissa Harris-Perry addressed an open letter to Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted over his efforts to reduce the number of days — and then hours — that Ohioans could vote.
“Dear Secretary Husted,” she began. “It’s me, Melissa. Can I call you Jon? How you feeling today? Still a little sore, I’d imagine. Getting beaten so forcefully with all that backlash had to sting a bit. Probably going to leave a mark. After all, you spent the better part of this year throwing the full force of your power as secretary of state into restricting the right of some Ohioans to vote.”
Harris-Perry offered her viewers a rundown of Husted’s efforts to alter voter access in his state, then noted how they were consistently called out and defeated:
Last Friday, you issued a directive in opposition to Ohio election statutes to put the burden on voters for mistakes written on provisional ballot forms, all but ensuring that some of them would get thrown out. Once again, the courts will not be fooled by your shenanigans. And in a hearing disputing your directive on Wednesday, a federal judge said that, quote, “It was filed on a Friday night at 7:00 p.m. The first thought that came to mind was ‘Democracy dies in the dark.’ So when you do things like that, that seeks to avoid transparency, it appears then, that gives me great pause, but even greater concern.” The voters response to your tactics? Not only did African-American voters not get suppressed, we turned out in historic numbers. In Ohio, African-Americans comprised 15% of the electorate. That is up 11% in 2008 and nearly 200,000 more votes. Latino voters also turned out in larger numbers and made an even stronger showing for president obama than in 2008. And that’s all despite the long lines that wrapped around blocks and hours-long waits in frigid temperatures to vote. Because you see, Jon, those voters that you tried to suppress have a long memory. They remember when people like them faced literacy tests, and poll taxes, and arrests, and beatings, and lynching, and burnings, and shootings all in a right to vote so they would not be deterred by a lack of patience and uncomfortable climate and they would certainly not be deterred by you. And Jon, there is something else you should know about the memory of those voters. In 2014, when you’re up for re-election, they’re also going to remember what you tried to do.
Check it out, via MSNBC:
Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com |
Retreating: Education Minister Christopher Pyne. Credit:Andrew Meares The government's negotiating position is that it is committed to fee deregulation but is willing to make major concessions on the other elements of the package even if this means giving up significant short-term savings. The back-down would follow other major concessions from the government on welfare reform, paid parental leave and spending measures associated with the mining tax. Fairfax Media can reveal that the government is willing to: reduce the 20 per cent course funding cut to 12 to 15 per cent;
delay the expansion of Commonwealth funding to private colleges by three years;
abandon the plan to peg student debts to the 10-year government bond rate; and
fund a structural adjustment package to help universities transition to a free-market system.
With Labor and the Greens fiercely opposed to fee deregulation, reform advocates are concentrating their efforts on winning over the Palmer United Party, Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party senator Ricky Muir and independent senator Nick Xenophon. While Clive Palmer and Jacqui Lambie have said they will not support fee deregulation, PUP senators Dio Wang and Glenn Lazarus are seen as more open to persuasion. Senator Xenophon has expressed concerns about fee deregulation but has listened closely to arguments from university vice chancellors that the current funding model is unsustainable. A spokesman for Mr Pyne said: "The government is continuing to discuss the higher education reforms with the cross-bench senators and as the Minister has previously stated 80 per cent of something is better than 100 per cent of nothing. "The deregulation of the higher education system is the centrepiece of the government's reform, strongly supported across the sector by Universities Australia and all other peak bodies." Mr Pyne on Friday rejected the report but stressed he was willing to negotiate.
"It looks like a grab bag of wish lists from certain people but it's certainly not the government's position - Fairfax strikes again," the Minister told Channel 9's Today show. "I've said all along we'd negotiate, right, and we will negotiate but this grab bag of certain changes is all news to me." The government's plan to extend Commonwealth funding to people studying diplomas, sub-bachelor degrees, or undertaking degrees at private colleges or TAFEs would cost $820 million over three years. Delaying the expansion of financial assistance to students at for-profit colleges from 2016 to 2019 would save around $450 million and help to offset a reduction of the 20 per cent course funding cut. Watering down the funding cut would also help ease concerns about massive fee increases under a deregulated system.
Universities have strongly opposed the funding cut, arguing they will have to increase fees by 20 per cent to maintain current resourcing levels. The government has recognised that it will not secure support for its unpopular plan to index all student debts at the 10-year government bond rate. The plan was criticised because it would hit women and poor graduates the hardest due to the time they spent outside the workforce. The interest rate is expected to remain pegged at inflation although the government is closely exploring alternative interest-rate models that would be less onerous for graduates. Modelling by education economist Bruce Chapman, the architect of the HECS repayment scheme, found poor graduates would pay 30 per cent more for a degree than their high-income counterparts under the government's original proposal. Mr Pyne's spokesman confirmed that almost $300 million in funding for the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy and the Australian Research Council's Future Fellowships scheme - both seen as vital in the university sector - depends on savings achieved through the government's reforms.
Labor higher education spokesman Kim Carr said the government should abandon its entire package. "Fee deregulation would still see massive increases in costs for ordinary Australians who go to university," he said. "That is the fundamental injustice of the government's package." Loading with Latika Bourke Follow us on Twitter |
Our main conclusion is that modafinil did improve PAH in our rat model by reducing RVP and medial wall thickening of pulmonary arterioles.
The main purpose of this study was to determine the effects of modafinil on PAH rat model. We have the following important results: (i) modafinil did reduce RVP and improve survival rate in PAH rats; (ii) it had an effect on the improvement of RV hypertrophy which is an indicator of RV pressure overload caused by elevated pulmonary artery pressure; (iii) it decreased the number of intra-acinar arteries and medial wall thickening in pulmonary arterioles which are an index of vascular remodeling.
We have two hypotheses for the mechanisms of how modafinil decreases medial wall thickening: (i) modafinil has a vasodilatory and antiproliferative effects through a decrease in expression of ET-1 and ERA in the lung tissues. The reason why we think ET-1 is involved is as follows. There have been reports that other cAMP elevating drugs similar to modafinil decrease ET-1 release and ERA protein expression level in PASMCs. In Wort et al. (23) study, there was a report that cicaprost inhibited endogenous endothlin-1 release from human PASMCs. In Davie et al. (24) study, cicaprost inhibited ET-1 release from PASMCs, increased cAMP levels and suppressed DNA synthesis; (ii) modafinil shows an antiproliferative effect by the reduction of KCa3.1 channel expression in PASMCs in the lung tissues. This hypothesis was based on a previous report that KCa3.1 channel is involved in airway smooth muscle (22).
We think that modafinil’s effects on decrease in pulmonary vessel contraction and remodeling secondarily leads to an improvement in apoptosis, neovascularization and inflammation (Bax, VEGF, IL-6, and TNF-α gene expression) in PAH rats. These findings do support our hypothesis that oral modafinil administration improves PAH.
The positive effect of modafinil on PAH might be due to the involvement of dual pathways. The first is ET-1-dependent pathway. In this study, modafinil decreased ET-1 and ERA expression in the lung tissues. ET-1 is a well-known vasoconstrictor and is increased in PAH patients (25). Modafinil is a cAMP-elevating agent similar with iloprost currently being using for PAH (20). According to Wood et al. ET-1 expression was decreased by elevated cAMP levels (23). There was a report that cAMP induces upregulation of ERA mRNA level. It suggests that modafinil decreases ET-1 by elevating cAMP levels (23,26). However, the mechanisms that ET-1 elevates cAMP levels are not clear.
The second is the KCa3.1-dependent pathway. In our study, KCa3.1 channel expression significantly reduced in the lung tissues, especially PASMCs, by the effect of modafinil. KCa3.1 channels are phosphorylated by cAMP-dependent pathway (20). Cruse et al. (21) reported that the blockade of KCa3.1 channels attenuated human lung mast cell proliferation and migration. According to Shepherd et al. (22) KCa3.1 channels regulated smooth muscle proliferation of the human lung airway. In Strøbæk et al. (27) study, KCa3.1 channels attenuated human lung mast cell blocker NS6180. In our study, modafinil showed the ability to decrease in KCa3.1 channels expression at a very low concentration at 100 nmol/l in vitro. So, our conclusion is that decreased KCa3.1 expression is involved in reduced PASMCs proliferation in PAH. Decreased RVP is because of a reduction in PASMCs proliferation, which enlarges the inner space of the pulmonary vessels.
We think that modafinil improves PAH by reducing excessive vascular SMC contraction via ET-1 and proliferation via KCa3.1 channel. Decrease in vasoconstriction and PASMCs proliferation also leads to a decrease in apoptosis markers (Bax), angiogenesis marker (VEGF), and inflammatory markers (TNF-α, IL-6).
Modafinil has a similar effect on PAH rats as other current therapies, such as ETR antagonists, phosphodiesterease type 5 inhibitor, and prostacyclin (1). Even though these treatments have not led to a cure yet, these treatments have increased the survival rate and quality of life. From our previous study of the same PAH models, RVP and the number of intra-acinar arteries were decreased at weeks 2 and 4 after bosentan (25 mg/kg/d) administrations. Medial wall thickening was also decreased at week 4 after bosentan treatment (28,29). Our previous infliximab (TNF-α antagonist) study (5 mg/kg, single sc injection) on the MCT-induced PAH model was as follows: medial wall thickening was decreased at week 1, the number of intra-acinar arteries at weeks 2 and 4 but there was no effect on RVP (30). Clozel et al. (31) used an injection of the same dose of MCT (60 mg/kg) as our study. Their results were decreased RV/body weight at week 4 after treatment of bosentan (300 mg/kg/d) and/or sildenafil (100 mg/kg/d). Modafinil’s inhibitory effect on RV hypertrophy was similar with bosentan or sildenafil.
However, it was difficult to compare the data itself directly because their sacrifice time and MCT dose was different from ours. Therefore, the effects of modafinil were as good as current therapies compared with previous studies.
Modafinil has several advantages as a new therapeutic approach under development for PAH compared with other current medication.
First, it has few safety problem and less side effects. Modafinil treatment has been associated with minimal toxicity and low propensity for abuse (32). The second advantage is both relaxation and antiproliferative effect in vascular smooth muscle simultaneously. In our study, modafinil has effects on decreasing KCa3.1 expression in the lung tissues of MCT-induced PAH rats. KCa3.1 blocker TRAM-34 can possibly reduce proliferation but it cannot induce relaxation (33). The third is that it can be delivered orally (34). The mechanisms of modafinil are similar with prostacyclin, elevating cAMP. Prostacyclin is administrated by the intravenous, inhaled, and subcutaneous routes but not by an oral route (1). Fourth, it has a long half-life. Prostacyclin has a short half-life compared to modafinil which is half-life is 15 h. So, prostacyclin is inconvenient to take. Fifth, it is relatively low in price.
We also investigated the optimal dose of MD. We think that it might be as 10 mg/kg. There were no differences in the effects according to modafinil dosage in PAH. RVP and RV/LV+S ratio were not significantly different according to dose. However, there was no effect on medial wall thickening in MD 50 mg/kg at week 2 and the number of intra-acinar arteries in MD 4 mg/kg at week 2. Therefore, we mainly used 10 mg/kg modafinil in this study. Currently, 200 mg/d of modafinil is used in narcolepsy, sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome, and shift fork sleep disorder according to the Provigil prescription information (32).
Modafinil may be used in treating cardiovascular disease and has potential to induce vessel relaxation and inhibit excessive proliferation of vascular cells.
In conclusion, modafinil has an effect on the suppression of PAH. Furthermore, this study suggests that modafinil might be a new medicine for PAH. Further studies are needed to determine what pathways are involved in improvement of PAH by modafinil. |
(AP Photo/Nick Ut)
commentary
Never mind the debate about whether to prop up the U.S. housing market by extending the $8,000 home-buying tax credit. (See related video about the credit, which is scheduled to expire on December 1.)
A more important housing subsidy has already snuck into law without many people noticing. Last Thursday, President Obama signed legislation, H.R.2996, that was billed as providing funding for the Forest Service and the Indian Health Service and temporary cash for the rest of the government. It also extended, substantially, the federal government's support for higher housing prices for another year.
You won't see any mention of housing policy in the Congress' official summary or the White House's announcement that Obama had signed the measure. But if you look carefully, you'll find it buried in the middle of the 31,332-word bill (which can claim the dubious virtue of topping out at over 1,000 words longer than George Orwell's novel Animal Farm).
If Congress had done nothing, the maximum government-backed loan for a house or condo in the continental United States would have dropped from $729,750 to $625,500 on January 1, 2010. Other loans -- known as "non-conforming" loans -- would still be available, but they'd be more expensive. TotalMortgage.com, for instance, puts the difference at around 1.1 percentage points as of this week.
It's true that the extension applies mostly to coastal areas (and it's even higher in Alaska, Guam, Hawaii, and the Virgin Islands), deemed sufficiently "high cost" to exceed the normal $417,000 limit. Home-buyers in the wastelands of Detroit, where you can buy houses for a few thousand dollars, won't be affected. Not so ones in Washington, D.C., New York, Boston, and San Francisco.
Nevertheless, letting the maximum loan amount fall back to normal levels would have been wise. First, it would reduce the cost of any possible future taxpayer-funded bailout if housing prices continue to fall.
Or have we forgotten how taxpayers bailed out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in over $400 billion of stock and debt guarantees? That's despite the federal law creating them in the first place, which clearly says: "This chapter may not be construed as obligating the federal government, either directly or indirectly, to provide any funds... or to honor, reimburse, or otherwise guarantee any obligation or liability..."
Second, it would rescind a sliver of one of the government distortions of the market that gave us the housing bubble and bust, coupled with all the economic pain of the past year or two. Without cheap loans, it's more difficult to have excessive speculation and a housing frenzy.
You can blame, in part, special interest groups who profited during the housing bubble. Realtors pushed for the higher conforming loan limits. The California Association of Mortgage Brokers urged members to lobby Congress to keep the higher limits. The National Association of Home Builders darkly warned in 2005 that "25 basis points tacked on to the mortgage rate will price about 1.2 million households out of the market." (Four years later, we now know that many of those folks might have been better off to continue to rent.)
Third, letting the maximum amount fall would have been a modest step toward what President Obama says he really wants: affordable housing.
The president's statement accompanying his administration's official budget says "access to affordable housing" is an important goal. Limiting what amounts to government-subsidized loans will, at the margin, increase interest rates and reduce the amount that sellers can charge for homes.
How much home prices would fall is an open question, but fall they would. A Chicago Fed letter from 2005 written by economist Richard Rosen suggested that if mortgage rates rise from 5.8 percent to 6.5 percent, housing prices would fall by 6.5 percent. An interest rate jump to 7.5 percent implies that "housing prices could fall by 15.5 percent."
Of course, this would run up against the current political dogma in Washington, where economic know-nothingness is more common than political courage, where existing homeowners are favored over would-be homeowners, and where our elected representatives who tout the need for "affordable housing" in theory vote the other way in practice. |
Jon Bon Jovi will be there for you, Hillary Clinton.
Bon Jovi will perform in Boston as part of a June fundraiser for Clinton, Politico reports.
The event, titled “Summer Celebration with Hillary with a special performance by Jon Bon Jovi,” will raise money for Hillary for America as she seeks to sew up the Democratic nomination. Tickets to the show range from $45 in the “Young Professionals” category—already sold out—up to $2,700 in the “Family” category.
In January, Clinton called Bon Jovi her “good friend” in an interview with CNN. In addition, an email from Bon Jovi’s wife to Chelsea Clinton was included in the release of a trove of Hillary Clinton’s emails.
Just an email from the Bon Jovis to Hillary Clinton cc @jmhattem pic.twitter.com/KmrHGZ3Eu3 — Rebecca Shabad (@RebeccaShabad) November 30, 2015 |
CLOSE Alexa and Siri have nothing on Morgan Freeman, who lent his distinct voice to Jarvis, Mark Zuckerberg's new artificial intelligence assistant. USA TODAY NETWORK
Actor Morgan Freeman will be the voice of Mark Zuckerberg's digital assistant Jarvis. (Photo: Kimberly White, Getty Images for Breakthrough Prize)
SAN FRANCISCO — Move over, Siri. It's not OK, Google.
The voice behind Mark Zuckerberg's homemade artificial intelligence assistant Jarvis will be none other than Morgan Freeman. Freeman's iconic timbre was selected by popular demand.
The system that runs Zuckerberg's household, named for Tony Stark's artificial intelligence from Iron Man, had a synthesized voice like many other such systems. Robert Downey Jr., who plays Stark, volunteered to be the new voice of Jarvis under certain conditions.
Instead, Zuckerberg asked the public to weigh in. His Facebook post received more than 50,000 comments, with Freeman emerging victorious. (Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan also had some fun experimenting with an Arnold Schwarzenegger voice-powered Jarvis. Maybe he'll be back.)
Zuckberg toldFast Company he called Freeman and said: "Hey, I posted this thing, and...thousands of people want you to be the voice. Will you do it?’" Freeman told Zuckerberg: "Yeah, sure."
Of course, Freeman has other starring voice roles in the tech world. He's one of the celebrity voices on Google's navigation app Waze.
Facebook has not disclosed whether Freeman is getting paid, according to Fast Company.
With the Jarvis project, Zuckerberg wanted to use his voice to control everything in his house, from the music to the lights to the temperature. He also wanted Jarvis to swing open the front gate for friends by recognizing their faces. Essentially, the Jarvis project is like Zuckerberg's homemade version of Amazon's Alexa service or Google's Home.
Nearly a year ago, the Facebook CEO said he planned to build an AI system as one of the personal growth challenges he gives himself each year. For Zuckerberg, this was a return to his programming roots. This isn't the first time he has returned to coding. His personal growth challenge in 2012 was to code every day. But this challenge connected him to a new wave of computer science that is vital to his company's growth.
"My goal was to learn about the state of artificial intelligence — where we're further along than people realize and where we're still a long ways off. These challenges always lead me to learn more than I expected, and this one also gave me a better sense of all the internal technology Facebook engineers get to use, as well as a thorough overview of home automation," Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post on Monday.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2i6wMku |
As we barrel toward the possibility of yet another shooting war in the Middle East, we seem to have forgotten to have a conversation about whether it’s a good idea. The consensus forming among the mainstream chattering class seems to be that the United States simply must use military force in Syria because of a “red line” – because Barack Obama said that deploying chemical weapons against the Syrian people would not be tolerated — and because someone has to do something, anything, to curb the intolerable bloodshed.
But it’s crucial to understand that everyone also seems to agree that no good outcome from U.S. intervention is possible. There are no “good guys” to aid in this bloody and chaotic civil war; if we are successful and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is toppled, we won’t like the people likely to fill the vacuum. A limited strike, most agree, will accomplish little or nothing. A more intense engagement will result in heavy civilian casualties and possibly American service members coming home in caskets. Escalating and internationalizing the conflict will further destabilize an already unstable region.
The Russians are warning of “extremely dangerous” consequences if Syria is attacked, according to a report in Bloomberg News. The same report cites an analysis by the research firm IHS which concluded that “only sustained military action” has any hope of toppling the regime. Anything short of an all-out war would be a largely symbolic “punitive measure,” according to the researchers.
Last week, Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote that the Syrian civil war is not between two discrete sides, but rather “a deeply-rooted, long-term conflict among many factions,” none of which would advance American national interests in the region if they prevailed. Armed intervention, he concluded, can “change the military balance, but it cannot resolve the underlying” issues fueling the conflict, and “violent struggles for power will continue after Assad’s rule ends.”
Middle East scholar Juan Cole notes that “Syria has stockpiles of chemical weapons, the exact position of which is (sic) unknown; indiscriminate bombing raids on Syrian military facilities could release those chemicals on civilian populations.” He adds that much of the regime’s military hardware is housed in major urban centers and couldn’t be targeted from the air without causing massive civilian casualties. “If you want to see a war go bad real quickly,” he writes, “just kill dozens of innocent civilians in their own home from the air.” Finally, he warns that “flooding Syria with medium or heavy weaponry could destabilize it and its neighbors, including Israel and Palestine.”
In the Washington Post, Eliot Cohen, a prominent neoconservative scholar who pushed hard for the 2003 Iraq invasion as a member of the Committee to Liberate Iraq, acknowledges all of the above. “Already it is late, perhaps too late, to prevent Syria from becoming the new Afghanistan or Yemen, home to rabidly anti-Western jihadis,” he writes. But no matter – chemical weapons have been used, and “U.S. prestige is on the line.” He asks: “Why should anyone, anywhere, take Obama’s threats (or for that matter, his promises) seriously if he does nothing here?”
While Obama clearly painted himself into a corner with his talk of a “red line” – Heather Hurlburt, the executive director of the National Security Network, told me she thought the statement was “more aspirational than operational” at the time – the idea that we simply must launch a large-scale military campaign that’s unlikely to end well because of something as nebulous as “credibility” boggles the mind.
Perhaps if we used plain language to discuss these kinds of military actions – contemplating “bombing the Hell out of Syria” rather than using a bloodless euphemism like “intervention” – there might be less zeal for armed conflict among mainstream pundits. That’s a conversation worth having. |
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