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Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson revealed Wednesday that his Virginia home was recently vandalized with “hateful rhetoric about President Trump.”
“More recently our home in Virginia along with that of a neighbor was vandalized by people who also wrote hateful rhetoric about President Trump,” Carson wrote on his Facebook page. “We were out of town, but other kind, embarrassed neighbors cleaned up most of the mess before we returned.”
Carson posted the anecdote as part of his response to the “racial and political strife emanating from the events in Charlottesville last weekend.”
He also told a story about a time he and his wife purchased a farm in rural Maryland. He said one neighbor put up a Confederate flags. Other neighbors responded by putting up American flags, he said.
“In both instances, less than kind behavior was met by people taking the high road. We could all learn from these examples,” Carson said. “Hatred and bigotry unfortunately still exists in our country and we must all continue to fight it, but let's use the right tools.”
Last Saturday, a driver rammed his car into a crowd of counter-protesters decrying what was believed to be the country's biggest gathering of white nationalists in at least a decade, in Charlottesville. The crash killed Heather Heyer, a legal assistant from Charlottesville, and injured 19 others.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon says it has recovered additional remains of Army Sgt. La David Johnson, who was among four U.S. soldiers killed in the African nation of Niger in October.
Bodies of three of the soldiers were found the same day they were ambushed; Johnson’s body was found two days later. The Pentagon said Tuesday that a military investigation team found additional remains of Johnson on Nov. 12 at the site where his body had been recovered a month earlier.
The Armed Forces Medical Examiner positively identified the additional remains as those of Johnson, and family members were notified.
The Pentagon did not provide details about the additional remains or indicate how the discovery might advance the overall investigation, which is expected to be finished in January. |
As governor, Romney tripped up gay parents When Mitt and the law were at odds, he acted in the pettiest way imaginable
Mitt Romney has been all over the map on gay rights. In 1994 he promised to run to the left of Sen. Ted Kennedy and more recently he's settled on the position that a constitutional amendment should ban gay marriage. At first glance, it looks a lot like another one of those issues where Romney has no real position and is willing to say whatever’s expedient.
However, a story in today's Boston Globe suggests that he does have a real opinion on gay parents raising children. When Romney was governor, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court made the state the first to legalize gay marriage. The Globe reports that since gay couples having children offended his sensibilities he made their lives difficult.
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The state Registry of Vital Records and Statistics said it needed to revise its birth certificate forms for babies born to same-sex couples. The box for “father” would be relabeled “father or second parent,’’ reflecting the new law... [Romney] rejected the Registry of Vital Records plan and insisted that his top legal staff individually review the circumstances of every birth to same-sex parents… Divisions between the governor’s office and state bureaucrats over the language on the forms and details about the extraordinary effort by the Republican governor to prevent routine recording of births to gay parents.
As a result, gay women attempting to obtain birth certificates for their children could encounter delays, while gay men seeking parental rights sometimes had to obtain them by court order.
A confidential memo from a state agency to Romney’s general counsel obtained by the Globe clarified the stakes:
The changes also would impair law enforcement and security efforts in a post-9/11 world, she said, and children with altered certificates would be likely to “encounter [difficulties] later in life . . . as they try to register for school, or apply for a passport or a driver’s license, or enlist in the military, or register to vote.”
Romney fought to complicate the lives of infants. Is this part of an ongoing war on babies?
h/t Towleroad |
“I fought Planned Parenthood and we stopped the sale of baby body parts,” said Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) in a recent ad announcing her run for Senate.
Under ordinary circumstances, that line might be politically controversial — Blackburn was referring to her work with a House panel on fetal tissue research that one Democratic member of Congress called “an inappropriate and wasteful misuse of federal resources.”
But Blackburn’s statement became part of a different kind of controversy on Monday after it got her campaign ad blocked by Twitter.
Though Blackburn’s claim that she “stopped the sale of baby body parts” is certainly inflammatory, Twitter’s decision to block the ad is surprising since the service has often been slow to ban abusive and threatening users. Twitter has explained that it has different, stricter rules for advertisers than for ordinary users. But critics of the move argue that by banning the ad, Twitter has simply given its message more power.
Blackburn’s claim about “baby body parts” goes back to a series of hidden-camera videos
To understand Blackburn’s claim, you have to go back to 2015, when an anti-abortion group called the Center for Medical Progress released hidden-camera videos of Planned Parenthood employees discussing fetal tissue research. Such research is legal, and researchers say it is helpful in developing treatments for diseases like HIV and Parkinson’s disease. However, it is illegal to sell fetal tissue for a profit.
The Center for Medical Progress claimed the videos showed “Planned Parenthood’s sale of baby body parts.” In fact, although the videos did include matter-of-fact discussions of fetal tissue that were off-putting to some viewers, they did not provide any proof that Planned Parenthood sold fetal tissue for a profit. Planned Parenthood officials make clear in the videos that fetal tissue, which abortion patients can opt to donate for medical research, is not a source of profit for the organization, and that clinics only accept reimbursement for the costs of tissue collection, which is legal.
The videos were edited to make Planned Parenthood look worse. The Center for Medical Progress released longer videos it described as “full footage” as well, but Planned Parenthood has said there is evidence these videos were edited as well.
Activists at the Center for Medical Progress were able to meet with Planned Parenthood employees by posing as representatives of a fake tissue procurement company. According to Planned Parenthood, the fake company went so far as to set up exhibits at Planned Parenthood conferences.
David Daleiden, the founder of the Center for Medical Progress, has faced a number of criminal charges as a result of the videos. In Texas, he was charged with tampering with a government record (for making a fake driver’s license to deceive Planned Parenthood employees) and attempting to buy human tissue. Those charges were later dismissed. In California, Daleiden and an associate were charged with 14 felony counts of recording people without their permission and one count of conspiracy to invade privacy, according to the Los Angeles Times. A judge dismissed some of those charges, but in July, prosecutors filed new ones.
Though the videos were recorded under false pretenses, they inspired a real reaction. At least a dozen states launched investigations into Planned Parenthood, but none of them found any wrongdoing, according to the Los Angeles Times. Several states moved to strip funding from the organization. And the House formed a panel, chaired by Blackburn, to look into the handling of fetal tissue nationwide.
In a report issued in January, Blackburn and the other Republicans on the panel concluded that a number of organizations “may have been profiting from the sale of baby body parts” and noted that they had asked state and federal authorities to investigate further. They also argued that fetal tissue was not important for medical research. The report recommended banning federal funding for research on tissue from aborted fetuses, stripping federal funding from Planned Parenthood, and enacting a 20-week abortion ban.
Democrats on the panel, meanwhile, charged that it was essentially a sham. “By all appearances,” Emily Crockett wrote at Vox last year, based on the Democrats’ report and her own reporting, “Republicans on the select committee have abused their subpoena power to intimidate doctors and medical researchers, flouted House rules and traditions, and used shoddy evidence to promote a predetermined, partisan conclusion instead of making any genuine efforts at fact-finding.” In Science, Meredith Waldman challenged the panel’s conclusion that fetal tissue had little medical use, noting that medications for rheumatoid arthritis, cystic fibrosis, and hemophilia have been created using fetal tissue.
And some were concerned that the panel’s tactics — especially requesting the names of individual fetal tissue researchers and abortion clinic employees — could endanger people. “Not only do I believe that this panel is an inappropriate and wasteful misuse of federal resources, but I am gravely concerned that it also puts researchers, providers and patients across this country at risk,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), according to the Tennessean.
Twitter had a reason for its decision — but that doesn’t mean it was a good one
Of course, none of the above really explains why Twitter would ban Blackburn’s ad. The service decided to block the ad, according to the Associated Press, because the comment about “baby body parts” was “deemed an inflammatory statement that is likely to evoke a strong negative reaction.” That’s hard to argue with. But Twitter has been repeatedly criticized for failing to ban abusive and threatening users. Last year, Leslie Jones received an onslaught of racist and abusive tweets, and while the service has made changes, any regular user knows that racist, sexist, and anti-Semitic insults are disturbingly common.
So why block Blackburn’s ad? The explanation, according to Twitter, is that the service has different rules for paid ads than for ordinary user tweets. “Twitter provides a platform for its users to share and receive a wide range of ideas and content, and we greatly value and defend our users' ability to express themselves,” the company’s advertising policy reads. But because of Twitter’s targeting options, “advertisers on Twitter have the power to reach an audience beyond the users who choose to follow their account." With greater power comes greater responsibility — Twitter requires advertisers to adhere to stricter standards than users, and reserves the right to ban ads that include “inflammatory or provocative content which is likely to evoke a strong negative reaction.”
A spokesperson for Twitter confirmed to Vox that while the promoted tweets containing Blackburn’s ad were banned, Blackburn was still allowed to tweet the ad from her ordinary user account.
Twitter’s move here appears consistent with its advertising policy. But critics argue it will have the opposite of the intended effect, directing more attention to Blackburn’s message. Sahil Kapur, a political reporter for Bloomberg News, called the move essentially “an in-kind contribution to Marsha Blackburn’s campaign.” Twitter’s decision certainly resulted in widespread media coverage of the ad — at the Washington Post, Politico, and elsewhere — which it might not have otherwise received.
The ban also gave Blackburn the chance to fire back at “Silicon Valley elites,” whom she accused in a fundraising email of “trying to impose their values on us.” “I’m being censored for telling the truth,” she wrote in the email, according to Politico.
Twitter has reportedly banned ads in the past — the anti-abortion group Live Action said earlier this year that the service had blocked their ads because Live Action’s website and Twitter feed included “sensitive content” like images and videos of abortion procedures. As Tracy Jan wrote at the Washington Post at the time, “companies have the right to set their own guidelines, even if it means blocking ads promoting controversial political or social issues.”
But Twitter may find that it needs more specific guidelines where political ads are concerned. After all, nearly all ads for political candidates will “evoke a strong negative reaction” from someone. |
Advertisement Walker defends job-creation efforts in light of new ranking Data shows Wisconsin ranked 36th nationally in private-sector job creation for 2015 Share Shares Copy Link Copy
Gov. Scott Walker on Wednesday defended his job-creation record as governor, even as Wisconsin continues lagging the national average.That latest figured from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released Wednesday shows Wisconsin ranked 36th nationally in private-sector job creation for 2015. In the first five years of Walker as governor, the state has added just over 168,000 jobs. He promised to add 250,000 jobs in four years.Walker said he never made any promises about state rankings, and he noted that all the jobs lost during the recession have been recovered and Wisconsin's job participation rate is higher than the national average.He said Democratic state lawmakers calling for a special session on job creation have "no credibility on that issue" and are being hypocritical.Get the WISN 12 NEWS app |
If citizens cannot question the EC, please tell us who can? And what should citizens do, pray to the EC? — P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) 1508740704000
had hit out at the Congress for questioning the election body +
In Gujarat RS elections, Congress complained to EC before counting began. There was only one count, no recount. Ask EC. — P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) 1508740690000
NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Monday demanded to know that "if citizens cannot question" the Election Commission (EC), should they "pray" to it."If citizens cannot question the EC, please tell us who can? And what should citizens do, pray to the EC?" asked the former finance minister.He was responding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi , who on Sundayfor not announcing the Gujarat poll schedule with that of Himachal Pradesh."The Congress has no moral right to question the EC," news agency PTI had quoted Modi as saying.Referring to the recent Rajya Sabha polls in Gujarat in which Congress leader Ahmed Patel won, the PM had said that the former had done "something, after which a recount took place in which they won.""In the recent election, votes were counted and TV channels were showing who is the victor, but they (Congress) did something, after which a recount took place in which they won," Modi had said. "Those who won in the recount are now asking the Election Commission why Modi is going to Gujarat."Chidambaram reacted to this accusation by saying that "Congress complained to EC before counting began. There was only one count, no recount. Ask EC."This is not the first time Chidambaram has taken to Twitter to question the delay in the announcement of dates for the state elections.In a sarcastic jibe on Friday, he had tweeted: EC has authorised PM to announce date of Gujarat elections at his last rally (and kindly keep EC informed).The Congress, too, in a press conference today, accused the EC and the BJP of 'plotting' to allegedly delay the Assembly elections in Gujarat. |
“I’m sorry, America,” writes Andrew Huszar, formerly of the Federal Reserve, where from 2009-2010 he was in charge of “Quantitative Easing” — also known as “buying huge amounts of bonds with money created by the Fed for that purpose.” (For a good explanation of what that actually means, you might want to check out this Planet Money piece from 2010.) In an opinion piece published by the Wall Street Journal, Huszar concludes that QE (as the cool kids call it) was (and remains) a mistake.
Of particular interest is the following:
Despite the Fed’s rhetoric, my program wasn’t helping to make credit any more accessible for the average American. The banks were only issuing fewer and fewer loans. More insidiously, whatever credit they were extending wasn’t getting much cheaper. QE may have been driving down the wholesale cost for banks to make loans, but Wall Street was pocketing most of the extra cash.
QE was never what you might call popular, but this dude actually ran the program. And he’s really not happy with the result. Or with the decision to go for a second round of QE, known as QE2, rather than face the dismal music.
Because QE was relentlessly pumping money into the financial markets during the past five years, it killed the urgency for Washington to confront a real crisis: that of a structurally unsound U.S. economy. Yes, those financial markets have rallied spectacularly, breathing much-needed life back into 401(k)s, but for how long?
Ominous.
[Wall Street Journal] |
Do television commercial advertisements sometimes seem louder than the shows they accompany? TV stations are prohibited from boosting the average volume of commercials to levels beyond the programs they accompany.
FCC rules for loud TV commercials are based on the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act.
Adjust your settings
If you are experiencing spikes in volume with both programming and commercials, you may be able to change the settings on your television or home theater system to help stabilize overall loudness. Many televisions and home theater systems have features to control loudness, such as automatic gain control, audio compression, or audio limiters, that can be turned on to provide a more consistent volume level across programs and commercials. These functions usually need to be activated through the equipment's "Set Up/Audio" menu.
Some commercials with louder and quieter moments may still seem "too loud" to some viewers, but are still in compliance because average volume is the rule.
Filing a complaint
The FCC does not monitor programming for loud commercials. We rely on people like you to let us know if they think there's a problem. If you have experienced what you believe is a violation of the rules regarding the loudness of commercial TV ads, you may file a complaint with the FCC at no cost.
What to include in your complaint:
If you watched the commercial on pay TV (cable or satellite) or if you watched it on a broadcast station
The name of the advertiser or product promoted in the commercial
The date and time you saw the commercial
The name of the TV program during which it aired
Which TV station (by call sign and/or channel number and the station's community) or pay TV provider transmitted the commercial
If you watched the commercial on pay TV, the channel number on which you saw it and the cable programmer or network
Print Out
Loud Commercials and the CALM Act Guide (pdf) |
Hamilton Police found a 15-year-old girl working as an escort in a downtown apartment building in mid-December and have brought three prostitution-related charges against a 27-year-old woman in connection with the girl's work.
On Dec. 17, police heard the 15-year-old was missing, and found her three days later. She told investigators that she had been working as part of an escort service "for a few weeks."
Police arrested a 27-year-old Hamilton woman on Friday and laid three charges against her: "Material benefit from sexual services", "Exercise control/Person under 18 years" and "advertising sexual service."
While police say they have no specific statistics about teens being lured into prostitution, Karen Smith, executive director of the Community Child Abuse Council, said the incident is alarming.
"We have obvious concerns about buying or obtaining sexual services from a minor and about anyone benefiting from that activity," Smith said. "By law, children can't consent to sexual activity."
Police say these are the first charges they have laid under new federal prostitution laws, which took effect Dec. 6. It was already illegal to facilitate prostitution with a minor, but police took advantage of the chance to charge the 27-year-old with the offence of "advertising sexual service" under the new law, said spokesman Stephen Welton.
Welton didn't say whether the charges carry more weight or larger sentencing potential. The investigation is ongoing.
Police also wouldn't say whether the teenage prostitution incident represents any kind of trend in Hamilton.
"In regards to statistics about this (ex. age range or number of teenagers involved in the sex trade industry in Hamilton), we do not have any specifics to provide," said Hamilton Police detective Sara Martin, who focuses on vice, drugs and human trafficking. "We will continue to analyze these types of crime as we move forward."
Smith said she hopes the police intervention means the young woman involved can "get the help she needs."
"It's a good reminder of the importance of teaching young people their rights," she said. "And it's a call to action for any community for adults to listen, observe and act so that our youngest citizens are kept safe." |
Identity politics is an instrument of division and a stew of contradictions. Curiously or otherwise, this thought emerges out of the one of Donald Trump’s many flare-ups, his current denunciations of the judge hearing the case of the university that bears Trump’s name.
I’ll not focus on that as such, but the controversy has called into play remarks made by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor during her confirmation hearings, on her “special” qualifications as a judge. She challenged the notion oft-cited by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sandra Day O’Connor, women both, that “a wise old man and a wise old woman would reach the same conclusion when deciding cases.” In their eminent view, sexual differences do not obscure reason or disoblige justice.
“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life,” Sotomayor said. Call it the Sotomayor principle: you’re better because you’re different. Elsewhere in that same address, she nailed the point even more strongly: “Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences … our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging.”
This Sotomayor principle holds that ethnic and sexual considerations plainly offer an advantage, a superiority. The wise Latina woman, because she is a woman and Latina, would by the mysteries of identity, be a better judge, reach a “better conclusion,” than a “white male.” Something attaches inescapably to her biology and race, her personal sex and ethnicity, that lifts Sotomayor above, proves her as more competent or wise, than (the natural counterpoint and foil of all identity politics arguments) “a white male.”
If sex and race, in one instance, improve the judging mind that possesses the “right” combination, it is surely the case that in other circumstances, they will restrict and degrade it. To argue otherwise would be sexist and racist. Surely, the engine of “difference” doesn’t drive in one direction only, doesn’t belong to just one sex, or select ethnicities? Are we not then free, as Sotomayor was, to imagine a circumstance in which a “wise Caucasian male with the richness of his experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a Latina woman who hasn’t lived that life. ” And if we are, her observations are null, since there is nothing “special” as such to any one race or sex.
The Sotomayor principle, an identity politics principle, is just a rephrasing of the blind theory that biology is fate, and geography, birthplace, is its handmaiden. It is a regressive principle, one that places unpassable frontiers on human understanding and empathy.
This is the kind of sterile, vapid, chauvinistic alley identity politics draws you into. If we start claiming special and exclusive intellectual and moral capacities because of one’s race or sex, offering those capacities as intrinsic to race and sex, then have we not merely put a happy face on the repulsive and core ideas of racism and sexism?
Allied with this understanding is an added one — that sex and background “bestow” or “endow” these special advantages, and that they exist and are available only to those within the sacred circles of sex and race. For example, the numerous assertions from feminists that woman (and only woman) can understand women’s circumstances, that certain experiences are intellectually and empathetically “closed” to all males. In this sense, identity is a prison, a zone impenetrable to those outside its walls, an unshareable, unbridgeable chasm between sets of human beings.
All this forgets two obvious considerations. One, that we are all human, and two, that we — at least most of us — try to educate ourselves
Under identity politics, people can never reach into an understanding of those who are different from them, which is, rather explosively, the absolute undermining of diversity philosophy: that diversity broadens and enriches and expands our moral and political boundaries by the blend and interaction of all our different selves.
Under the dogmas of identity politics we can never really share, never really see others, or have a real understanding and sympathy for a fellow human being. Simply by virtue of belonging to a different caste, a different racial mix, or an opposing sexuality, we are cut off, isolated from our fellow human beings. Every man, or woman, is an island after all. To understand another we must be the same as another.
Which is behind the underthought insistence that all public and private institutions must always make sure they are “representative.” That there must always be on a board, panel, commission or court, persons who come from the specific set and subset of each chosen category of race and sexual orientation. How, after all, could a female judge from Ontario possible rule in a case on man from B.C? Since there is no possible overlap of experience, sex, or background, because there is such a void between the two, obviously we need more male loggers on the bench, or more female judges with chainsaws in B.C.
All this forgets two obvious considerations. One, that we are all human, and two, that we — at least most of us — try to educate ourselves. Instead of diving into the defining boxes of race, sex, orientation and sealing the lids, why not start at the higher level of what all of us have and are in common: we are human, we have moral faculties, we are gifted with the capacity to lead ourselves out of our narrow, restrictive particular facts of circumstance and race. We transcend our local boundaries through education and reflection.
Why not remember, too, that we all share on this planet the common heritage of collective history, the cross-fertilization and harvest of all the great and good people who preceded us. The combined wisdom of philosophy, history and science doesn’t come with sexist or racist tags: every race and people of both sexes have added to our common inheritance, and that inheritance, with application and study, is open to the heads and hearts of every human being. Diversity, as it is narrowly understood, and the identity politics that has grown out of that narrow, corrupt understanding, breeds identity politics — which is a form of collapse of our common humanity.
National Post |
Palestinian security forces say they arrested two suspected Islamic radicals in the burning of a Christmas tree in the northern West Bank.
A Palestinian security officer said Friday the suspects set fire Wednesday to the tree in Zababdeh, a Christian majority village near Jenin. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he isn’t authorized to speak to reporters.
He says both suspects are under investigation for possible ties to extremist Islamist groups. He also says Palestinian security forces arrested Wednesday about a dozen suspected radical Islamists in Bethlehem.
Christians make up about 2 percent of the West Bank population.
Palestinian assailants attacked Israelis in three West Bank incidents Thursday as visitors flocked to Bethlehem for a subdued Christmas Eve. The attackers were shot and killed by Israeli security forces.
Last Update: Friday, 25 December 2015 KSA 15:27 - GMT 12:27 |
In late 1993 and early 1994, Keith Ellison and I were both deeply involved in politics and policy, he as a civil rights lawyer and radio talk-show host in Minnesota, and I as legal counsel to a United States senator. During that time, Louis Farrakhan’s national adviser, Khalid Abdul Muhammad, gave a speech at Kean College in New Jersey in which he attacked Jews, Catholics, homosexuals, and others in the most shocking and violent way.
Here’s a sample of what Muhammad had to say in that speech, which he delivered Nov. 29, 1993, about the Holocaust:
You see, everybody always talk about Hitler exterminating 6 million Jews. … But don’t nobody ever asked what did they do to Hitler? What did they do to them folks? They went in there, in Germany, the way they do everywhere they go, and they supplanted, they usurped, they turned around, and a German, in his own country, would almost have to go to a Jew to get money. They had undermined the very fabric of the society.
And there was worse. I returned from a vacation to read a copy of the speech the ADL had left in my Senate inbox together with its New York Times full-page ad denouncing it. It so shocked and disgusted me that I stalked across the hall to my boss, Sen. John Danforth of Missouri, and asked what he thought of calling for a “special order” on the Senate floor; a block of time for members to make statements reacting to Muhammad’s speech. Known to his colleagues as “St. Jack,” Danforth was not only a senator, he was an active Episcopal priest, the author of the Civil Rights Act of 1991, and the legislator responsible for creating a permanent Holocaust Memorial Commission, leading to both America’s annual “Days of Remembrance” and the Holocaust Memorial Museum on the Mall in Washington.
I waited silently while Sen. Danforth read the speech. Finally, he looked up. “I don’t want a special order,” he said grimly. “I want an up-or-down vote. I want it now.” I rushed back to my desk and called the Senate cloak room to tell them what was coming.
I also called Rep. Kweisi Mfume’s office leaving an urgent message. Mfume chaired the Congressional Black Caucus, and I didn’t want to blindside the members. A few months earlier, in September 1993, the CBC had entered into what it called a “Sacred Covenant” with Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam for which it had been roundly criticized. Muhammad’s speech was so grotesquely beyond the pale that some members of the CBC had already distanced themselves from it. I thought the caucus deserved a chance to distance itself officially before the pressure that was likely to follow. Then I started drafting.
Moments later, the usually easygoing senator appeared at my desk to see what I had come up with. After all, this was alien territory—Sen. Danforth had also been Missouri’s attorney general, and this was a vote to condemn what we both knew to be constitutionally-protected speech. “Just give me what you have now,” Danforth said. I printed out my rough first draft, typos and all. He looked at it and said, “This works. Let’s go.” Then he strode out of the room to the Senate floor. I lingered just a moment to ask my colleagues to keep trying Mfume’s office, then I ran out after the senator.
As soon as we arrived at the Senate floor, I headed for the cloakroom. A number of messages were already waiting from offices that wanted to join with us. Suddenly I got a frantic message from my office—I was receiving personal threats from CBC staffers. I called one, trying to explain that this was not an attack on them; that had I been trying to hurt them, I would have just ambushed them. The response was a stream of invective-laden threats, and then the line went dead.
Sen. Danforth, along with four other Republicans and five Democrats as co-sponsors, offered the resolution: “To express the sense of the Senate that the speech made by Mr. Khalid Abdul Mohammed [sic] at Kean College on November 29, 1993 was false, anti-Semitic, racist, divisive, repugnant and a disservice to all Americans and is therefore condemned.”
It passed the Senate 97-0. Three weeks later, a more detailed and explicit bipartisan companion resolution was offered in the House by Holocaust survivor Rep. Tom Lantos. It passed 361-34.
Keith Ellison and I were then both 31 years old. He was on record as defending Farrakhan’s anti-Semitism since at least 1989, under the alias of Keith Hakim. But unlike the CBC, which immediately suspended its ties with the Nation of Islam after the vote, Ellison apparently saw no reason to rethink his position. In fact, he continued to identify with Farrakhan and work actively for the Nation of Islam for years after Muhammad’s speech.
In 1995, Ellison himself organized a rally featuring Muhammad—still an outspoken racist and anti-Semite—at the University of Minnesota. Muhammad apparently brought his A-game to the rally, promising that “if words were swords, the chests of Jews, gays and whites would be pierced.”
In 1997, Ellison defended a member of the Minneapolis Initiative Against Racism who said that Jews are “the most racist white people.” In his remarks, Ellison also defended America’s most notorious anti-Semite. “She is correct about Minister Farrakhan,” Ellison insisted. “He is not a racist. He is also not an anti-Semite. Minister Farrakhan is a tireless public servant of Black people…”
In fact, Ellison continued to publicly defend Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam through at least the year 2000, by which time he was serving as a Minnesota state representative. But in 2006, while running for Congress, Ellison evidently had second thoughts about the usefulness of the main public affiliation he had maintained from his early 20s into at least his late 30s, when, responding to concerns voiced by the Jewish Community Relations Council, he claimed that his only involvement with NOI was during an 18-month period supporting Farrakhan’s October 1995 “Million Man March”; that he was unaware of NOI’s anti-Semitism; and that he himself never held nor espoused anti-Semitic views. Most of that is demonstrably false, the remainder begs skepticism.
Today, Ellison still traffics in libels and lies, but about the Jewish State—a form of anti-Semitic propaganda that, unlike calling Jews “bloodsuckers” or blaming them for the Holocaust, is now socially and politically acceptable on the left. There are rules to this game, of course. Thus, on a trip to Israel in June 2016, Ellison tweeted a photo of a sign, hung on a residential window in Hebron, that labeled Israel being guilty of “apartheid.” Ellison’s comment reinforced the libel.
In July 2016, at the Democratic National Convention, Ellison participated as a featured speaker in an event held by the anti-Israel group U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation—part of an alliance of anti-Israel groups, such as American Friends Service Committee, Students for Justice in Palestine, and Jewish Voices for Peace, who all promote the BDS hate campaign against Israel. Ellison also emerged as a key player in trying to make the Democrats’ official platform more antagonistic to Israel. [Update, Nov. 22, 4:00 p.m.: In response to publication of this piece, Rep. Ellison issued the following statement: “I have long supported a two-state solution and a democratic and secure state for the Jewish people, with a democratic and viable Palestinian state side-by-side in peace and dignity. I don’t believe boycotting, divesting, and sanctioning Israel helps us achieve that goal. I supported the Democratic Platform, which embraces this position.”]
It is clear that Ellison trafficked with incredibly virulent, open anti-Semites and supported and defended them until it became politically inconvenient. Then he lied about it—and once in office, he decided to target the Jewish state. Ironically, one of Ellison’s Democratic defenders, Steve Rabinowitz, acknowledges Ellison’s poor record on Israel—in addition to agitating against Israel’s blockade of Hamas-ruled Gaza, Ellison was one of the very few members of Congress who opposed aid to repair Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system in a 395-8 vote. Rabinowitz gamely if patronizingly explains Ellison’s role on the Democrats’ platform fight thusly: “He fell in with a bad crowd.” So, is Keith Ellison an anti-Semite? I don’t know. But collaborating with the enemies of Jews and Israel does seem to be a lifelong habit.
Perhaps Ellison was running with the same delinquent crowd in 2012, when halfway across the country from his own district in Minneapolis, he worked to unseat pro-Israel New Jersey Congressman Steve Rothman—a fellow Democrat—in a nasty primary fight that pitted the district’s Arabs and Muslims against its Jews, and where Rothman’s support for Israel was explicitly the issue. The candidate supported by Ellison, who came to the district to campaign at a high-profile event at a mosque, was also supported by a local Hamas sympathizer and other Israel-haters. What could have motivated Ellison to go to such great lengths to try and defeat a sitting member of his own party?
Personally, I don’t care if Ellison ever did or still does hate Jews. He’s entitled to love and hate whomever he wants. What worries me is that a leading member of the extreme anti-Israel wing of the Democratic Party is poised to become the party’s chairman. What disturbs me is that the mainstreaming and elevating of this man—who, at the very least, is clearly more enthusiastic about Louis Farrakhan than he is about the State of Israel—is being done with the support of Sen. Chuck Schumer, and of organizations that claim to represent the interests of American Jewry.
It is also hard to miss the fact that these same politicians and groups are now diverting attention away from actual threats to a campaign of politically-motivated fictions and calumnies directed against Donald Trump, a man who has spent decades supporting an impressive array of Jewish causes and of the State of Israel—and whose daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren are Orthodox Jews. Trump’s daughter Ivanka chose to join the Jewish people, and she did so by all accounts with the approval and full support of her father. Perhaps Keith Ellison, despite his associations and activities, is secretly a great friend of the Jewish people and the State of Israel, and Donald Trump, despite his friends and family, is secretly the raving anti-Semite his detractors allege. But even the most extreme partisan would have to admit that the evidence for either proposition is quite thin. In fact, the ADL and friends have also had to withdraw their accusations of anti-Semitism against Trump’s adviser Steve Bannon and Breitbart news, which briefly flourished after Trump’s win, since they could not point to any actual evidence that either charge was true: In fact, Bannon and Breitbart have demonstrably been among the most dedicated supporters of the State of Israel and most vociferous opponents of BDS and campus hate in the America media.
Why is such a stance necessary? During the Obama years, real anti-Semitism—grotesque libels and actual violence—grew dramatically around the world. In Europe and the Middle East victims of Islamic terror were deemed “innocent victims”—unless they were Jews, in which case they were somehow combatants in a righteous struggle. Here in America, for the first time in our lives, as Obama and Kerry’s “Israel is our misfortune” rumblings grew, we heard rabbis and Jewish leaders—including ADL’s previous chief executive—discuss in agonized tones how the world was beginning to resemble the 1930s. Under Obama, for the first time, we witnessed older Jews huddle after synagogue for hushed debates about whether there was anywhere left for Jews to run now that America was growing inhospitable and Israel was being put under the existential threat of nuclear annihilation. Younger Jews became hesitant to wear yarmulkes on campuses and on the streets.
Donald Trump didn’t pave the way for Iran—a country that quite literally and repeatedly promises to commit genocide against Jews—to acquire a nuclear bomb. Nor did Trump and his close aides seek to demonize his opponents as “wealthy donors” and “warmongers” with loyalties to a foreign power. Nor did Trump ally the United States with Iran in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. President Barack Obama did all these things, and he did them openly, with hardly a peep from the same people who now pretend to fear for their lives under Donald Trump.
Who knows? Maybe reasonable people can differ about these things. But here’s another thing to consider: The people who vouched for Obama to the American Jewish community are now vouching for Rep. Ellison, while condemning Donald Trump and his advisers for the sins of stoking hatred and anti-Semitism that Obama demonstrably committed, and the Democratic Party is now hoping to induce our community to forget.
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Jeff Ballabon, CEO of B2 Strategic, is Chairman of Iron Dome Alliance, and a Senior Fellow at the Center for Statesmanship and Diplomacy. |
Fiction
Julia Richards
www.lablit.com/article/840
I always say that starting your day not smelling of the lab rat droppings in a medical building’s stairwell is one of life’s greatest pleasures
It was one of those days when you somehow forget how horrendous being a graduate student is.
The sun was shining and the co-eds were dressed extra sluttily as I walked across campus on my way to the laboratory with a decided bounce in my step. There might have even been a smile on my face as I flung open the door of Clinical Research Building 4. I strode in full of scientific ardor, much as I imagine Archimedes must have felt when he entered the bathroom with the king’s own crown.
My mood was further bolstered by the fact that only three of the building’s four elevators were out of service, and the fourth only took about 20 minutes to get me to the ninth floor. I always say that starting your day not smelling of the lab rat droppings in a medical building’s stairwell is one of life’s greatest pleasures. I didn’t even bother to stop in the student breakroom for my usual hour or two of coffee and departmental gossip. The prospect of beginning my day with some polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis somehow didn’t seem as soul-crushing as the last 672 times I had done it. Straight to lab and scientific glory!
The sight that met my eyes upon entering the lab chilled my brain to its very cortex. My lab’s Principle Investigator, John Ukridge, Associate Professor of Biochemistry, was standing in front of my bench with a bottle of acrylamide in his hands.
“Tom!” he cried. “I know you’ve been busy with your statistical analysis whatsit, so I thought I’d take on the business of getting a really cracking, publication-quality gel for this paper figure.”
Luckily, the man was so busy spilling acrylamide everywhere that he was oblivious to the fact that I had doubled over and was clutching the nearest lab bench for support. Perhaps his vision was also impaired by the lab goggles he was wearing, an ancient pair from a time when it seems eye protection meant 12 inches of chicken wire suctioned to the upper half of your head with an industrial-strength elastic band.
It always amazes me that these fellows who get tenure and never come within 50 feet of a scientific laboratory again hang on to their lab memorabilia with the tenacity of a bulldog. They genuinely believe they will at some point need their slide ruler from 1972. I had been working for Ukridge for six years and I don’t think I had ever seen him out of his corner office in the comfort of his ergonomic office chair in front of his hand-carved mahogany desk.
After about five minutes of gasping at Ukridge waving around that bottle of acrylamide, I managed to recover my composure enough to respond to his steady stream of babble.
“Oh!" I heard myself say. "I thought we had already agreed to put the gels in the supplementals and not in the paper itself.”
My voice sounded unnaturally high and full of terror, but I kept going. “We agreed that all the controls and samples we needed wouldn’t fit on a single gel. We were just going to run multiple gels and put the quantification in a graph instead. You remember that graph, don’t you? I spend quite a bit of time putting that together. It’s more informative than anything else would be.”
Ukridge was now rooting through the fridge. He threw a rack of samples I had spent the last two days preparing behind him carelessly.
“Tom,” Ukridge said to me as he stepped over the remnants of a large glass bottle he had just broken, “I don’t think these controls are all that important, do you? Quantification is so…so…unsexy. Scientists today are too busy to be crunching numbers and looking at p-values. I say just show people some nice figures and then tell them what it all means!”
It was hard to argue with his logic. After all, it was this kind of logic that had got him a professorship at a top research university. As he began mopping up a puddle of blue Coomassie dye with a pile of latex gloves, I slowly backed out of the room. Clearly, I needed coffee. Unfortunately, the only thing in the breakroom coffee pot was the congealed mess that inexplicably forms at the bottom every time Ukridge tries to use the machine. He must have gotten in early today.
I decided to see if I could sneak into the well-funded Immunology department and purloin a cup from their espresso machine. It’s a bit tricky to get in there sometimes because Immunology likes to barricade its amenities behind several doors requiring keycard access and a guy in a security guard uniform who sits at a desk and stares at passers-by. I’ve found if you stride confidently behind some student with the appropriate credentials, it’s easy enough to get by this polyester-jacketed Cerberus. I was halfway through the door a smartly-dressed med student was helpfully holding open for me, when I heard a voice behind me.
“Tom! Stop!” someone yelled loudly. It was loud enough for the security guard to start awake and notice me. I could see defeat hovering in the air as the door began to creep closed. Just a moment of hesitation on my part and the smartly-dressed med student had disappeared ahead of me, the prospect of organic, shade-grown coffee vanishing with her.
I turned around and discovered the voice belonged to one of the two people standing before me: my labmates Mike #1 and Mike #2. They had just joined the lab as first year grad students – young, moonfaced things still in thrall to our professor, and seemingly able to materialize anywhere in the building to do his bidding.
“Dr. Ukridge needs you back immediately. His gel won’t set,” said one of the Mikes. (I try to know as little as possible about the new lab members, so they won’t ask me for help. I would have avoided knowing their names but they all seem to be called Mike.)
“He says you must have mislabelled the reagents,” added the other Mike.
To calm my burgeoning rage, I tried to remember back to when I was the age of these gravel-brained brownnosers. I was probably almost as big a ninny as these two prepubescent bootlickers who think professors were scientific geniuses of the first order. With the steady tread of a man mounting the gallows, I allowed myself to be led back to the lab.
When we arrived at the door, I saw the fridge door was still open and its contents strewn across the lab. The high temperature alarm was beeping rather loudly but Ukridge was busy with the gel casting apparatus.
“Oh, Tom!” the pestilence said upon seeing me. “These gels don’t seem to be hardening. Do you think it’s too warm in here? I asked the maintenance people to turn up the A/C. I had to yell at them a bit, but they did it.”
A fairly vigorous Arctic blast was now coming out of the air vents, which did give me some hope for the contents of the fridge. It seemed the entire room might reach 2-8 degrees Celsius in the next three minutes. With a burst of reckless energy, I decided to attempt to reason with the man.
I started, “Well you know, sir, we don’t really pour these gel thingamajiggies ourselves anymore. We get a good price from the stockroom and there’s a box of ten of them on the top shelf of the refrig – I mean, right here on the floor.”
“Oh, Tom! We can’t be wasting our money on something a child could make. Now do you think this has gone bad? Its expiration date is May 2018.”
“Well you know, sir, it’s actually not that straightforward to pour a gradient. I’m not sure children –”
“Tom! Not one more word about these factory-made gels. What about this TEMED chemical? I tried adding about 100 times the amount in the protocol.”
“Well you know, the ammonium persulfate solution needs to be made fairly often. I don’t know how lo –”
“Ammonium per-what? What are you talking about?
“Well you know, sir, the catalyst? For the polymerization? It should be here in the protocol.” I pointed to the page of The Molecular Cloning Handbook he had open, which now seemed to be covered in something green and viscous.
“Oh! I don’t believe I've used that before. When I was a grad student, I poured four gels a day and we never used a catalyst.”
Again, I found it hard to argue with his logic, and as it was almost lunchtime, I thought it was time to give up and look for some grub. I mumbled something about a going to a seminar and hoofed it before Ukbridge could get out the words 'sodium dodecyl sulfate'.
The only seminar going at noon was one in the Biophysics department about actin and cell motility and all that nonsense, but pizza was being served so I went down for two slices and an hour-long nap in the back of the auditorium. Afterwards I went to get some cookies at the Cell Biology student talks in the med school and snuck into a university fundraising cocktail hour. By the time I got back to the building, the fourth elevator was broken again. And by the time I climbed the nine floors to lab, it was practically time to go home.
I approached the lab with caution, taking the time to peer around the corner with the camera on my cell phone. There was no sign of that tenured bane of my existence so I headed into lab.
“TOM!” a loud, familiar, inane voice bellowed behind me. I’m generally a bit of an atheist, but I could see my optimistic hubris of the morning walk to work had really offended the gods.
“Oh…Dr. Ukridge? Was there something you wanted?” I tried to arrange my facial expression from 'psychopathic murderous rage' to something more neutral.
“Tom! I just submitted the paper online! I realized we didn’t need another gel! It’s a great paper! Great work!” he exclaimed. He slapped me on the back and, before I could move or respond, he disappeared behind the doors of the elevator, which must have started working again.
I had never before heard him sound so enthusiastic about this paper in the five long years I had been working on it, combined. He usually told me to do one more experiment or to take that experiment out of the draft because it might slightly contradict one of the earlier experiments. Come to think of it, the current draft was probably almost identical to the draft I wrote five years ago.
I’m not a very philosophical fellow but there’s probably something in that. Something one of those Greek fellows wrote about how the examined life is not worth living.
I headed back into lab and started putting things back in the refrigerator. |
Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has hailed former manager Roberto Mancini and confirmed he expects to announce his replacement in the next two weeks.
Malaga coach Manuel Pellegrini has been linked with the manager's post at City for some time but he confirmed on Friday there is still no done deal between himself and the club. However, Al Mubarak has now set a timeframe for the new appointment and the criteria the club is looking for ahead of next season's bid to regain the league title.
"We have a wonderful team running this process internally (to select a new manager) and are putting a very comprehensive process in place," Mubarak told mcfc.co.uk. "They have created a shortlist of managers who fit that criteria and we are pretty much done. We are very close. I expect to make an appointment probably in the next two weeks."
He added: "We obviously want sustainable success for this club and (picking the manager) is absolutely the most important decision for a football club.
"The type of person we would like running our football team is someone with great man-management capability and the ability to get the best out of the talent we have, get the best out of the youth we have and establish and continue a systematic approach from the youth team to the elite team and reserves."
Whether the man to fit the role will be Pellegrini remains to be seen after the 59-year-old Chilean spoke earlier this week of having a "verbal commitment" with the Sky Blues.
He stressed, though, that no contract had been signed, something he reiterated on Friday at a press conference where he was previewing Malaga's Primera Division final-day away clash with champions Barcelona tomorrow - a game he has already announced will be his last with the Andalusian club.
Asked if he had reached an agreement with City, Pellegrini said: "Not yet. Next Monday we will see where I go. On Sunday I finish my contract here with Malaga and on Monday we will start to see where I go next season."
Al Mubarak was clear with his reasons for wanting a new man in the City dugout after a mostly frustrating season. "We all felt it was time for a change," he said. "Our expectations were to come in and achieve more and move forward.
"I don't think we have achieved that this year and that is why we have to re-focus this summer on getting us back on track and again to winning ways. We are a club that has been designed to win Championships. We are here to win, to play beautiful football. Roberto has done a great job for the club and everybody associated with Manchester City should be deeply appreciative of everything Roberto has done for this club."
Source: PA |
The French ruling class have cynically used the recent terrorist attacks as an excuse to clamp down on any dissent whatsoever across the country. The attacks by ISIS have been used opportunistically by president Francois Hollande, the most unpopular president since the 1950s. Increasing austerity and the deepening crisis has led to tensions reaching boiling point, as seen with the recent dispute at Air France, where bosses were chased out of their offices by workers facing redundancy. Although the declared aim of the State of Emergency is to combat terrorism, the French state has wasted no time in seizing the opportunity to attack those on the left.
The State of Emergency gives exceptional powers to the French State, including the prohibition of all demonstrations; the right to set curfews; powers to limit the movement of people; and the power for the police and security services to act without any judicial authority. This is the first time such powers have been granted, since a group of army generals attempted a coup d’état in 1961.
It is as if Christmas has come early for the French police, who began a campaign of terrorising environmental activists ahead of the COP21 Climate Conference in Paris this month. Not content with banning the mass demonstration against climate change, part of a worldwide protest on Sunday 28th November, the police raided the homes of numerous activists, arrested them, and placed them under strict controls.
Thousands Defy Paris' State of Emergency to Sound the Alarm on Global Climate Crisis https://t.co/TQ0yQv6Ezq pic.twitter.com/ubZb4lVAkX — Democracy Now! (@democracynow) December 1, 2015
One raid in the city of Rennes, saw the police burst into the home of six left wing activists, armed with shotguns and assault rifles. The residents were violently pinned to the ground, before being issued with restraining orders. The terms of the orders prevent them from leaving their city, and require them to register with the police three times a day. On top of this, they are not allowed to leave their home between 8pm and 6am. Such police terror is to be expected in China, but has no doubt come as a surprise to many in “democratic” France.
Despite this, thousands defied the protest ban on Sunday, and marched on the streets of Paris against climate change. They were met with the full might of the French state, who launched tear gas and sound grenades at the protestors. Although the bourgeois press blames the police response on “violent anarchists”, videos from the protest clearly show the police attacking peaceful protestors and journalists with batons and tear gas. By the end of the day, 341 people had been arrested.
Thus the smiling mask of bourgeois democracy has been lifted to show its true face. In the name of “fighting terrorism”, the ruling class are seizing the opportunity to attack workers and youth who are prepared to speak out. This is a taste of things to come as the class struggle heats up. It shows that all the talk of “liberté, égalité, fraternité” is hot air, when the ruling class feels that it must defend its interests, such “niceties” are brushed aside. Workers and youth must organise to resist these attacks, and build a movement for socialism that can finally do away with the oppressive bourgeois state entirely. |
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When we last reported on Blade Runner 2, we heard that Ryan Gosling was in talks to star alongside Harrison Ford in the upcoming sequel to Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi movie. Since that time, things have been quiet, although we’ve spoken with Blade Runner 2’s director Denis Villeneuve (Sicario) and cinematographer Roger Deakins. This past weekend, Steve spoke with Gosling for the actor’s new film The Big Short, and got casting confirmation.
First up, here’s the video:
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Gosling was pretty tight-lipped about the whole affair. He said that the participation of Villeneuve and Deakins encouraged him to sign on along with the script, but joked “there’s a chip in me and if I say anything more I’ll explode if I say anything else.” However, he did add that it’s the next film he’s planning to shoot.
He had a bit more freedom to talk about a movie that’s already wrapped, Shane Black’s The Nice Guys. The 1970s noir stars Russell Crowe as a hired leg-breaker who teams up with a private eye (Gosling) in order to solve the case of a missing girl and the seemingly unrelated death of a porn star. Gosling didn’t have any details, but did praise his writer-director and co-star:
“I don’t know what to say. It’s Shane Black. He’s a world unto himself. His world is so fun and crazy. I had such a great time. Russell Crowe is so funny in the movie. I can’t wait for people to see that in the movie. It’s not a side of himself that he shows very often, but he’s hysterical.”
As a die-hard Shane Black fan, I can’t wait to see how Gosling and Crowe handle Black’s signature dialogue and pacing. The Nice Guys opens May 20, 2016, and also stars Kim Basinger, Matt Bomer, Cara Delevingne, Keith David, and Beau Knapp. |
When the discussion turns to female body parts, it seems the clitoris always gets the shaft.
So says Nadine Gary, the spokeswoman for "International Clitoris Awareness Week," a 7-day celebration to a part of the female body that's shrouded in mystery.
"The clitoris is a magnificent organ that has been ignored, vilified, made taboo, and even considered sinful through antiquated, patriarchal religious teachings," Gary told The Huffington Post. "It's time to give it the attention it deserves as the only organ with an exclusive sexual pleasure function."
The first "Clitoris Awareness Week" was organized last year by Gary's group, Clitoraid, a Las Vegas-based group helping victims of female genital mutilation around the world.
That is a serious issue, but Gary wants the focus of "Clitoris Awareness Week" to be on the pleasure that is derived from the organ.
"We found that whenever something has an 'awareness day,' it makes it more comfortable to talk about," she said.
Various events are taking place around the world; most of them are "girls night out" parties where women meet to talk about what the clitoris means to them.
In Las Vegas, members of her group taped interviews with people about the clitoris.
"Men are eager to talk about it," Gary said. "Women are a little shy."
In Chicago, one Clitoraid follower is walking around the city in a giant vulva outfit. On Saturday, Miami members will create a giant sand vulva on the beach of Biscayne Bay.
For Gary, the climax takes place Tuesday in the African country of Burkina Faso, where Clitoraid has built something called the "Pleasure Hospital".
The hospital does clitoris restoration procedures on women who've been subjected to genital mutilation rituals.
"We've done 38 operations so far since March and these women are going to speak about their newfound pleasure," she told HuffPost.
The clitoris has not been taken seriously by medical science until relatively recently when Australian urologist Dr. Helen O'Connell mapped it completely eight years ago with an MRI device, Gary said.
The way that the clitoris is ignored or vilified rubs Gary the wrong way.
"We've noticed that the clitoris has not gotten its spot in the limelight. It makes people feel uncomfortable," she told The Huffington Post last year. "The clitoris doesn't have a reproductive function so it can be minimized. It's up to eight inches long -- same as a penis -- but it's inside."
Gary's also behind "Go Topless Day," which protests laws banning bare breasts and "Swastika Rehabilitation Day," which was designed to remove the Nazi stigma from the ancient symbol.
Gary purposely decided that Clitoris Awareness weeks should be held the first full week of May, which just happens to be National Masturbation Month. |
Eating Out? 5 Tips on How to Avoid GMOs
I am completely devoted to not consuming Genetically Modified Organisms, or GMOs, to the best of my ability.
It is difficult because even crops that have not been approved for genetic alteration are still becoming tainted by GMO test crops, as is the case for wheat, according to Market Watch.
I personally find it a worthy commitment. GMOs are potentially very damaging to our health as well as to the health of our environment. Avoiding consumption of GMOs has health benefits and a positive impact on food distribution and farming practices.
GMOs are incredibly pervasive at this time. It is estimated that 80 percent of the food consumed by Americans has been genetically modified, according to ucbiotech.org. I find this statistic frightening, considering that along with this consumption comes a lack of awareness. There are currently no laws in the United States requiring labeling of genetically altered foods, in spite of GMOs being banned in more than 60 other countries, according to the Non-GMO Project.
How can a concerned American navigate this minefield?
Personally, I rarely eat out. However, this approach is akin to abstinence. Most working Americans need to purchase prepared food at some time each week. It can seem daunting, but a little preparation and perseverance in the beginning can help you to carve out an almost GMO-free zone for yourself.
Eating Out Guidelines
1. Search
Fire up those search engines and find out which restaurants in your area serve organic foods. This is truly easier in some cities than others. If you live in New York, Berkeley, or Los Angeles, you are in luck. Elsewhere will take some legwork. Organic certification does not allow for the use of GMOs. Just be sure to talk to the owners or managers to get an idea of their level of commitment.
2. Go Ethnic
Try to think of ethnic foods that do not include the known GMO crops (sugar beets, corn, soy, canola, zucchini, and papaya). This is sad, personally, as Vietnamese and Thai foods are my favorite. But most Asian restaurants use a lot of soy, and if it isn’t organic, then you can bet that it’s GM soy if the soy products were grown in the United States. Authentic Indian food is an option as it is often cooked in clarified butter, but, again, know your ingredients.
3. Talk to Owners
Again, speak to the owners of any restaurant you are interested in to get a clearer picture. Many are willing to make concessions to keep their customers happy.
4. Beware of Hidden Ingredients
It may be easy enough to avoid the actual food items that are known to be GMOs, but it is important to know what type of cooking oil the establishment is using. Most use canola oil. You may ask the restaurant if they can use another oil to cook your food, like olive oil or butter. However, I would also recommend avoiding non-organic butter, as most conventionally farmed cattle are fed GM corn—another issue entirely. You also want to watch out for ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup, soy lecithin, and soy protein, which can lurk in sauces and dressings.
5. Think Simply
Simple ingredients help to make eating GMO-free a simple task. For example, a nice Italian dinner could consist of wheat, olive oil, seafood, and tomato sauce. A simple dinner of fish and vegetables is another healthy option.
Avoiding GMOs is no small feat, but a decidedly important one. Questioning restaurants about their practices and ingredients can seem like a chore, and many times is met with annoyance. However, creating this dialogue with restaurant owners is an important step towards changing the use of GMOs. Consider that if every week a restaurant is being asked about its use of GMOs, that restaurant may realize this is something people care about and may make changes.
April Reigart is a certified holistic health coach and graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She does private and group coaching, and lectures monthly to a Web-based fitness group. |
What kind of madness is this? Is Disney planning some sort of global entertainment takeover? MTV Geek comes through with this piece of news and says that Disney and Hasbro are in serious talks to buy this big company.
By “Geek Spy”
OK folks, take this one with a grain of plastic for the time being. Unless you’ve been under a rock, you’ve heard that Disney acquired Lucasfilm for roughly $4 billion last week and Marvel for around the same price a few years prior. Well, we have it on good authority that serious discussions are happening at the highest levels of both Disney and Hasbro to fold the largest toy and game company on the planet into the Mouse.
From what we’re told, these are still just discussions at this point, but serious enough that something could be announced at any time and create ripples throughout the entertainment industry. The Lucasfilm acquisition has been reported as taking as few as 6 months to complete. On the other hand, Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger has until 2015 on his current contract, and he waited about 3 years in between the acquisitions of Marvel and Lucasfilm, so we may be without firm news on this for some time.
The acquisition would give Disney the rights to Transformers, G.I. Joe, Dungeons and Dragons, Beyblade, Battleship, Nerf, and Magic: The Gathering among several dozen other game titles and IP. When you add Marvel and Star Wars to that list it’s a pretty comprehensive lock on boy’s entertainment; a far cry from a few years back when Disney was heavily criticized for losing its grip on boys.
Hasbro holds the toy and table top game licenses to the now Disney-owned Star Wars and Marvel, and has shown great success with those franchises, as well as exploiting their own IP across film, television, and games. We’ve already seen some cross-pollination with Star Wars Transformers and Monopoly. And Hasbro isn’t shy from M&A having scooped up Parker Brothers, Kenner, Tonka, Milton Bradley, and Wizards of the Coast over the years. So from an outsider’s perspective this makes a ton of sense for all involved.
So if this turns out to be true, what will it mean for these franchises and their homes, and what will it mean for The Hub, the Hasbro-Discovery JV cable net?
The Transformers and G.I. Joe films are with Paramount, but as we saw with Marvel, that could easily change. The animated series are with The Hub, along with Beyblade, Kaijudo, and others, and it’s not clear how that channel would fit into Disney’s plans. They could be folded into Disney XD, and the girls brands folded into Disney Channel. On the comics’ side this would be bad news for IDW, just as the Marvel acquisition was for BOOM! and the Lucasfilm acquisition is likely to be for Dark Horse.
But here’s hoping to a Marvel vs. Star Wars vs. Transformers vs. G.I. Joe vs. D&D vs. Bronies video game! (So yeah, this means Disney would also own My Little Pony, and there would be plenty of cross-over material there, too.) |
The PlayStation 4's only model at launch contains a 500 GB hard drive, but users can swap out the storage for a hard drive of any size, a Sony representative confirmed to Polygon today.
Sony is continuing a trend from the current generation: Every model of the PlayStation 3 included a user-replaceable 2.5-inch hard drive.
The Xbox 360 hard drive is replaceable, but only with a proprietary Microsoft unit, not any standard 2.5-inch drive. The same is true on Xbox One, but the upcoming console will allow users to plug in a USB external hard drive that can be used for the same functions as the internal drive, including game downloads and installations.
You can read up on more details about what's in the PS4 console and box here. |
Sad news from Uppsala: during a routine police check Storvreta’s star center Alexander Rudd was caught driving under the influence in a sobriety test. The DUI (Driving Under Influence) will have far stretching consequences for the player.
In a press release, Storvreta IBK stated that last Thursday Alexander Rudd was caught driving above the legal limit during a routine check (above 0.02 per mil in Sweden). Storvreta ‘takes the matter very seriously’ as it is a criminal offence as well as a breach of Storvreta’s alcohol and drugs policy.
After confirming the course of events a Support & Action program will be launched for Alexander Rudd with immediate effect. Furthermore, Rudd has to follow the program in its entirety.
Lastly, Alexander Rudd will be barred from training and matches until further notice.
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Annette Bening, in Venice to preside over the film festival’s competition jury, said Wednesday at the festival’s opening press conference that female filmmakers needed to concentrate on making movies with broad appeal in order to raise their profile in the industry.
Asked to comment on the dearth of female directors represented in the competition — only one of the 21 films is in competition is helmed by a woman — the American actress avoided criticizing the festival directly, saying that she “didn’t count the number of films that were directed by women….I didn’t approach it that way.”
But, she added, “as women, we have to be sharp, shrewd and creative in what we choose to make. Sexism does exist and there is no question about it. But things are changing.
The more we can make films that speak to everybody, the more we will be regarded as filmmakers,” she said, adding that she knew a lot of veteran and new filmmakers who are struggling to get their movies made “whether they are men or women.”
Bening, who spoke alongside festival director Alberto Barbera, is the first woman to preside over Venice’s competition jury since 2006. At on point, she turned to Barbera and asked how many movies he had watched to come up with the selection. Upon his reply that 2,000 films had been watched, Bening laughed and said: “Wow, I can’t imagine what it would be like!”
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The actress acknowledged that there was still a long way to go to achieve gender parity, and not just in the film world. She said she had just visited the Venice Biennale, where she discovered the work of a woman who was listed as a feminist artist. “It made perfect sense that she was listed as a feminist artist,” she said, “but if a man had made the same drawings he would not have been labeled a feminist.”
Bening ended her comments on an optimistic note, saying she was confident the “direction we’re going [in] is positive.”
Barbera was asked about the selection of two titles from Netflix — “Our Souls At Night” and two episodes of “Suburra” — that will screen on the Lido, following the widespread backlash in May that the Cannes Film Festival’s artistic director, Thierry Fremaux, faced upon selecting two Netflix movies for that festival’s competition roster. The controversy resulted in a new rule demanding that all films in competition at Cannes must have a theatrical release in France.
Barbera noted that Venice premiered Netflix’s “Beasts of No Nation” in 2015 and “nobody had anything to say about that.”
He added that the “Cannes episode” was due to a law that “doesn’t exist in any other country,” a reference to France’s release schedule, which doesn’t allow subscription-based streaming services like Netflix to access films for the first 36 months after their theatrical release.
Barbera, who has addressed the issue of Netflix several times over the last few months, said it was not the role of a festival to discriminate against a movie because of where its production originated or where it was to be distributed.
“Netflix and Amazon are now major players in producing and distributing films…and they’re investing a lot of money in these films,” Barbera said.
“If directors like Scorsese or the Coen brothers decide to work with them, I don’t see why festival directors should discriminate against [certain films] simply because they’re not going to be distributed in theaters.” |
Elephant Seal Reproduction
Elephant seal rookery. (GA image)
Having one of the most spectacularly visual (to humans) reproductive habits of all the marine mammals, the elephant seal reproduces during winter. Every year they migrate back to the beaches where they were born (and where they molt during the summer). During reproduction, these beaches are called rookeries.
Alpha male on beach flipping sand to insulate itself from the heat or cold. (GA image)
The males arrive first, hauling out on the beaches and establishing territories. The mature males (those with the proboscis and cornified chest) are called the "alpha" males and establish the best and largest territories.
Three alpha males on the beach, each with their own territory. (GA image)
Early in the season the alpha males may spread apart easily but as the season progresses there is rarely enough room on the beach for all the mature males and fighting takes place to establish the strongest alpha males as the "beachmasters" (harem masters).
A typical male elephant seal fight - threatening, vocalizing, and lunging. The winner remains with the submissive looser crawling away. (GA images)
Elephant seal males fight with threats, vocalizations, and lunging to establish their territory. A threat is when a male raises up on his front flippers. This is followed by vocalizing into the proboscis. Subordinate males will immediately lie down and thus a hierarchy is established. If two alpha males are in the same area and do not move apart with the vocalized threats then they will physically fight by lunging at each other, using their cornified chests as a protective shield. This may result in blood-shed but rarely results in any real physical damage. Eventually one animal will give up, lie down and move away from the "winner's" territory.
Male elephant seals vocalizing with the loud 'clap-threats.' (GA images)
After a period of approximately a month the alpha males are spaced across the beach (now called a rookery) according to their ability to maintain their territory. Subadult males may be on the beach as long as they are submissive and stay lying down. Weaker males are pushed to the edges of the rookery.
Defeated male leaving the territory of a 'beachmaster.' (GA image)
Juvenile males arrive and practice mock battles. (GA image)
Juvenile males arrive with the alpha males and practice fighting in mock battles. These practice fights rarely end in any injuries and are usually short. Notice that these males lack the fully grown proboscis and the cornified chest.
Mock battles may include threat posture, bending, growling and submission. (GA images)
Most females come ashore after the territories are established. (GA images)
The females begin to arrive as the territories are establishing. Some arrive early in the midst of the fighting but most arrive after the territories are well established. Once an alpha male has his territory defined and females start arriving he will not leave the beach even to feed (it may be several months). At the height of the breeding season a strong alpha male may have a harem of a dozen or more females surrounding him and with whom he will mate. After giving birth, the females will remain on the beach with their pup for three to five weeks.
New elephant seal pup, only hours old. (GA image)
Pups are born right on the beach. There is little warning of a birth as the expectant mothers are just lying around in their harems. The first announcement of a birth is usually a group of sea gulls that almost instantly fly to the new birth and eat the afterbirth. Newborn pups are easily distinguished from older pups, not only by their smaller size, but also, by the fact that they have 'fetal folds,' creases along their sides from being curled up in their mother's womb. Most of the pups are born during a period of a week or two but some pups are born early in the season.
Gulls announcing a new birth in the harem. (GA images)
A flock of gulls often announces an elephant seal birth. The gulls flock to a newly born baby within seconds and attack the afterbirth on the beach. The mother will then move around to face her baby, vocalize with it (they bond vocally) and defend it from nearby animals.
New elephant seal pup with umbilical cord still attached. (GA image)
Elephant seal pups nursing. (GA images)
Pups will nurse for three to five weeks after their birth. Elephant seals have extremely rich milk and the babies gain weight daily. The milk is very thick, similar to pudding.
Harem moms do little except sleep and feed their babies. (GA image)
As the season progresses almost all females in the harem will have their babies. A few of the early babies may be bigger than the others but, because of delayed implantation (see 'delayed implantation' four paragraphs further) most babies have nearly the same birthdate. (GA images)
If a colony is disturbed (by an airplane swooping down or people scaring them) during the time babies are on the beach, the adults may be so afraid that they race to the water and may accidentally squish and kill the babies. In the United States there are strict laws against disturbing any marine mammals so this rarely happens. In fact, some of the rookery areas are right next to highways and humans hiking along the cliff-tops seem to have almost no impact on the Elephant Seals.
Male elephant seal trampling a newborn. (GA image)
Babies may also be trampled when the males begin mating with their harem.
Elephant seal mating. (GA images)
Mating occurs about three weeks after females give birth. They will mate with the male who has defended their harem from attack by other males during the nursing period. The mating is often very loud as the females bark when the male bites their neck and pins them down. After mating the females will leave the beach, thus weaning their baby. They will swim far out to sea to eat.
Elephant seal mating. (GA images)
Many pinnipeds have 'delayed implantation' which assures a yearly reproductive routine no matter what the gestation period is. Elephant seals have this delayed implantation which means that no matter when the females mate (early or late in the season) the fertilized egg does not implant and begin development until the fetus will be full term the next winter. This allows a lot of flexibility for mating times and means that most babies will be born within a few weeks of each other the next year - on the beach, after the harems are established.
Elephant seal harem with all babies nearly the same age. (GA image)
Sneaker males hang out along the periphery of the rookery and try to mate when the harem master is asleep or busy. It is believed that only about one percent of all male elephant seals actually get to mate during their life. Males have a very hard life and live a considerably shorter time than the females.
Sneaker male. (GA image)
The babies left on the beach are very fat. They are often called "weaners" and may lay around on the beach for a month or so until they get hungry. At the end of the reproductive season (about two months after it began with the arrival of the males), all of the adults leave and it is only the weaners left on the beach. Then the weaners take to the sea to feed and the beach is empty … until the animals return the next summer to molt.
A big baby ... well fed, almost a weaner. (GA image) |
So long, Betsy Wetsy. Baby dolls just got a whole lot more real.
Put her on her little pink plastic toilet. Press the purple bracelet on Baby Alive Learns to Potty. "Sniff sniff," she chirps in a singsong voice. "I made a stinky!"
This season's animatronic Baby Alive -- which retails for $59.99 -- comes with special "green beans" and "bananas" that, once fed to the doll, actually, well, come out the other end. "Be careful," reads the doll's promotional literature, "just like real life, sometimes she can hold it until she gets to the 'potty' and sometimes she can't!" (A warning on the back of the box reads: "May stain some surfaces.")
The mess made by the $39.95 Little Mommy Real Loving Baby Gotta Go Doll, ("Over 60 phrases and fun sounds!") is more hypothetical. Once she is placed on her little toilet, a magnet triggers a presto, change-o in the plastic bowl: "The 'water' in the toilet disappears, with the expected 'potty waste' appearing in its place," says manufacturer Mattel. "Your child can then flush the toilet. The 'water' will reappear, while the toilet makes a very realistic flushing sound!" And then comes the applause.
The dolls, which are being heavily advertised on television, are expected to be the season's big sellers. Since the dolls were introduced to stores this fall, managers at Wal-Mart, Target and Toys R Us have reported trouble keeping them in stock. And Baby Alive, listed as one of the Hot Toys of 2008 by Hottoys2008.com, was sold out at Wal-Mart, eToys.com and the AOL shopping site a week before Christmas.
But not everyone thinks dolls need to be this real. Some things, they argue, are better left to the imagination. This battle over whether pooping dolls are an appropriate toy is only the latest skirmish in a long war between child development experts and toymakers. Psychologists say the best toys encourage children to pretend and use make-believe (witness the fact that children often love the boxes their expensive toys come in more than the toy itself). But toymakers want to use the latest technology to make and sell ever-more realistic toys. (Baby Alive's movements are the result of sophisticated robotics controlled by the same kind of microprocessor that navigates satellites and runs nuclear power plants.)
"Retailers have bought heavily into these dolls," said Reyne Rice, trend specialist with the Toy Industry Association. "They feel that these are some of the more popular items for girls this year." Although most baby dolls are sold in the last six weeks of the year and firm sales figures won't be available until early next year, Rice said indicators look good for big Christmas sales.
The buzz is on parent online discussion groups across the country. As with the Tickle Me Elmo and Cabbage Patch Kids crazes of Christmases past, one mother was so distraught that the pooping dolls were sold out online just after Thanksgiving that she prepared to rise at 5 a.m. to scour stores in a 100-mile radius of her house.
At a Toys R Us in Northern Virginia last week, Salma Bangoura filled her shopping cart with stainless steel pots and pans for her 7-year-old daughter's play kitchen. Her daughter desperately wants the Baby Alive, she said, and Bangoura is considering buying it for her for Christmas. "She wants the toilet," she said, shrugging. "It's so interesting. It comes with its own food. It's not gross, as long as it's not real."
But at a Target not far away, Gay Hee Lee, shopping for her 2-year-old niece, picked the Baby Alive box off the shelf only to quickly put it back. "That," she said, "is just so wrong."
Perhaps here is where one needs to ask a question: Does a toilet -- and what one uses it for -- make a good toy?
And, given the boundaries of good taste, is it even a good idea? |
By Tyrone A. Velez
Davao Today
DAVAO CITY – Non-government organizations supporting organic food and farms want local and national laws to ban genetically-modified crops such as the controversial Golden Rice for its detrimental effect to health and farmers’ income.
The Go Organic Davao City and Go Organic Mindanao gathered Thursday at Lispher Inn for a forum with city councilors to discuss the passing of an ordinance to stop GM crops in the city.
Atty. Lee Aurelo of Third World Network said the city needs this legislation to complement the Organic Agriculture Ordinance which the City Council passed in 2010.
“It should be a twin ordinance, as organic farming can’t co-exist with GMO farms because of the effects of pollination from GM varieties that will harm organic farms.”
Aurelo said working with LGUs to promote safer agriculture practices have reaped benefits for farmers and consumers alike.
She mentioned their success with LGUs in Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental and Bohol in passing ordinances against GMOs. “It’s a matter of political will. So why can’t Davao do the same?”
In 2010, the city stopped the UP Mindanao from its field testing of BT talong for failing to consult barangay and city officials. The Court of Appeals also ruled last May banning BT talong in the city.
But Aurelo said the local ordinance does not discount the need for a national legislation such as the Bio-Safety Law that mandates labeling of food and agriculture products that contain GMOs, and accountability of GMO promoters if farms are damaged and people get sick from consuming GM foods.
Besides, she said, there is a tendency for agencies to promote GM crops such as the case of the Department of Agriculture that supports testing of BT talong nationwide.
“This agency has a conflict of interest; it regulates and promotes GM crops at the same time,” said Aurello
Dr. Chito Medina, national coordinator of the farmers support network MASIPAG echoed Lee’s sentiments on the difficulty to lobby for legislation in Congress, especially now that the latter is caught in the pork barrel issue.
Medina raised concern on the Golden Rice variety that is being promoted by the Department of Agriculture and IRRI as a new type of rice. Golden Rice is said to contain beta carotene, a source of vitamin A, which would solve deficiency among malnourished children.
The Golden Rice was developed by Ingo Potrykus in Zurich and Peter Beyer Germany from 1991 to 2000, and bought by Syngenta. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation backed its food testing for US$ 10 million.
The Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) ran field testing of this variety in Camarines Sur, which was recently uprooted by MASIPAG farmers in protest of GMOs.
But the Golden Rice variety faces criticisms. In his presentation, Medina said it has not undergone pre-testing to animals and some testing to humans, or any other safety assessment.
He further said that there is danger in genetic engineering crops as it is “so uncontrollable that each event from single experiment of the same materials results to different variety with unpredictable properties.”
Medina warned that the Golden Rice is a “Trojan Horse to create acceptability of GM crops and food, and the image of biotech corporations is recast as philanthropic and humanitarian.”
He also said BT crops costs a lot for farmers, accounting to 43-48% of their budget or around 60 to 80 thousand pesos.
Medina said Vitamin A deficiency could be addressed by many food sources such as leafy vegetables, carrots, sweet potato and leaves, goat liver, palm oil, and melon. Two tablespoonfuls of carrots can supply the daily needs of b-carotene for an adult.
He said this shows that organic farming provides all the natural benefits to address nutrition concerns.
He further said organic farming also solves “food security and sovereignty not dictated by MNCs, but rather by sound practices of farmers.”
Medina, who joined the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) in 2005 to 2007 said this group stressed the need for “sustainable agriculture” including organic farming as it benefits small farmers.” (Tyrone A. Velez/davaotoday.com) |
Great meditators before us have laid out the path, but how can we be sure we’re following it genuinely? There are no guarantees, but Carolyn Rose Gimian has some tips for keeping it real.
When Lion’s Roar asked me to write an article about how to make meditation practice genuine and real, I wasn’t sure whether to be proud or insulted. Maybe they were asking me because they could see what a fraud I am on the meditation cushion, and they needed someone to write honestly about failure.
Well, guilty as charged. Failure to be peaceful, failure to be mindful, failure to be aware, failure to be kind, failure to think big, failure to be generous (or insert your favorite virtue/ accomplishment I’ve failed at). On the other hand, sitting on the cushion for a lot of years (if I tell you how many, it will be really embarrassing) has yielded some results. I have witnessed a whole circus of bizarre fantasies, emotions, and extreme mental states, starring anger, lust, hatred, delusion, arrogance, pride, depression, anxiety, and a host of other amazing performers. I’ve made friends with Speedy, Distracted, and Lazy, three of the seven dwarfs of meditation for small-minded people. However, I do have one genuine accomplishment: I have gotten completely and totally bored.
Boredom is my great achievement.
Boredom is my great achievement. Isn’t that what you aspire to in your meditation practice? To be totally, fully bored with yourself, your practice, your life, your fantasies, etc., etc., etc.? No?
My topic, the actual topic I was asked to write about, is genuineness. Genuine is a term that is bandied about quite a lot these days, and it can mean many things, depending on the context. Through my search engine, I found that a lot of advertising companies use the word genuine in the title of their companies and websites. Suspicious. I also noticed that popular searches with genuine as the first word were mainly for car parts. If you’re going to drive an automobile, you would like it to have genuine parts, I’m sure. But this was not what I associate with genuineness in spiritual practice.
On the other hand, my word processor tells me that synonyms for genuine include real, authentic, indisputable, true, unadulterated, actual, legitimate, and valid. As far as the practice of meditation is concerned, these sound pretty good. I would definitely like my meditation to be real, authentic, indisputable, true, unadulterated, actual, legitimate, and valid.
Okay, so how are we going to achieve that? And what are the pitfalls? Simple. To be genuine, you have to be honest with yourself first, and then with others. Don’t make anything up. Just do it. Just be it. It’s pretty straightforward. But being honest with yourself is not so easy. There’s a little thing called self-deception that gets in the way.
Now that we’ve introduced that scary word, self-deception, we have our work cut out for us. In the realm of overcoming self-deception, it’s probably better to have no goal in your practice, but that’s a very difficult thing. Since meditation actually works, it’s hard not to have a goal. It actually does make you kinder, more aware, less speedy, happier, more mindful, more efficient, more peaceful, more in the moment, and so on. I’m not belittling these. They are important and valid outcomes of meditation. There are many studies and self-reports that support this. I’m a fan, a true believer. But this doesn’t specifically address genuineness.
In fact, when it comes to being genuine, it may be better to have one of those definite but perhaps limited purposes and let genuineness, which is all-pervasive, take care of itself. Indeed, unwittingly, you do manifest genuineness through the practice of meditation. You become more transparent and available to yourself, your thoughts are less fixed, you discover both natural strength and natural gentleness, and you’re able to see through preconceptions.
I presume you’re all waiting for the but, the pitfall. Here it comes, and it’s a big one. Largely, it’s attachment to credentials.
Sometimes experience comes blessedly, with no connection to credentials. If out of nowhere you have an experience of openness, joy, compassion, or awareness, an experience that doesn’t seem causally connected to anything particular in your life, then it is largely free from credentials. It’s a gift. It’s just what it is. Enjoy it for what it is, while it lasts.
But as soon as you become a “meditator,” whether you have been meditating for one hour, one week, one retreat, or twenty years, you may begin to feel the need to label your meditation experiences and to communicate them to others. That’s the beginning of gaining your spiritual credentials. You’ve just done your first meditation retreat. You go home and tell your family and friends about it: “Oh, it was fantastic. I had a really hard time for a few days, and my body hurt and I couldn’t control my thoughts, but then I had the most amazing (or insert other adjective) experience.” Whatever it was. Well, what else are you going to say? “Nothing happened. It was a complete waste of time, but I want to keep doing this.” Huh? We have positive experiences, and we want to share them with others. That’s an ordinary and acceptable thing to do. Pretty benign.
If we look into our experience, we see that we are very, very confused in some fundamental way. That may be the most authentic realization that comes up over and over in our meditation practice.
A little less benign is that, internally, we are looking for confirmation, signs that something is happening in our practice. We are looking for results, progress on the path. That also may be natural but it’s a little more dangerous because after a while we may tend to manufacture results or jump on things in our practice. If we have a “good” (that is, peaceful) meditation session, we are pleased and we try to repeat that. Another time we are frustrated when our mind is a roaring freight train of thoughts and emotions. Or we are experiencing huge upheavals in our life, yet nothing is coming up when we’re on the cushion. Shouldn’t they manifest in our meditation? We may try to manufacture emotionality and crisis in our practice. There are many other examples of how our expectations manifest in our meditation practice.
All these concerns about our practice and our various meditation experiences are genuine signs of—wait for it—confusion. Actually, the recognition of confusion is quite helpful. Seeing our confusion is an important and, dare we say, genuine discovery. If we look into our experience, we see that we are very, very confused in some fundamental way. That may be the most authentic realization that comes up over and over in our meditation practice. If we are willing to acknowledge confusion, at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end, then the path and the teachings are real, even if we may not seem to be getting anywhere.
Give up any hope of fruition. This slogan from the lojong (mind-training) tradition is another way of putting it. This is the idea of our practice being anti-credential, or free from credentials—through and through, start to finish. That is why boredom, our starting point, is so helpful. It’s really not a very good credential. If someone asks what you have achieved after three days, or three years, or three decades of meditating, it’s not that impressive to say, “I’m thoroughly bored.” To prepare for writing this article, I looked at ads for spiritual paths and retreats, and not one of them said, “Come sit with us. We’ll make you completely bored.”
But boredom is actually a great sign, if it is genuine, complete boredom that includes being bored with your confusion, your anger, your arrogance, your everything, your you. I’m probably letting the cat out of the bag a bit, but if you commit yourself fully to your practice and discipline, you eventually wear out a lot of things—they begin to seem quite unnecessary and quite boring.
I’m probably letting the cat out of the bag a bit, but if you commit yourself fully to your practice and discipline, you eventually wear out a lot of things—they begin to seem quite unnecessary and quite boring.
Boredom is genuinely helpful in ventilating our minds. The point of meditation is obviously not to encourage or enshrine our confusion, so getting really bored with our storylines, positive and negative, helps us clarify our confusion immensely. Of course, the path of meditation is not designed to deter us from commitment, confidence, and positive achievements in life. Meditation is not a nihilistic enterprise. But the approach of collecting credentials rather than wearing them out is problematic. It is very dangerous to try to con buddha mind, hoping to find a shortcut. It’s not dangerous to buddha mind itself, but it may lead to self-deception, the opposite of being genuine.
This is often a problem the longer you have been practicing, especially if you become an instructor or a spiritual model of some kind for others. Then you really feel that you have to demonstrate some accomplishment, and you may begin to panic if you don’t find anything in yourself that qualifies. People are looking to you for advice. They may be watching your every move, or so you think. They may ask you, “What was it like when you were just a beginner like me?” “How did you become so wise, kind, open, generous, blah blah blah?” And you start to think, “Well, I must have accomplished something. Yes, I am wiser, kinder, more open, more generous, more blah blah blah.” You may try to fulfill people’s expectations because you actually want to help them. But you also want to avoid embarrassment.
It is very dangerous to try to con buddha mind, hoping to find a shortcut. It’s not dangerous to buddha mind itself, but it may lead to self-deception, the opposite of being genuine.
The interesting thing is that people actually see right through one another, so really we could relax about the whole thing. It’s an open secret. Or as Leonard Cohen wrote, “Everybody knows.” Everybody really does know their own and others’ little secrets. We know, that is, if we admit to ourselves what we see, what we really know. That perception sees what is truly genuine.
Unfortunately, it’s not so easy to relax with that in ourselves. We have a lot of resistance to simply being ourselves, without pretense or adornment, with all our warts and wrinkles. It is quite uncomfortable. So often we put on a little show for ourselves and others, thinking that’s what is required. We try to give the people what they want. We try to give ourselves what we think we want. It’s actually very sad, and in the long run it doesn’t help ourselves or others. But in the short run, it’s a pretty good con.
But while everybody may know, that’s not a license for telling other people what’s wrong with them or what’s good for them. To do that, you’d have to really know. You’d have to be able to see others not just as schmucks or charlatans, devils or angels, but also as the immaculately genuine human beings they are. That has to start in one’s own practice. Sitting with ourselves without expectation, viewing practice as practice, as life’s work rather than a race to the finish line. In that way, we leave space so that buddha mind, genuine mind, can shine through at the most unexpected moments.
Genuineness is actually that simple. But I have to confess that I fall short most of the time, failure that I am.
A little voice pops up: Give it up. Abandon any hope of fruition.
I yield to the little voice. |
Europe is getting ready to take a small step towards equality. Really, really, really small. More like inching a little toe forward just a tiny bit. But hey, it’s still progress!
San Marino is a tiny little speck on the back of Italy’s knee, population 33,000. The government there is now considering a measure that would allow the country to recognize marriages performed in other countries. It’s a nice little pre-cursor to the inevitable passage of full marriage equality.
This is happening thanks to Frederico Podeschi. He’s long been an advocate for LGBT equality in the tiny little country. Three years ago, he was appointed Honorary Consul to Wales, and founded LGBT organizations benefiting both countries. When marriage became legal in Wales just a few days ago, he and his partner (who is Welsh) were among the first to get married. And now they want to bring their marriage back to San Marino.
The country’s system of government is a little complicated, and almost totally alien to Americans. For the proposal to move forward, it has to be approved by two executive politicians within the next month. Then it gets a vote in a legislative body.
Just two years ago, San Marino passed a bill that allowed foreign LGBT spouses to remain in the country. They didn’t get any other form of relationship recognition, but at least they weren’t deported. So this is a logical next step. |
As we journey towards early 2018, we want to bring you behind-the-curtain of God of War’s development with stories you may not hear anywhere else. This is a new beginning, and a deeply personal quest for the franchise and Santa Monica Studio. We’re very excited to bring you into the heart and soul of our process. Follow us @SonySantaMonica to always stay informed.
A freezing blizzard roars while shadows of wolves can be seen in the distance. A seemingly mysterious mountain looms in the distance while a broken, gigantic statue sits in the middle of a quiet lake guarded by a large creature lingering beneath. These embers of our new Norse universe describe the rich, visual areas Kratos and Atreus will experience in God of War. How was the visual look and feel of our take on Norse mythology defined? It all centers around one defining piece of concept art from acclaimed artist, Jose Peña.
The Visual Foundation
Jose worked as a concept artist here at our studio at the outset of the new vision for God of War. Excited and wide-eyed at the opportunity, he and our Creative Director, Cory Barlog, immediately connected on the new direction, but leaving quite a bit to Jose’s imagination initially.. Unbeknownst to Jose was the immense challenge that would be set before him: create an original defining piece of artwork to set the visual tone of the new direction for God of War. Cory remembered clearly how their first conversation went, “The inception of this very first concept art was from a one paragraph write-up and a phone call with Jose, talking about the mood and the tone. I think I threw a bunch of stuff at him with buzzwords like more grounded; the fact that his son is not a burden; the fact that Kratos and Atreus are together battling a very hostile world. And he was just smiling at the other end of the Skype call, and because of the new direction, we weren’t able to provide him with exact ideas.”
The call ended, and Jose took a deep breath. He immediately started working and delivered several key concept art pieces to the team within the span of a few weeks. Jose made sure to center his first concept art piece on a familiar but older Kratos and his son, Atreus. Little did Jose know this concept art piece would be one of the most valuable and foundational pieces for the new visual direction of God of War.
Cory remembered how amazed he was when he saw the art piece for the first time. He remarked, “The way Jose was able to capture exactly what we were looking for was astounding. He has a grounding in historical illustrations and a desire to dig deep and understand the most about each individual piece. There was so much humanity on top of the mythology and to capture it the first time out was ridiculous.” There was a consensus amongst our small team at the time, Jose had struck gold. Cory said, “This artwork truly became the beacon and lit the path for us. Everything we did – we referred back to this piece.”
Principal Character Artist, Rafael Grassetti was also there the day Jose’s artwork was shared amongst our studio – he was stunned. “This art piece was definitely what everyone had in mind,” Raf commented. “It was a big inspiration for everyone who joined the project and saw this. Jose was the first one to get what we were doing and what we were making. Even on the final color correction, we kept coming back to what Jose was doing here and integrating every single part of this to try and get it closer to what he did.”
Decoding the Artistic Details
Take a second look at Jose’s concept art: what stands out most to you? There are so many layers of intrigue and detail all over the piece to decode. For our team, one central theme immediate to us was defining the relationship between Kratos and his son. Raf explained his perspective on the importance of seeing these two characters framed in Jose’s art, “The first time you see Kratos and Atreus’ relationship, you get it. This artwork sells the connection. You see many other elements, but it’s not the main focus. This is more of a piece between the father and the son.”
“This artwork truly became the beacon and lit the path for us. Everything we did – we referred back to this piece.”
Cory, nodding his head in agreement, pointed to the significance in the characters’ positioning and stances. “You look at this piece, and you see the idea of Kratos protecting the kid,” he said. “Kratos puts himself in between harm and the son as he wants to take the brunt of the first blows. Atreus needs his father, but he also looks capable. You show the son connecting and holding onto Kratos’ arm, but you also see the kid with his knife out. It’s the idea of this parental yet distant relationship.”
The change in landscape and adversaries also presented unique challenges Kratos and Atreus would have to face. Raf noted this particular theme as, “a fight against Kratos’ enemies and adventures.” He commented, “In the artwork, you see the challenges ahead and the goal up top. Everything you do to have to protect the son is an integral part of this adventure. Jose played with the focus of the image to have us, the viewer, understand everything going on yet still have lingering questions about the world.”
Cory looked intently at the falling snow, feeling enraptured by the visual cues that alluded to a different yet somewhat familiar journey. He commented, “The idea of this unforgiving world and the visual tone with the snow, it just makes you feel cold. And there is this adversity between you and your destination at all times. Yet there is this building of unknown origin guiding you to the top of the mountain. That is the promise of adventure in every God of War game, and it still rings true here, even in this different setting.”
“In the artwork, you see the challenges ahead and the goal up top – everything you do to have to protect the son is an integral part of this adventure.”
Tying all of these elements together was the distinctive visual style that made for a fantastical yet grounded filter. Even though this new land may be full of strange, incredible creatures, Jose made the world feel tangible. Cory again reflected on his adoration for the style and its implementation in Jose’s concept art. He stated, “This visual style borrowed from that pre-digital era where everything was optical, like all of those awesome fantasy 80’s movies. They all had this sort of classic, storybook vibe without the super crazy over-saturated colors. There is an element of this storybook fantasy quality in the concept art that you don’t often see in video game visuals.”
From Past to Present
As Cory now looks at Jose’s artwork months and months later, he reflected on the original inspirational art piece of God of War 1 (pictured below). Here, a very early version of Kratos looks out into the desert landscape. Cory contemplated the differences yet also surprising similarities between the two games. He said, “Looking back on God of War 1’s original concept art piece and our current God of War concept art piece, there are these fantastic creative similarities that I think our studio inadvertently shot for but at two different angles.” Cory pointed to the first God of War concept art piece and commented, “Initially, our team wanted this very real and mature take on Greek mythology. But even in that original image, you can see a fantastic destination; a chasm seemingly uncrossable that is preventing you from getting there; and the hostile, iridescent environment against you. And then this warrior looking off into the distance.”
At the same time, Cory noted the key differences between the two art pieces: a maturation of not only the series but Kratos himself. Cory said, “Although the hero’s journey is present in both of the images, I do think there is a sense of growth when you put those images side by side. You see Kratos starting in his youth in the God of War 1 art piece, and in this current concept art, he is now moving towards his middle-aged self – the idea of Kratos taking on this responsibility of parenthood in a different way. He was perhaps too young and impulsive in his early years, which made him make bad decisions, so you see this change and transition in Jose’s art.”
The Journey From Art to Game
A fascinating aspect about game development is the evolution from concept art to gameplay… For instance, Kratos and Atreus’ clothing have been reworked multiple times before final. Raf commented, “The costuming was awesome to see in Jose’s concept art and that they lived in this universe, but when you put that in the actual game, it’s actually hard to see because of the high-paced combat in the game. We wanted to make sure we stay inspired from the piece in terms of the clothing. It was one of the biggest initial challenges we had after seeing the piece and translating the artwork to gameplay.”
Cory pointed out another challenge – Atreus’ hair. In Jose’s art piece, Atreus’ hair is grey, which constantly fluctuated throughout the production. Cory joked about some of the different iterations they played around with since then, “At one point, we went from the grey hair to an interesting render of Atreus having no hair at all. And I was like, ‘Oh, I kind of like that. Very interesting.’ But I think people thought Atreus suddenly looked like Mini-Kratos and was too ridiculous.” These drastic changes to Atreus’ hair, however, were quickly finalized by Jose with the ‘haircut’ into what we see today.
Other aspects of the artwork evolved from the original piece, such as Atreus’ arm tattoos. Although he did not have his bow and arrows just yet, the first signs of his tattoos were shown here, and as Cory described it, “actually allows the kid to have steady aim with his future bow.” Also, Kratos’ base axe model was born from Jose’s concept art. Cory remarked, “Our approach to keep things simple at first allowed us to really hone in on what feels really cool. With the axe, for instance, we started with the straight handle before later adding a curve onto it.”
“Kratos is now moving towards his middle-aged self: the idea of taking on this responsibility of parenthood in a different way.”
The enemies that made it into the final game were heavily inspired by Jose’s concept art as well. Raf created the Draugrs specifically for the first E3 2016 trailer and remembered how much the original artwork helped with those designs. He reminisced, “We did a lot of work on those guys, and when we finished, we went back to this particular piece and thought, how do we make it look more like this? How do we capture of what’s happening here?”
A Journey Like No Other
For Cory, Jose’s concept art reinforced a consistent theme: always strive to make quality work with some of the best creatives in the industry – a thread that has run through all of the God of War games. “If you look back towards the inception of Santa Monica Studio,” Cory said, “we have always been fortunate to have the right people at the right time, like the concept artists that have come through the studio. Each of them have made an impact on this franchise. Their styles were perfectly meshed with where we needed to be and where we needed to go at that time. We’ve had that kind of evolution throughout simply because people were constantly able to look at things a little differently.”
Cory added his sentiments about the entire studio and the leaders he has been fortunate enough to work with. He commented, “All of these guys have had such a tremendous amount of impact on the lens that we see his world through. You really can’t make anything today of this scale without having visionaries like that. So for me, the best part of this whole project is that we’ve been lucky and fortunate enough to find the right people – to find the ‘needle in the haystack’ so to speak.” |
The furry creatures many of us call our best friend may harbor a bug that can, in rare cases, be life-threatening to humans, as one 70-year-old woman from England found out.
Her unusual case is described in the medical journal BMJ Case Reports. The woman first developed slurred speech and became unresponsive. An ambulance rushed her to the hospital where she improved, but four days later she developed confusion, a headache, diarrhea and a high fever, and her kidneys began to fail.
Blood tests revealed she had sepsis, or blood poisoning, which resulted in organ failure. For doctors, her dire condition presented a medical mystery.
A battery of tests finally determined the culprit: a bacterium commonly found in the mouths of dogs and cats, called Capnocytophaga canimorsus.
Doctors sometimes see Capnocytophaga canimorsus infections in people who've been bitten by dogs, but what made the woman's case unusual was that she hadn't been bitten -- when she entered the hospital, she didn't have any bites, scratch marks, inflammation or broken skin.
Pet owners risk getting diseases from their furry friends
She did own a pet Italian greyhound, reported doctors from the Department of Medicine for the Elderly at the University College London Hospitals who wrote up the case report. They titled their paper, "The lick of death: Capnocytophaga canimorsus is an important cause of sepsis in the elderly" because the woman had said she'd petted her dog closely and it had licked her.
Dr. Bruce Farber, chief of infectious diseases at North Shore University Hospital and Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, New York, told CBS News that physicians have known about this bacteria for decades.
"This is an organism carried in the mouths of dog and it causes a very bad sepsis infection. But it's usually in people who are immuno-compromised and usually follows a dog bite. But this is unusual because it was a lick," said Farber.
He said, either way, it's very uncommon. "I've probably seen two cases in 30 years of doing infectious disease."
The authors of the case study said they wanted to flag that a pet's licks can transmit the bacterium, too -- not just a bite.
They wrote, "This report highlights that infection can occur without overt scratch or bite injuries. It also reminds us that the elderly are at higher risk of infection, perhaps due to age-related immune dysfunction and increasing pet ownership."
Kissing your dog: How dirty is it?
As cute as photos and YouTube videos of babies getting "kisses" from their pets are, Farber cautioned parents and caregivers to keep newborns away from dog and cat salvia.
"Dogs shouldn't be licking newborn babies," he said. Their immune systems aren't mature enough to fight off this type of infection. "At about after two to three months, then everything's fine."
Farber said the initial symptoms of Capnocytophaga canimorsus infection -- fever, chills, sweats, lack of energy -- can look like lots of illnesses, but what sets this type of infection apart is that a person rapidly becomes very ill.
The upside is that it's easily treated with common antibiotics. "It is very well inhibited by penicillin and cousins of penicillin," said Farber.
Shelley Rankin, associate professor of microbiology at Penn Vet, had praise for the study authors. "They've done a really nice job of tying everything together with her case," she said.
Rankin assured pet owners infections of this type are very rare. "There have only been about 13 cases reported in the entire United Kingdom, and I'm guessing on a similar scale in the U.S."
However, some deaths linked to the bacteria have been reported.
Rankin said, "In support of all things furry, this is a normal flora in the mouth of dogs."
Farber concurred, "The last thing you want to do is alarm people that they'll be infected if they get licked or kissed by a dog." If there's any concern after a bite, lick or scratch from a pet, check in with your doctor.
Luckily for the woman in the BMJ case report, two weeks of intensive care and antibiotics brought around a full recovery. |
vertical prison
vertical prison by chow khoon toong, ong tien yee and beh ssi cze
evolvo magazine today announced the winners of the 2010 skyscraper competition. first place went to malaysian architectural students chow khoon toong, ong tien yee and beh ssi cze.
studies on prison sentence reveals that post-release offenses were higher after imprisonment. taking criminals out of community and incarcerating them is just a temporary solution. during their time in prison, inmates resocialize into a prison community or rather a crime community instead of rehabilitation; eventually return to the path of crime. the majority of offenses committed are lesser crimes, and these offenders are those with higher chances of rehabilitation.
community too plays a role in helping ex-convicts in their rehabilitation process. yet there is a social stigma towards ex-convicts. in the end, rejections and scorns forced them to go back into the way of crime.
rehabilitation essentially involves both the offenders and community. to achieve this, we propose a prison where the criminals are taken off the street to a place within that community and while serving their sentences, they continuously contribute to that particular community yet remain separated; a vertical prison.
design to separate – a prison without wall the purpose of a prison is to isolate the inmates from society and a prison needs a barrier to do so. a vertical prison does so without a wall, instead it isolates the inmates through height, where jumping off the prison is the only option.
mobility and enforcement similar to the city below, the colony has its own transportation system which allows for law enforcement and other support system such as fire rescue and medevec to be provided by the means of mobile pods. in a riot situation, the armored riot control pod with fast roping capability allow for rapid deployment of riot control team while the armored riot control pod serve as a mobile operation base and observation platform to control and monitor the situation from above. meanwhile, the fire rescue and the medevec pods will move in to provide fire fighting, evacuation and medical support.
a parallel world the inmates will live in a parallel world with the surrounding. they know, see and hear everything that happen in the city, yet isolated by the height. it is similar to penal deportation to a colony above city. in this colony, the inmates work to sustain themselves and support the city below. they live freely in the colony and the city continues to have impact to their life. in the end, it is hoped that they can adapt more easily back into the society.
the relationship between prison and the city in vertical prison system while serving their sentence, the inmates will work to help support the needs of the community, in a way of paying back to the society. each prison is unique to its own context. in a city, inmates undertake agriculture activities to help feed the city or in an industrial area, the inmates help manage and reprocess waste to help the environment.
gradually the tension between safe and unsafe will shift to understanding and eventually the prison will become part of the community. it is hoped that through this symbiotic relationship, the social stigma of a prison would be softened and the society will be more in acceptance of the inmates, giving them a second chance for themselves and also giving society a second chance. |
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This is a tale of two men. Both men had TV shows, both men expressed their opinions. Both men’s employers cut ties with them. But only one inspired outrage for being discriminated against for speaking out.
By now, everyone has heard about Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson. He said some rather hateful things about homosexuals and African-Americans, which prompted the A&E Network to place him on “indefinite hiatus”. This prompted an immediate backlash from conservatives who were apoplectic that Robertson’s First Amendment rights were somehow being violated. This story dominated the news cycle and even launched petitions such as IStandWithPhil.com that argued:
“…the notion that a free-thinking American should be discriminated against simply for expressing a perspective that is in conflict with another is patently un-American and flies in the face of true tolerance and civility.”
In a parallel universe, Dick Metcalf had a similar experience. Metcalf is one of the country’s pre-eminent gun journalists. He was a columnist for Guns & Ammo, and had a TV show on the Sportsman channel called Modern Rifle Adventures. This is a guy with some serious NRA credibility.
However, in late October, Metcalf penned a column titled “Let’s Talk Limits”. In the column he stated, “The fact is, all constitutional rights are regulated, always have been, and need to be.” The column doesn’t advocate for much beyond proper training for anyone having a gun. Still, the column inspired the ire of gun manufacturers who primarily sponsor both the magazine and the TV show on which Metcalf appears. The gun companies threatened his employer that Metcalf needed to be fired or they would take their money elsewhere. And so Metcalf was let go.
So the question is, where is the outrage? Why is there no IStandWithDick.com petitioning for the return of this gun enthusiast? After all, the issue with Robertson was that his right to express his opinion was being stifled… right?
The similarity of these cases, down to both victims being conservative icons of sorts, leaves only one interpretation for the relative silence from the political right over Metcalf’s dismissal. This wasn’t ever about freedom of expression. This was about support for a position. Those rallying for Robertson’s return were behind him because he expressed views about gays and blacks that resonated with them. They supported those positions, but lacked Robertson’s “courage” to say them aloud. Metcalf got no support because he was advocating a position that was anathema to that same group.
This was never about freedom of a man’s speech. It was always about support for a man’s views. I’m all for everyone getting to express their views directly, or indirectly by expressing support for others’ views, but can we at least be honest about our motivations? I have respect for anyone with the courage to stand by their convictions. But it’s simply cowardly to hide your true convictions behind other espoused ideologies you think are more socially acceptable. |
The agreement is an acknowledgement by the Ted Cruz and John Kasich campaigns that neither candidate can overtake Donald Trump before the convention, but that they can still deny him a first-ballot victory. | AP Photo Cruz and Kasich team up to stop Trump
Ted Cruz and John Kasich have begun coordinating their campaign strategy to stop Donald Trump, an abrupt alliance announced Sunday night that includes Kasich quitting his efforts in Indiana and Cruz clearing a path for the Ohio governor in Oregon and New Mexico.
“To ensure that we nominate a Republican who can unify the Republican Party and win in November, our campaign will focus its time and resources in Indiana and in turn clear the path for Gov. Kasich to compete in Oregon and New Mexico, and we would hope that allies of both campaigns would follow our lead,” Cruz campaign manager Jeff Roe said in a statement.
Trump fired back late Sunday on Twitter, writing, “Wow, just announced that Lyin’ Ted and Kasich are going to collude in order to keep me from getting the Republican nomination. DESPERATION!”
He added, for good measure: “Lyin’ Ted and Kasich are mathematically dead and totally desperate. Their donors & special interest groups are not happy with them. Sad!”
Trump followed up early Monday morning with a lengthier statement released by his campaign, calling out both rivals for reverting to "collusion" to stop him.
"When two candidates who have no path to victory get together to stop a candidate who is expanding the party by millions of voters, (all of whom will drop out if I am not in the race) it is yet another example of everything that is wrong in Washington and our political system," he said. "This horrible act of desperation, from two campaigns who have totally failed, makes me even more determined, for the good of the Republican Party and our country, to prevail!"
The new Cruz-Kasich pact is an acknowledgment that neither man can overtake Trump in the race, and both know their best shot at preventing Trump from clinching the nomination outright is to team up to block his path and force a contested convention. And it may still be too late: Trump is closing in on the number of delegates he needs to win the nomination.
The deal also highlights the urgency the anti-Trump forces feel in Indiana, where a strong Cruz performance in the May 3 primary could deny the Manhattan billionaire 57 of the delegates he needs to reach a majority before the Republican National Convention convenes in July. For now, Trump leads in the RealClearPolitics average of Indiana polls by 6.3 percentage points. Cruz is competing hard, however, and supportive super PACs had plans to spend more than $1 million there in an ad buy that included an anti-Kasich spot.
The move allows Kasich to focus on two smaller-market states where his limited campaign cash might have greater impact than it would in Indiana. Kasich ended March with barely more than $1 million on hand.
But it puts Indiana’s handful of pro-Kasich delegates in an awkward spot: defending a decision to back a candidate who is intentionally forfeiting their state. Kasich’s field offices in Indiana are expected to shutter this week, and he canceled his remaning events there.
Tom John, one of those pro-Kasich delegates and a local GOP leader in Indiana, said he has no qualms supporting Kasich at a contested convention despite the strategy shift. “This strikes me as a choice made based on the limited campaign time, and so it made sense for both campaigns to do this,” he said. “Who I support is still about the best Republican option for the fall election.”
Previously, the Cruz campaign had largely refused to acknowledge the Ohio governor’s presence in the race except to dismiss him as a spoiler, and had insisted that only a two-man race between Cruz and Trump would halt the real estate mogul’s momentum.
“Who?” Roe replied last week, when asked by reporters about Kasich.
The Cruz campaign had also previously planned to compete in those states, especially in New Mexico, with a memo from the campaign last month saying data showed that Cruz could win a majority of that state’s delegates.
Also Sunday, Kasich chief strategist John Weaver announced, “We will shift our campaign’s resources West and give the Cruz campaign a clear path in Indiana.”
“In turn, we will focus our time and resources in New Mexico and Oregon, both areas that are structurally similar to the Northeast politically, where Gov. Kasich is performing well,” Weaver wrote. “We would expect independent third-party groups to do the same and honor the commitments made by the Cruz and Kasich campaigns.”
Cruz is well ahead of Kasich in the delegate count, but both currently lag well behind Trump and have acknowledged that at this point their best shot at beating him would come at a contested convention.
“Our goal is to have an open convention in Cleveland, where we are confident a candidate capable of uniting the party and winning in November will emerge as the nominee,” Weaver said in the statement. |
If I could go back to my childhood I would have never waited for rainstorms to flush out all of the earthworms for me to grab, place on leaves, and send down the flooded gutters into the sewers. I thought it was a funny race. But now I wish I could take it all back. Because in tropical oceans there exists a worm that could violently avenge its relatives.
This is Eunice aphroditois, also known as the bobbit worm, a mix between the Mongolian death worm, the Graboids from Tremors, the Bugs from Starship Troopers, and a rainbow – but it’s a really dangerous rainbow, like in Mario Kart. And it hunts in pretty much the most nightmarish way imaginable, digging itself into the sea floor, exposing a few inches of its body – which can grow to 10 feet long – and waiting.
Using five antennae, the bobbit worm senses passing prey, snapping down on them with supremely muscled mouth parts, called a pharynx. It does this with such speed and strength that it can split a fish in two. And that, quite frankly, would be a merciful exit. If you survive initially, you get to find out what it’s like to be yanked into the worm’s burrow and into untold nightmares.
A mix between the Mongolian death worm, the Graboids from Tremors, the Bugs from Starship Troopers, and a rainbow.“What happens next is rather unknown, especially because they have not been observed directly,” Luis F. Carrera-Parra and Sergio I. Salazar-Vallejo, ecologists specializing in annelid polychaetes at El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR) in Campeche, Mexico, wrote in a joint email to WIRED. “We think that the eunicid injects some narcotizing or killing toxin in their prey animal, such that it can be safely ingested – especially if they are larger than the worm – and then digested through the gut.”
Before we go any further, let’s just go ahead and get this out of the way. The bobbit worm may or may not be named after John Bobbitt, whose misadventures won’t be elaborated on here. The story goes that an underwater photographer saw the worm’s powers of … amputation as being analogous to those of John’s wife Lorena. But according to Anja Schulze, a marine biologist at Texas A&M University at Galveston, the origin of the name is far from clear.
In fact, scientists can’t seem to agree on how to even classify the thing. “We might actually have not just different species, but different genera of these worms,” Schulze said. “The color patterns can vary quite a bit, and we really don’t know how many species it refers to.” Complicating matters is the preservation process. According to Schulze, pickled specimens available to scientists have been soaking in formalin or ethanol, which leaches out their gorgeous iridescent color.
And marine biologists don’t come across bobbit worms too often in the wild, Schulze says. But every once in a while one just appears in an aquarium, like a kraken, ready to make a mess of things, as if Liam Neeson himself ordered it into existence. Indeed, it has become the bane of many an aquarist. When folks introduce live rocks – which are actually skeletons of dead coral – into their saltwater aquariums, a teeny-tiny bobbit worm can come along for the ride. But they don’t stay small for long.
Bobbit worms can tuck themselves away among coral and decimate an aquarium, picking off fish one by one, which you can imagine is quite confusing for the owner, since contrary to the events in Finding Nemo, fish typically don't just disappear. And they can even take the pros by surprise. When a public aquarium in England was having a problem with mysteriously maimed fish and even corals, they set out bait night after night, which disappeared, hooks and all. Staffers eventually had to dismantle the exhibit, finding a 4-foot bobbit worm named Barry (presumably they gave him this name – he probably hadn’t always gone by Barry).
A Daily Mail story about Barry suggested that the bobbit worm can permanently paralyze human appendages with its bristles, though Carrera-Parra and Salazar-Vallejo question this. They say a different family of worms, the fireworms, have harpoon-shaped chaetae – bristles of sorts – that release a toxin that can cause severe skin irritation, but bobbit worms “do not have abundant chaetae and their chaetae are not used for defensive purposes, but for improving traction for crawling over the sediment or inside their galleries or tubes.”
And as for reproduction, the bobbit worm’s habits remain a mystery. But Carrera-Parra and Salazar-Vallejo look to the somewhat troubling rituals of its relatives for insight into what could be going on. Gentlemen, take it away.
“Some eunicid polychaetes have an impressive transformation of their body for reproduction. The posterior part of their bodies are modified to contain sperm or oocytes and often have a large eyespot. During a very short period of time, depending on the season and under the influence of a certain phase of the moon, these posterior regions, or even the whole body, leave their shelter and swim en masse to the surface of the sea. This swarming behavior concludes with the massive release of sperm and eggs such that fecundation can be done.”
Hate to leave you with the image of a beautiful tropical ocean swarming with sex-crazed 10-foot-long worms with hair-trigger jaws, but that’s totally happening now. |
Medbh English says she still can't believe the twists and turns in the tale of her family's stolen blue Honda Odyssey minivan.
The van was stolen from Ivan and Medbh English on Oct. 5 while they were at the Lawson Civic Centre in Saskatoon. The thieves lifted the keys from Ivan's jacket while they changed.
Weeks after the van went missing, an image of the van was captured in a photo snapped by a red-light camera at Idylwyld and 33rd Street.
And then last month, the couple got more surprising mail. This time it was a parking ticket issued Nov. 7, on the 300 block of Sixth Avenue N.
And then this week came the strangest twist of all.
Police reported how a woman had been dragged by a van in The Centre mall parking lot on Friday night. She had confronted a couple who had stolen her wallet. She followed them outside and confronted them before they took off in a blue van.
It feels like our van is leading a secret, second life. - Medbh English
She grabbed a side mirror and was dragged as they drove away. She eventually let go and wasn't hurt.
Police confirm it was the English's van.
"Well, I was amazed. A friend texted the article to me and she initially thought it was me that had been clutching onto the van," Medbh English said in an interview.
"It feels like our van is leading a secret, second life, and I feel sad about that."
English said she and her husband are always on the lookout for their van when they travel around the city. Among other things, she's amazed at how many blue minivans are on the road once a person starts looking for them.
She's also frustrated to know how the van is being used. Police said the van was being driven using licence plates taken from another minivan.
"To know now that it's being used for other crimes, well I guess we really know they're criminal. It's disturbing to know they haven't been caught because it seems to be escalating, they're not just running up red light and parking tickets anymore."
Police are still searching for the suspects – and van – from Friday's confrontation.
Medbh English said the family has settled with SGI and has bought a new vehicle. And what did they buy?
A 2008 dark blue Honda Odyssey minivan. |
QUEBEC - A bare-chested female posing as a journalist interrupted a news conference in Quebec City on Thursday by screaming loudly against what she described as anti-abortion legislation.
Culture Minister Helene David was about to speak to reporters when the woman jumped in front of the cameras, exhibiting her breasts and denouncing Bill 20, legislation opponents say will restrict access to abortion services in the province.
"No to Bill 20!" she shouted. "Abortion a priority!"
The woman obtained a temporary press card to gain access to the national assembly under the name Neda Topaloski, who is known for her ties to the international feminist group Femen.
The activist, who was ejected from the Commons in March for protesting against Ottawa's Bill C-51 anti-terror legislation, had "Priorite IVG" written on her chest. The letters stand for "interruption volontaire de grossesse" or voluntary termination of pregnancy.
A security guard forced the woman out of the room a few seconds after she had burst in.
Premier Philippe Couillard said in late March that Bill 20 would actually increase access to health services, including abortion.
The Femen group has protested in Quebec City before, notably when several members shouted in the national assembly to denounce the proposed secularism charter of the previous Parti Quebecois government. |
Foreign-born residents will make up 60 per cent of Sweden’s unemployed by 2017, the country’s employment agency has said.
As the country struggles to deal with record immigration, the Arbetsförmedlingen predicted that unemployment would fall among the native population, but the jobless rate for migrants is set to rise.
At the moment, 21.8 per cent of foreign-born citizens are unemployed, meaning that around half of all unemployed people in the country are originally from abroad. This number is only set to rise, the employment agency says.
“The Swedish economy is doing very well. It is pleasing there’s such a good growth of new jobs,” said Arbetsförmedlingen Director General Mikael Sjöberg.
He added, however, that the country was facing an “increasingly difficult challenge” with the high levels of migration into the country. Many of the migrants, he said, have “little education”.
The Local reports that Sweden’s Migration Agency predicted in October that 190,000 people would claim asylum this year alone, although there now appears to be a small dip in the number of new arrivals after the government felt it had no choice but to tighten border controls.
A separate report by the IMF also predicted that unemployment would rise in the medium term due to high levels of immigration. “Rising migration inflows pose upside risks to unemployment for some years,” the report said.
The high rate of migration pours doubt on Prime Minister Stefan Löfven’s pledge give Sweden the lowest unemployment rate in the European Union by 2020.
Last month, the country was forced to reintroduce border controls after the government admitted it could no longer control the large influx of migrants. The country suspended the Schengen zone at its southern maritime borders with Denmark and Germany, bringing in passport checks for incoming traffic.
When the new checks proved ineffective, however, the country tightened its rules even further. Sweden’s pro-immigration prime minister seemed distressed at the measures his government had to introduce:
“It pains me to say that Sweden can no longer take in asylum seekers at the same high level … Sweden needs some breathing room,” he said, adding: “We need to relieve the pressure (on the Swedish asylum system) so that more people seek asylum in other European countries.”
Sweden’s situation, he said, was “out of control”. |
For other things called "mercury", see Mercury (disambiguation)
Chemical element with atomic number 80
Mercury is a chemical element with symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is commonly known as quicksilver and was formerly named hydrargyrum ( hy-DRAR-jər-əm).[4] A heavy, silvery d-block element, mercury is the only metallic element that is liquid at standard conditions for temperature and pressure; the only other element that is liquid under these conditions is the halogen bromine, though metals such as caesium, gallium, and rubidium melt just above room temperature.
Mercury occurs in deposits throughout the world mostly as cinnabar (mercuric sulfide). The red pigment vermilion is obtained by grinding natural cinnabar or synthetic mercuric sulfide.
Mercury is used in thermometers, barometers, manometers, sphygmomanometers, float valves, mercury switches, mercury relays, fluorescent lamps and other devices, though concerns about the element's toxicity have led to mercury thermometers and sphygmomanometers being largely phased out in clinical environments in favor of alternatives such as alcohol- or galinstan-filled glass thermometers and thermistor- or infrared-based electronic instruments. Likewise, mechanical pressure gauges and electronic strain gauge sensors have replaced mercury sphygmomanometers.
Mercury remains in use in scientific research applications and in amalgam for dental restoration in some locales. It is also used in fluorescent lighting. Electricity passed through mercury vapor in a fluorescent lamp produces short-wave ultraviolet light, which then causes the phosphor in the tube to fluoresce, making visible light.
Mercury poisoning can result from exposure to water-soluble forms of mercury (such as mercuric chloride or methylmercury), by inhalation of mercury vapor, or by ingesting any form of mercury.
Properties
Physical properties
Mercury is a heavy, silvery-white liquid metal. Compared to other metals, it is a poor conductor of heat, but a fair conductor of electricity.[5]
It has a freezing point of −38.83 °C and a boiling point of 356.73 °C,[6][7][8] both the lowest of any stable metal, although preliminary experiments on copernicium and flerovium have indicated that they have even lower boiling points (copernicium being the element below mercury in the periodic table, following the trend of decreasing boiling points down group 12).[9] Upon freezing, the volume of mercury decreases by 3.59% and its density changes from 13.69 g/cm3 when liquid to 14.184 g/cm3 when solid. The coefficient of volume expansion is 181.59 × 10−6 at 0 °C, 181.71 × 10−6 at 20 °C and 182.50 × 10−6 at 100 °C (per °C). Solid mercury is malleable and ductile and can be cut with a knife.[10]
A complete explanation of mercury's extreme volatility delves deep into the realm of quantum physics, but it can be summarized as follows: mercury has a unique electron configuration where electrons fill up all the available 1s, 2s, 2p, 3s, 3p, 3d, 4s, 4p, 4d, 4f, 5s, 5p, 5d, and 6s subshells. Because this configuration strongly resists removal of an electron, mercury behaves similarly to noble gases, which form weak bonds and hence melt at low temperatures.
The stability of the 6s shell is due to the presence of a filled 4f shell. An f shell poorly screens the nuclear charge that increases the attractive Coulomb interaction of the 6s shell and the nucleus (see lanthanide contraction). The absence of a filled inner f shell is the reason for the somewhat higher melting temperature of cadmium and zinc, although both these metals still melt easily and, in addition, have unusually low boiling points.[6][7]
Chemical properties
Mercury does not react with most acids, such as dilute sulfuric acid, although oxidizing acids such as concentrated sulfuric acid and nitric acid or aqua regia dissolve it to give sulfate, nitrate, and chloride. Like silver, mercury reacts with atmospheric hydrogen sulfide. Mercury reacts with solid sulfur flakes, which are used in mercury spill kits to absorb mercury (spill kits also use activated carbon and powdered zinc).[11]
Amalgams
Mercury-discharge spectral calibration lamp
Mercury dissolves many other metals such as gold and silver to form amalgams. Iron is an exception, and iron flasks have traditionally been used to trade mercury. Several other first row transition metals with the exception of manganese, copper and zinc are reluctant to form amalgams. Other elements that do not readily form amalgams with mercury include platinum.[12][13] Sodium amalgam is a common reducing agent in organic synthesis, and is also used in high-pressure sodium lamps.
Mercury readily combines with aluminium to form a mercury-aluminium amalgam when the two pure metals come into contact. Since the amalgam destroys the aluminium oxide layer which protects metallic aluminium from oxidizing in-depth (as in iron rusting), even small amounts of mercury can seriously corrode aluminium. For this reason, mercury is not allowed aboard an aircraft under most circumstances because of the risk of it forming an amalgam with exposed aluminium parts in the aircraft.[14]
Mercury embrittlement is the most common type of liquid metal embrittlement.
Isotopes
There are seven stable isotopes of mercury, with 202
Hg being the most abundant (29.86%). The longest-lived radioisotopes are 194
Hg with a half-life of 444 years, and 203
Hg with a half-life of 46.612 days. Most of the remaining radioisotopes have half-lives that are less than a day. 199
Hg and 201
Hg are the most often studied NMR-active nuclei, having spins of 1⁄ 2 and 3⁄ 2 respectively.[5]
Etymology
Hg is the modern chemical symbol for mercury. It comes from hydrargyrum, a Latinized form of the Greek word ὑδράργυρος (hydrargyros), which is a compound word meaning "water-silver" (from ὑδρ- hydr-, the root of ὕδωρ, "water," and ἄργυρος argyros "silver") – since it is liquid like water and shiny like silver. The element was named after the Roman god Mercury, known for his speed and mobility. It is associated with the planet Mercury; the astrological symbol for the planet is also one of the alchemical symbols for the metal; the Sanskrit word for alchemy is Rasavātam which means "the way of mercury".[15] Mercury is the only metal for which the alchemical planetary name became the common name.[16]
History
The symbol for the planet Mercury (☿) has been used since ancient times to represent the element
Mercury was found in Egyptian tombs that date from 1500 BC.[17]
In China and Tibet, mercury use was thought to prolong life, heal fractures, and maintain generally good health, although it is now known that exposure to mercury vapor leads to serious adverse health effects.[18] The first emperor of China, Qín Shǐ Huáng Dì—allegedly buried in a tomb that contained rivers of flowing mercury on a model of the land he ruled, representative of the rivers of China—was killed by drinking a mercury and powdered jade mixture formulated by Qin alchemists (causing liver failure, mercury poisoning, and brain death) who intended to give him eternal life.[19][20] Khumarawayh ibn Ahmad ibn Tulun, the second Tulunid ruler of Egypt (r. 884–896), known for his extravagance and profligacy, reportedly built a basin filled with mercury, on which he would lie on top of air-filled cushions and be rocked to sleep.[21]
In November 2014 "large quantities" of mercury were discovered in a chamber 60 feet below the 1800-year-old pyramid known as the "Temple of the Feathered Serpent," "the third largest pyramid of Teotihuacan," Mexico along with "jade statues, jaguar remains, a box filled with carved shells and rubber balls."[22]
The ancient Greeks used cinnabar (mercury sulfide) in ointments; the ancient Egyptians and the Romans used it in cosmetics. In Lamanai, once a major city of the Maya civilization, a pool of mercury was found under a marker in a Mesoamerican ballcourt.[23][24] By 500 BC mercury was used to make amalgams (Medieval Latin amalgama, "alloy of mercury") with other metals.[25]
Alchemists thought of mercury as the First Matter from which all metals were formed. They believed that different metals could be produced by varying the quality and quantity of sulfur contained within the mercury. The purest of these was gold, and mercury was called for in attempts at the transmutation of base (or impure) metals into gold, which was the goal of many alchemists.[16]
The mines in Almadén (Spain), Monte Amiata (Italy), and Idrija (now Slovenia) dominated mercury production from the opening of the mine in Almadén 2500 years ago, until new deposits were found at the end of the 19th century.[26]
Occurrence
Mercury is an extremely rare element in Earth's crust, having an average crustal abundance by mass of only 0.08 parts per million (ppm).[27] Because it does not blend geochemically with those elements that constitute the majority of the crustal mass, mercury ores can be extraordinarily concentrated considering the element's abundance in ordinary rock. The richest mercury ores contain up to 2.5% mercury by mass, and even the leanest concentrated deposits are at least 0.1% mercury (12,000 times average crustal abundance). It is found either as a native metal (rare) or in cinnabar, metacinnabar, corderoite, livingstonite and other minerals, with cinnabar (HgS) being the most common ore.[28][29] Mercury ores usually occur in very young orogenic belts where rocks of high density are forced to the crust of Earth,[citation needed] often in hot springs or other volcanic regions.[30]
Beginning in 1558, with the invention of the patio process to extract silver from ore using mercury, mercury became an essential resource in the economy of Spain and its American colonies. Mercury was used to extract silver from the lucrative mines in New Spain and Peru. Initially, the Spanish Crown's mines in Almadén in Southern Spain supplied all the mercury for the colonies.[31] Mercury deposits were discovered in the New World, and more than 100,000 tons of mercury were mined from the region of Huancavelica, Peru, over the course of three centuries following the discovery of deposits there in 1563. The patio process and later pan amalgamation process continued to create great demand for mercury to treat silver ores until the late 19th century.[32]
Native mercury with cinnabar , Socrates mine, Sonoma County, California . Cinnabar sometimes alters to native mercury in the oxidized zone of mercury deposits.
Former mines in Italy, the United States and Mexico, which once produced a large proportion of the world supply, have now been completely mined out or, in the case of Slovenia (Idrija) and Spain (Almadén), shut down due to the fall of the price of mercury. Nevada's McDermitt Mine, the last mercury mine in the United States, closed in 1992. The price of mercury has been highly volatile over the years and in 2006 was $650 per 76-pound (34.46 kg) flask.[33]
Mercury is extracted by heating cinnabar in a current of air and condensing the vapor. The equation for this extraction is
HgS + O 2 → Hg + SO 2
In 2005, China was the top producer of mercury with almost two-thirds global share followed by Kyrgyzstan.[34]:47 Several other countries are believed to have unrecorded production of mercury from copper electrowinning processes and by recovery from effluents.
Because of the high toxicity of mercury, both the mining of cinnabar and refining for mercury are hazardous and historic causes of mercury poisoning.[35] In China, prison labor was used by a private mining company as recently as the 1950s to develop new cinnabar mines. Thousands of prisoners were used by the Luo Xi mining company to establish new tunnels.[36] Worker health in functioning mines is at high risk.
The European Union directive calling for compact fluorescent bulbs to be made mandatory by 2012 has encouraged China to re-open cinnabar mines to obtain the mercury required for CFL bulb manufacture. Environmental dangers have been a concern, particularly in the southern cities of Foshan and Guangzhou, and in Guizhou province in the southwest.[36]
Abandoned mercury mine processing sites often contain very hazardous waste piles of roasted cinnabar calcines. Water run-off from such sites is a recognized source of ecological damage. Former mercury mines may be suited for constructive re-use. For example, in 1976 Santa Clara County, California purchased the historic Almaden Quicksilver Mine and created a county park on the site, after conducting extensive safety and environmental analysis of the property.[37]
Chemistry
Mercury exists in two oxidation states, I and II. Despite claims otherwise,[38] Hg(III) and Hg(IV) compounds remain unknown.[39][40]
Compounds of mercury(I)
Unlike its lighter neighbors, cadmium and zinc, mercury usually forms simple stable compounds with metal-metal bonds. Most mercury(I) compounds are diamagnetic and feature the dimeric cation, Hg2+
2 . Stable derivatives include the chloride and nitrate. Treatment of Hg(I) compounds complexation with strong ligands such as sulfide, cyanide, etc. induces disproportionation to Hg2+
and elemental mercury.[41] Mercury(I) chloride, a colorless solid also known as calomel, is really the compound with the formula Hg 2 Cl 2 , with the connectivity Cl-Hg-Hg-Cl. It is a standard in electrochemistry. It reacts with chlorine to give mercuric chloride, which resists further oxidation. Mercury(I) hydride, a colorless gas, has the formula HgH, containing no Hg-Hg bond.
Indicative of its tendency to bond to itself, mercury forms mercury polycations, which consist of linear chains of mercury centers, capped with a positive charge. One example is Hg2+
3 (AsF−
6 )
2 .[42]
Compounds of mercury(II)
Mercury(II) is the most common oxidation state and is the main one in nature as well. All four mercuric halides are known. They form tetrahedral complexes with other ligands but the halides adopt linear coordination geometry, somewhat like Ag+ does. Best known is mercury(II) chloride, an easily sublimating white solid. HgCl 2 forms coordination complexes that are typically tetrahedral, e.g. HgCl2−
4 .
Mercury(II) oxide, the main oxide of mercury, arises when the metal is exposed to air for long periods at elevated temperatures. It reverts to the elements upon heating near 400 °C, as was demonstrated by Joseph Priestley in an early synthesis of pure oxygen.[11] Hydroxides of mercury are poorly characterized, as they are for its neighbors gold and silver.
Being a soft metal, mercury forms very stable derivatives with the heavier chalcogens. Preeminent is mercury(II) sulfide, HgS, which occurs in nature as the ore cinnabar and is the brilliant pigment vermillion. Like ZnS, HgS crystallizes in two forms, the reddish cubic form and the black zinc blende form.[5] The latter sometimes occurs naturally as metacinnabar.[29] Mercury(II) selenide (HgSe) and mercury(II) telluride (HgTe) are also known, these as well as various derivatives, e.g. mercury cadmium telluride and mercury zinc telluride being semiconductors useful as infrared detector materials.[43]
Mercury(II) salts form a variety of complex derivatives with ammonia. These include Millon's base (Hg 2 N+), the one-dimensional polymer (salts of HgNH+
2 )
n ), and "fusible white precipitate" or [Hg(NH 3 ) 2 ]Cl 2 . Known as Nessler's reagent, potassium tetraiodomercurate(II) (HgI2−
4 ) is still occasionally used to test for ammonia owing to its tendency to form the deeply colored iodide salt of Millon's base.
Mercury fulminate is a detonator widely used in explosives.[5]
Organomercury compounds
Organic mercury compounds are historically important but are of little industrial value in the western world. Mercury(II) salts are a rare example of simple metal complexes that react directly with aromatic rings. Organomercury compounds are always divalent and usually two-coordinate and linear geometry. Unlike organocadmium and organozinc compounds, organomercury compounds do not react with water. They usually have the formula HgR 2 , which are often volatile, or HgRX, which are often solids, where R is aryl or alkyl and X is usually halide or acetate. Methylmercury, a generic term for compounds with the formula CH 3 HgX, is a dangerous family of compounds that are often found in polluted water.[44] They arise by a process known as biomethylation.
Applications
Mercury is used primarily for the manufacture of industrial chemicals or for electrical and electronic applications. It is used in some thermometers, especially ones which are used to measure high temperatures. A still increasing amount is used as gaseous mercury in fluorescent lamps, while most of the other applications are slowly phased out due to health and safety regulations and is in some applications replaced with less toxic but considerably more expensive Galinstan alloy.[45]
Medicine
Amalgam filling
Mercury and its compounds have been used in medicine, although they are much less common today than they once were, now that the toxic effects of mercury and its compounds are more widely understood. The first edition of the Merck's Manual featured many mercuric compounds[46] such as:
Mercauro
Mercuro-iodo-hemol.
Mercury-ammonium chloride
Mercury Benzoate
Mercuric
Mercury Bichloride (Corrosive Mercuric Chloride, U.S.P.)
Mercury Chloride
Mild Mercury Cyanide
Mercury Succinimide
Mercury Iodide
Red Mercury Biniodide
Mercury Iodide
Yellow Mercury Proto-iodide
Black (Hahnemann), Soluble Mercury Oxide
Red Mercury Oxide
Yellow Mercury Oxide
Mercury Salicylate
Mercury Succinimide
Mercury Imido-succinate
Mercury Sulphate
Basic Mercury Subsulphate; Turpeth Mineral
Mercury Tannate
Mercury-Ammonium Chloride
Mercury is an ingredient in dental amalgams. Thiomersal (called Thimerosal in the United States) is an organic compound used as a preservative in vaccines, though this use is in decline.[47] Thiomersal is metabolized to ethyl mercury. Although it was widely speculated that this mercury-based preservative could cause or trigger autism in children, scientific studies showed no evidence supporting any such link.[48] Nevertheless, thiomersal has been removed from, or reduced to trace amounts in all U.S. vaccines recommended for children 6 years of age and under, with the exception of inactivated influenza vaccine.[49]
Another mercury compound, merbromin (Mercurochrome), is a topical antiseptic used for minor cuts and scrapes that is still in use in some countries.
Mercury in the form of one of its common ores, cinnabar, is used in various traditional medicines, especially in traditional Chinese medicine. Review of its safety has found that cinnabar can lead to significant mercury intoxication when heated, consumed in overdose, or taken long term, and can have adverse effects at therapeutic doses, though effects from therapeutic doses are typically reversible. Although this form of mercury appears to be less toxic than other forms, its use in traditional Chinese medicine has not yet been justified, as the therapeutic basis for the use of cinnabar is not clear.[50]
Today, the use of mercury in medicine has greatly declined in all respects, especially in developed countries. Thermometers and sphygmomanometers containing mercury were invented in the early 18th and late 19th centuries, respectively. In the early 21st century, their use is declining and has been banned in some countries, states and medical institutions. In 2002, the U.S. Senate passed legislation to phase out the sale of non-prescription mercury thermometers. In 2003, Washington and Maine became the first states to ban mercury blood pressure devices.[51] Mercury compounds are found in some over-the-counter drugs, including topical antiseptics, stimulant laxatives, diaper-rash ointment, eye drops, and nasal sprays. The FDA has "inadequate data to establish general recognition of the safety and effectiveness" of the mercury ingredients in these products.[52] Mercury is still used in some diuretics although substitutes now exist for most therapeutic uses.
Production of chlorine and caustic soda
Chlorine is produced from sodium chloride (common salt, NaCl) using electrolysis to separate the metallic sodium from the chlorine gas. Usually the salt is dissolved in water to produce a brine. By-products of any such chloralkali process are hydrogen (H 2 ) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH), which is commonly called caustic soda or lye. By far the largest use of mercury[53][54] in the late 20th century was in the mercury cell process (also called the Castner-Kellner process) where metallic sodium is formed as an amalgam at a cathode made from mercury; this sodium is then reacted with water to produce sodium hydroxide.[55] Many of the industrial mercury releases of the 20th century came from this process, although modern plants claimed to be safe in this regard.[54] After about 1985, all new chloralkali production facilities that were built in the United States used membrane cell or diaphragm cell technologies to produce chlorine.
Laboratory uses
Some medical thermometers, especially those for high temperatures, are filled with mercury; they are gradually disappearing. In the United States, non-prescription sale of mercury fever thermometers has been banned since 2003.[56]
Mercury is also found in liquid mirror telescopes.
Some transit telescopes use a basin of mercury to form a flat and absolutely horizontal mirror, useful in determining an absolute vertical or perpendicular reference. Concave horizontal parabolic mirrors may be formed by rotating liquid mercury on a disk, the parabolic form of the liquid thus formed reflecting and focusing incident light. Such telescopes are cheaper than conventional large mirror telescopes by up to a factor of 100, but the mirror cannot be tilted and always points straight up.[57][58][59]
Liquid mercury is a part of popular secondary reference electrode (called the calomel electrode) in electrochemistry as an alternative to the standard hydrogen electrode. The calomel electrode is used to work out the electrode potential of half cells.[60] Last, but not least, the triple point of mercury, −38.8344 °C, is a fixed point used as a temperature standard for the International Temperature Scale (ITS-90).[5]
In polarography both the dropping mercury electrode[61] and the hanging mercury drop electrode[62] use elemental mercury. This use allows a new uncontaminated electrode to be available for each measurement or each new experiment.
Niche uses
Gaseous mercury is used in mercury-vapor lamps and some "neon sign" type advertising signs and fluorescent lamps. Those low-pressure lamps emit very spectrally narrow lines, which are traditionally used in optical spectroscopy for calibration of spectral position. Commercial calibration lamps are sold for this purpose; reflecting a fluorescent ceiling light into a spectrometer is a common calibration practice.[63] Gaseous mercury is also found in some electron tubes, including ignitrons, thyratrons, and mercury arc rectifiers.[64] It is also used in specialist medical care lamps for skin tanning and disinfection.[65] Gaseous mercury is added to cold cathode argon-filled lamps to increase the ionization and electrical conductivity. An argon-filled lamp without mercury will have dull spots and will fail to light correctly. Lighting containing mercury can be bombarded/oven pumped only once. When added to neon filled tubes the light produced will be inconsistent red/blue spots until the initial burning-in process is completed; eventually it will light a consistent dull off-blue color.[66]
The deep violet glow of a mercury vapor discharge in a germicidal lamp, whose spectrum is rich in invisible ultraviolet radiation.
Skin tanner containing a low-pressure mercury vapor lamp and two infrared lamps, which act both as light source and electrical ballast
Assorted types of fluorescent lamps.
The miniaturized Deep Space Atomic Clock is a linear ion-trap-based mercury ion clock, designed for precise and real-time radio navigation in deep space.
The Deep Space Atomic Clock (DSAC) under development by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory utilises mercury in a linear ion-trap-based clock. The novel use of mercury allows very compact atomic clocks, with low energy requirements, and is therefore ideal for space probes and Mars missions.[67]
Cosmetics
Mercury, as thiomersal, is widely used in the manufacture of mascara. In 2008, Minnesota became the first state in the United States to ban intentionally added mercury in cosmetics, giving it a tougher standard than the federal government.[68]
A study in geometric mean urine mercury concentration identified a previously unrecognized source of exposure (skin care products) to inorganic mercury among New York City residents. Population-based biomonitoring also showed that mercury concentration levels are higher in consumers of seafood and fish meals.[69]
Firearms
Mercury(II) fulminate is a primary explosive which is mainly used as a primer of a cartridge in firearms.
Historic uses
Single-Pole, Single-Throw (SPST) mercury switch. ) mercury switch.
Mercury manometer to measure pressure
Many historic applications made use of the peculiar physical properties of mercury, especially as a dense liquid and a liquid metal:
Others applications made use of the chemical properties of mercury:
Historic medicinal uses
Mercury(I) chloride (also known as calomel or mercurous chloride) has been used in traditional medicine as a diuretic, topical disinfectant, and laxative. Mercury(II) chloride (also known as mercuric chloride or corrosive sublimate) was once used to treat syphilis (along with other mercury compounds), although it is so toxic that sometimes the symptoms of its toxicity were confused with those of the syphilis it was believed to treat.[90] It is also used as a disinfectant. Blue mass, a pill or syrup in which mercury is the main ingredient, was prescribed throughout the 19th century for numerous conditions including constipation, depression, child-bearing and toothaches.[91] In the early 20th century, mercury was administered to children yearly as a laxative and dewormer, and it was used in teething powders for infants. The mercury-containing organohalide merbromin (sometimes sold as Mercurochrome) is still widely used but has been banned in some countries such as the U.S.[92]
Toxicity and safety
Mercury and most of its compounds are extremely toxic and must be handled with care; in cases of spills involving mercury (such as from certain thermometers or fluorescent light bulbs), specific cleaning procedures are used to avoid exposure and contain the spill.[94] Protocols call for physically merging smaller droplets on hard surfaces, combining them into a single larger pool for easier removal with an eyedropper, or for gently pushing the spill into a disposable container. Vacuum cleaners and brooms cause greater dispersal of the mercury and should not be used. Afterwards, fine sulfur, zinc, or some other powder that readily forms an amalgam (alloy) with mercury at ordinary temperatures is sprinkled over the area before itself being collected and properly disposed of. Cleaning porous surfaces and clothing is not effective at removing all traces of mercury and it is therefore advised to discard these kinds of items should they be exposed to a mercury spill.
Mercury can be absorbed through the skin and mucous membranes and mercury vapors can be inhaled, so containers of mercury are securely sealed to avoid spills and evaporation. Heating of mercury, or of compounds of mercury that may decompose when heated, should be carried out with adequate ventilation in order to minimize exposure to mercury vapor. The most toxic forms of mercury are its organic compounds, such as dimethylmercury and methylmercury. Mercury can cause both chronic and acute poisoning.
Releases in the environment
Amount of atmospheric mercury deposited at Wyoming's Upper Fremont Glacier over the last 270 years
Preindustrial deposition rates of mercury from the atmosphere may be about 4 ng /(1 L of ice deposit). Although that can be considered a natural level of exposure, regional or global sources have significant effects. Volcanic eruptions can increase the atmospheric source by 4–6 times.[95]
Natural sources, such as volcanoes, are responsible for approximately half of atmospheric mercury emissions. The human-generated half can be divided into the following estimated percentages:[96][97][98]
The above percentages are estimates of the global human-caused mercury emissions in 2000, excluding biomass burning, an important source in some regions.[96]
Recent atmospheric mercury contamination in outdoor urban air was measured at 0.01–0.02 µg/m3. A 2001 study measured mercury levels in 12 indoor sites chosen to represent a cross-section of building types, locations and ages in the New York area. This study found mercury concentrations significantly elevated over outdoor concentrations, at a range of 0.0065 – 0.523 μg/m3. The average was 0.069 μg/m3.[100]
Mercury also enters into the environment through the improper disposal (e.g., land filling, incineration) of certain products. Products containing mercury include: auto parts, batteries, fluorescent bulbs, medical products, thermometers, and thermostats.[101] Due to health concerns (see below), toxics use reduction efforts are cutting back or eliminating mercury in such products. For example, the amount of mercury sold in thermostats in the United States decreased from 14.5 tons in 2004 to 3.9 tons in 2007.[102]
Most thermometers now use pigmented alcohol instead of mercury, and galinstan alloy thermometers are also an option. Mercury thermometers are still occasionally used in the medical field because they are more accurate than alcohol thermometers, though both are commonly being replaced by electronic thermometers and less commonly by galinstan thermometers. Mercury thermometers are still widely used for certain scientific applications because of their greater accuracy and working range.
Historically, one of the largest releases was from the Colex plant, a lithium-isotope separation plant at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The plant operated in the 1950s and 1960s. Records are incomplete and unclear, but government commissions have estimated that some two million pounds of mercury are unaccounted for.[103]
A serious industrial disaster was the dumping of mercury compounds into Minamata Bay, Japan. It is estimated that over 3,000 people suffered various deformities, severe mercury poisoning symptoms or death from what became known as Minamata disease.[104][105]
The tobacco plant readily absorbs and accumulates heavy metals such as mercury from the surrounding soil into its leaves. These are subsequently inhaled during tobacco smoking.[106] While mercury is a constituent of tobacco smoke,[107] studies have largely failed to discover a significant correlation between smoking and Hg uptake by humans compared to sources such as occupational exposure, fish consumption, and amalgam tooth fillings.[108]
Sediment contamination
Sediments within large urban-industrial estuaries act as an important sink for point source and diffuse mercury pollution within catchments.[109] A 2015 study of foreshore sediments from the Thames estuary measured total mercury at 0.01 to 12.07 mg/kg with mean of 2.10 mg/kg and median of 0.85 mg/kg (n=351).[109] The highest mercury concentrations were shown to occur in and around the city of London in association with fine grain muds and high total organic carbon content.[109] The strong affinity of mercury for carbon rich sediments has also been observed in salt marsh sediments of the River Mersey mean of 2 mg/kg up to 5 mg/kg.[110] These concentrations are far higher than those shown in salt marsh river creek sediments of New Jersey and mangroves of Southern China which exhibit low mercury concentrations of about 0.2 mg/kg.[111][112]
Occupational exposure
EPA workers clean up residential mercury spill in 2004
Due to the health effects of mercury exposure, industrial and commercial uses are regulated in many countries. The World Health Organization, OSHA, and NIOSH all treat mercury as an occupational hazard, and have established specific occupational exposure limits. Environmental releases and disposal of mercury are regulated in the U.S. primarily by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Effects and symptoms of mercury poisoning
Toxic effects include damage to the brain, kidneys and lungs. Mercury poisoning can result in several diseases, including acrodynia (pink disease), Hunter-Russell syndrome, and Minamata disease.
Symptoms typically include sensory impairment (vision, hearing, speech), disturbed sensation and a lack of coordination. The type and degree of symptoms exhibited depend upon the individual toxin, the dose, and the method and duration of exposure. Case–control studies have shown effects such as tremors, impaired cognitive skills, and sleep disturbance in workers with chronic exposure to mercury vapor even at low concentrations in the range 0.7–42 μg/m3.[113][114] A study has shown that acute exposure (4–8 hours) to calculated elemental mercury levels of 1.1 to 44 mg/m3 resulted in chest pain, dyspnea, cough, hemoptysis, impairment of pulmonary function, and evidence of interstitial pneumonitis.[115] Acute exposure to mercury vapor has been shown to result in profound central nervous system effects, including psychotic reactions characterized by delirium, hallucinations, and suicidal tendency. Occupational exposure has resulted in broad-ranging functional disturbance, including erethism, irritability, excitability, excessive shyness, and insomnia. With continuing exposure, a fine tremor develops and may escalate to violent muscular spasms. Tremor initially involves the hands and later spreads to the eyelids, lips, and tongue. Long-term, low-level exposure has been associated with more subtle symptoms of erethism, including fatigue, irritability, loss of memory, vivid dreams and depression.[116][117]
Treatment
Research on the treatment of mercury poisoning is limited. Currently available drugs for acute mercurial poisoning include chelators N-acetyl-D, L-penicillamine (NAP), British Anti-Lewisite (BAL), 2,3-dimercapto-1-propanesulfonic acid (DMPS), and dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA). In one small study including 11 construction workers exposed to elemental mercury, patients were treated with DMSA and NAP.[118] Chelation therapy with both drugs resulted in the mobilization of a small fraction of the total estimated body mercury. DMSA was able to increase the excretion of mercury to a greater extent than NAP.[119]
Fish
Fish and shellfish have a natural tendency to concentrate mercury in their bodies, often in the form of methylmercury, a highly toxic organic compound of mercury. Species of fish that are high on the food chain, such as shark, swordfish, king mackerel, bluefin tuna, albacore tuna, and tilefish contain higher concentrations of mercury than others. As mercury and methylmercury are fat soluble, they primarily accumulate in the viscera, although they are also found throughout the muscle tissue.[120] When this fish is consumed by a predator, the mercury level is accumulated. Since fish are less efficient at depurating than accumulating methylmercury, fish-tissue concentrations increase over time. Thus species that are high on the food chain amass body burdens of mercury that can be ten times higher than the species they consume. This process is called biomagnification. Mercury poisoning happened this way in Minamata, Japan, now called Minamata disease.
Regulations
International
140 countries agreed in the Minamata Convention on Mercury by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to prevent emissions.[121] The convention was signed on 10 October 2013.[122]
United States
In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency is charged with regulating and managing mercury contamination. Several laws give the EPA this authority, including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act. Additionally, the Mercury-Containing and Rechargeable Battery Management Act, passed in 1996, phases out the use of mercury in batteries, and provides for the efficient and cost-effective disposal of many types of used batteries.[123] North America contributed approximately 11% of the total global anthropogenic mercury emissions in 1995.[124]
The United States Clean Air Act, passed in 1990, put mercury on a list of toxic pollutants that need to be controlled to the greatest possible extent. Thus, industries that release high concentrations of mercury into the environment agreed to install maximum achievable control technologies (MACT). In March 2005, the EPA promulgated a regulation[125] that added power plants to the list of sources that should be controlled and instituted a national cap and trade system. States were given until November 2006 to impose stricter controls, but after a legal challenge from several states, the regulations were struck down by a federal appeals court on 8 February 2008. The rule was deemed not sufficient to protect the health of persons living near coal-fired power plants, given the negative effects documented in the EPA Study Report to Congress of 1998.[126] However newer data published in 2015 showed that after introduction of the stricter controls mercury declined sharply, indicating that the Clean Air Act had its intended impact.[127]
The EPA announced new rules for coal-fired power plants on 22 December 2011.[128] Cement kilns that burn hazardous waste are held to a looser standard than are standard hazardous waste incinerators in the United States, and as a result are a disproportionate source of mercury pollution.[129]
European Union
In the European Union, the directive on the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (see RoHS) bans mercury from certain electrical and electronic products, and limits the amount of mercury in other products to less than 1000 ppm.[130] There are restrictions for mercury concentration in packaging (the limit is 100 ppm for sum of mercury, lead, hexavalent chromium and cadmium) and batteries (the limit is 5 ppm).[131] In July 2007, the European Union also banned mercury in non-electrical measuring devices, such as thermometers and barometers. The ban applies to new devices only, and contains exemptions for the health care sector and a two-year grace period for manufacturers of barometers. [132]
Norway
Norway enacted a total ban on the use of mercury in the manufacturing and import/export of mercury products, effective 1 January 2008.[133] In 2002, several lakes in Norway were found to have a poor state of mercury pollution, with an excess of 1 µg/g of mercury in their sediment.[134] In 2008, Norway's Minister of Environment Development Erik Solheim said: "Mercury is among the most dangerous environmental toxins. Satisfactory alternatives to Hg in products are available, and it is therefore fitting to induce a ban."[135]
Sweden
Products containing mercury were banned in Sweden in 2009.[136][137]
Denmark
In 2008, Denmark also banned dental mercury amalgam,[135] except for molar masticating surface fillings in permanent (adult) teeth.
See also
References
Further reading |
They've turned the tides of wars and flown over farm fields dusting crops. Now, drones are transforming into something brand new: sporting equipment.
California's State Fair is hosting the first-ever U.S. National Drone Racing Championships, reports CBS News correspondent Carter Evans.
Drones at U.S. National Drone Racing Championships CBS News
The games get underway on a Sacramento soccer field Thursday, featuring 120 pilots from all over the world operating packs of drones zipping around an 11,000-seat stadium at speeds of up to 80 mph.
The field has been completely netted in order to avoid any close calls with spectators, but for the competitors, there's a lot at stake: The prize money totals $25,000.
When you hear about drones in the news, done racers aren't typically what comes to mind. But the Internet is swarming with videos captured by drone pilots, like the 34-year-old Spanish-born hobbyist who goes by the enigmatic name Charpu.
He's arguably the most famous among this new breed of pilots, but the hobby is rapidly turning into sport, and Charpu has some serious competition.
"Charpu is definitely the guy to beat!" 24-year-old Zoe Stumbaugh said.
She has been building her own drones in a bedroom workshop for less than a year. But it wasn't her first passion.
"Yeah, motorcycles were my thing. It was everything to me! Like, being able to ride, it gave me this whole experience being outside of my body, into the world, and living. I really couldn't live without it," Stumbaugh said.
But a debilitating and painful medical condition confined her to bed for six months and forced her to undergo four major surgeries. Her riding days were over.
Zoe Stumbaugh's workshop CBS News
"I got really really depressed -- like, I completely shut down, I didn't want to do anything with my friends," she said. "One of my friends suggested, 'Go to the hobby shop,' and I found this little ultra-micro, little quad-copter that fits in the palm of your hand. And I just fell in love with it the first flight."
She said it was that little thing that started her whole addiction.
"Once I put the camera on it, you start doing FPV (First Person View) ... it was really like riding a motorcycle," she said. "You were living in the world around you and no longer in a bed or sitting down or feeling hurt, depressed, whatever. Nothing else mattered when you had the goggles on. In a weird way, it was just what I needed!"
Spectators at the National Drone Racing Championships will also be able to don goggles of their own and watch the action from the point of view of any one of their favorite pilots.
Soon she was building bigger and more elaborate aircraft, and her videos on the Internet developed a following. Drone manufacturers even began sponsoring her.
Drone racing pilot with FPV goggles CBS News
Now Stumbaugh is off to the nationals -- and is considered to be one of the top contenders.
"I just can't wait to get to the races and show off my skills," she said.
Race director Scot Refsland called the competition "Formula One in the air." He thinks this week's event marks the birth of a brand new sport.
"I've already been approached by several people with very large checkbooks that are interested in this space," he said. "That's what this is all about."
Twenty years ago, Ron Semiao turned skateboarding into a legitimate sport when he created the X Games. "You know how this started as a sport? It started as kids one-upping each other with tricks -- I can do this, can you?" Semiao said. "So with something like drone racing, it's naturally built in, because it's navigating obstacles: Who can get from point A to point B the fastest, and without wrecking?"
But Semiao said drone racing will need more than just drama to evolve into a professional sport. Big-time corporate sponsorship is key to creating the full-time stars of tomorrow.
"I've been approached over time by a lot of professional skateboarders that have said, 'Thanks for creating the X Games, 'cause now I don't have to work at the deli anymore! I can make a living doing something I love,'" he said.
If and when major sponsors get behind drone racing, there's no shortage of pilots who are more than ready for prime time.
Stumbaugh's disability prevents her having a normal job at the moment, but if drone racing could be her job, she said she'd do it. "And I would love to do it," she said. And I have a passion for it that will never end." |
He lives in a glass house and keeps a personal zoo of penguins but what Bidzina Ivanishvili is looking for now is power
In the hallway of Bidzina Ivanishvili's extraordinary glass home is a work by Gilbert & George. It is to Ivanishvili's credit that he agrees to be photographed next to it and a slogan that reads: "SAY FUCK OFF TO RICH BASTARDS." Ivanishvili is, after all, worth $6.4bn (£3.9bn), and one of the richest bastards, or successful businessmen, on the planet.
His possessions include a zoo with penguins, lemurs and a zebra, kept at his village in western Georgia, and a large collection of modern art. There are sculptures by Henry Moore (the art works dotted around his residence are all fake, the originals "kept safe" in a London vault). His home is a striking one-off – a James Bond-like space-age palace of steel and tubular columns, with panoramic views of Georgia's twinkling capital Tbilisi. Aides nickname it the 'glassle'. There is also fleet of black Land Cruisers.
The one thing that Ivanishvili doesn't have is power. Or at least not yet. In October 2011 the Georgian billionaire dramatically and unexpectedly entered politics, challenging the country's president Mikheil Saakashvili in a battle that has become increasingly nasty and personal. Ivanishvili charges that Saakashvili - who swept to power in 2003 during the rose revolution - has morphed into a dictator. On Monday, Georgians vote in a epochal parliamentary election. The choice is between Saakashvili's ruling party and Ivanishvili's anti-government Georgia Dream coalition.
As Ivanishvili tells it, it was Saakashvili's despotic behaviour that forced him into politics. "I'm 56 years old. I decided to go into politics because of our Soviet-style government," he says. The tycoon says that in 2008 Saakashvili "bought" off Georgia's old parliamentary opposition, forcing him to forge a new alliance last year with the country's surviving independent political forces.
Georgian billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili smiles during his interview in Tbilisi Photograph: VANO SHLAMOV/AFP
In an interview on Sunday evening with several international newspapers including the Guardian, Ivanishvili complains bitterly of the persecution he has endured ever since. The state has stripped him of his Georgian citizenship. Several of his activists have been arrested. He even hints that Saakashvili is personally capable of dark deeds. "I'm very happy that I'm physically alive. We could have experienced pretty much everything from this government," he says, flanked by members of his opposition team.
Despite his loathing for Georgia's president, however, Ivanishvili's policies seem rather similar. On foreign policy, he says this: "Our policy is European and Euro-atlantic integration. There is no substitute for Nato." The pro-western Saakshvili's believes the same: it was his desire to join Nato that contributed to the Kremlin's crushing invasion of Georgia in 2008, following the president's doomed attempt to wrest back breakaway South Ossetia.
Ivanishvili has previously stated that Vladimir Putin's Russia is now freer than Saakashvili's Georgia. Asked about this, Ivanishvili gets irritated; his response surprisingly thin-skinned. The government has painted Ivanishvili as a Russian agent and the accusation clearly grates. He made his fortune in Russia in the 1990s (banking, pharmacy, real estate) but says he has now sold off two-thirds of his Russian assets; he still has a significant chunk of Gazprom. "You journalists are always asking about Russia," he says.
But how might he improve relations with the prickly Putin, the man who promised to hang Georgia's current president "by the balls"? "I think it's important to reinstate cultural and commercial relations," he says. And what about Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the two rebel regions occupied by Russian tanks, and recognised by Moscow as "independent" following the 2008 war? "When it comes to reinstating territorial integrity this will be a very hard and long task. I don't have illusions it will happen easily," he admits.
In the run-up to the election, Transparency International has accused both sides of presenting "simplistic programmes", promising large investments in agriculture, education, healthcare and social benefits. Critics say Ivanishvili's plan is vague, incoherent even. The billionaire says he main priority is jobs; certainly ordinary Georgian voters complain of high unemployment, low pensions and a lack of opportunities. He points out that unlike Saakashvili he understands business.
Western diplomats in Tbilisi fear that if Ivanishvili's coalition loses his supporters will take to the streets, with weeks of turmoil to follow. Ivanishvili, however, says his movement is peaceful. If international observers - currently packing out Tbilisi's al fresco restaurants - certify the election as free and fair he will accept the result; his coalition will form the parliamentary opposition. "Without doubt," he emphasises in English. He's more comfortable, though speaking in Georgian or Russian.
Interview over, we troop out past the Gilbert & George fake, and admire the stunning view from his terrace as the sun sets over a picture postcard Tbilisi. Ivanishvili points to the giant sphere hovering as if in mid-air inside his palace. "It's actually a cafe. You can fit 150 people inside," he says. Behind his residence is Tbilisi's wild botanical garden; Ivanishvili's private quarters resemble an inverted flying saucer about to take off. The billionaire says he's been to London twice but hasn't met Tony Blair or David Cameron.
And what about his zoo? Saakashvili's aides say the penguins are evidence of his eccentricity. Actually, it appears he is genuinely fond of his animals. "I bought my penguins from a zoo in France. I've got four of them," he says. He admits Georgia's warm climate is not really "sustainable" for his pet zebra and says he likes his lemurs. "They're like cats really. But I haven't got a big zoo." As well as his bid to defeat Georgia's president, Ivanishvili has another problem: too many deer. His small herd keeps on breeding, he says. "Would you like to take a deer home?" he asks with a smile. |
As investigators puzzle over their motives, the couple — the husband born in Illinois and raised in Southern California, the wife born in Pakistan and recently living in Saudi Arabia — have emerged as one of the most perplexing pairs in the recent history of mass homicide. Their lives, and motives, remain mysteries to investigators, who are looking at possible ties to international terrorism but have not ruled out the possibility that this was the bloody culmination of a workplace dispute.
Mr. Farook and Ms. Malik were observant Muslims, described by friends as quiet and unobtrusive. Mr. Farook, 28, who was a lanky six feet tall and had a full beard for long periods of his life, graduated from California State University, San Bernardino, with a degree in environmental engineering. He worked for the San Bernardino County health department, checking food surfaces at restaurants and bakeries and chlorine levels in public swimming pools.
Image Syed Rizwan Farook, one of the suspects in the San Bernardino, Calif., shooting. Credit California Department of Motor Vehicles
Far less is publicly known about Ms. Malik, 29, who lived with Mr. Farook and his mother in Redlands, about five miles from where the attack took place. Mr. Farook brought her to the United States in July 2014, with a Pakistani passport and a K-1 visa, which designated her his fiancée. He applied for a permanent resident green card for her in September 2014, and she was granted a conditional card last July after passing a background check.
In registering for one of two dating services he used, Mr. Farook said he spoke Urdu, though friends said the couple spoke to each other in English. Mr. Farook, in a posting on one of the dating services, said he was open to dating a woman of any faith but was looking for “someone who takes her religion very seriously and is always trying to improve her religion.” |
Decades after the idea of artificial intelligence first appeared, we’re starting to see machines learn how to perform some very clever tricks—and recognizing faces and spoken words with impressive accuracy may only be the start. Today, two AI experts shed some light on how far this might go at the MIT Technology Review Digital Summit in San Francisco.
Adam Cheyer, co-founder Viv Labs.
Adam Cheyer, one of the creators of Apple’s personal assistant, Siri, is a cofounder of Viv Labs, a company that’s trying to build a considerably more capable personal assistant, one that can answer sophisticated questions that connect different concepts. For instance, it might connect weather and geographic knowledge with information from your contact book to respond to a query like: “If it’s going to rain tonight, find me a pizza restaurant near my brother’s place.”
Cheyer said that although advances in AI have given computers remarkable skills, those abilities are still quite narrow. Creating a machine that can answer a question that connects different sources of data, or different concepts, will mean finding ways to connect those sources of existing knowledge without hard coding the connections.
Cheyer claims that achieving this means automating some of the underlying programming tasks. So Viv Labs might not only represent an advance in AI, but also an important example of how computers can collaborate with humans in a new area. “The biggest revolution is actually happening under the hood in the way software is built,” Cheyer said. “It’s not just about machines learning narrow functions; they’re going to be helping to program.”
Cheyer suggested that this would go well beyond just programming. “The goal will be how can you get humans and AI working together at scale, where humans are doing the best things they can do, and machines will do the best they can do.”
Much recent progress in AI is due to a field known as deep learning, which involves training simplified virtual neurons to recognize patterns using quantities of data. Quoc Le, a research scientist at Google Brain, described his latest work on deep learning, an area of machine learning that has produced remarkable results in recent years (see “Deep Learning Catches on In New Industries, from Fashion to Finance”).
As with Viv Labs, Le’s most recent work involves combining different approaches to produce more than the sum of their parts. This means linking different deep learning systems together to produce impressive results, such as a system that can answer questions about the content of images (see “Google’s Brain-Inspired Software Describes What It Sees in Complex Images”). “Once we understand images, we understand speech, and we understand text, we can connect the domains together,” Le said.
However, Le said that the biggest obstacle to developing more truly intelligent computers is finding a way for them to learn without requiring labeled training data—an approach called “unsupervised learning.”
Recent progress in artificial intelligence has prompted some people to worry about the future of employment in many industries, and even super-smart machines that might pose an existential threat. Neither Cheyer nor Le seemed particularly concerned about the latter idea. “There are many things that humans can do that machines can’t do today,” Cheyer said. “I do think there will be shifts, but I don’t think we’ll be sitting on the couch, letting the robots run our lives. Humans will adapt.”
EmTech Digital will continue today and tomorrow in San Francisco, so check back here frequently for updates. |
A man was burned Tuesday night after apparently setting himself on fire in the street outside the Trump Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue NW, according to a public safety source with knowledge of the incident.
The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said that arriving rescue personnel found a 45-year-old man who had been using a lighter and an accelerant.
No motivation could be learned.
However, a construction worker in the area said he saw a man surrounded by flames, uttering the name of President-elect Trump in what appeared to be an angry manner.
The incident occurred in the roadway just outside the hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue.
(WUSA9)
The man was taken to a hospital with what were described as third-degree burns on about 10 percent of his body.
Demonstrations are expected here on Inauguration Day. It could not be learned whether the fire incident was connected with the protests in any way. |
Patriotism is a confusing emotion. Most of us feel it – an affinity, a fondness, an enthusiasm for a place we took no part in creating, randomly happened to be born in and can never hope objectively to judge. But a lot of us also feel uncomfortable with it. Is patriotism at the top of a slippery slope that has nationalism a little bit further down, xenophobia a few self-loathing slides below that, and leads inexorably into a gunk tank of racism?
Or is it more like supporting a sports team, which, aside from the small minority who use that as a focus for violence, tends to be a friendly rivalry? Few fans consider their support to be a dispassionate assertion of their team's superiority: they don't always think it'll win, they just hope so.
Being a supporter brings the pleasure of belonging, which, by implication, acknowledges the pleasure others receive from belonging to something else. I reckon patriotism is OK when it's like that, when there's respect for the patriotism of foreigners. That's when it's safe and we can have a bit of fun with the likes of France.
When a Frenchman once tried to flatter Lord Palmerston (I should point out here that this anecdote may not be true. It's exactly the sort of thing I was brought up believing, specifically told by educational professionals, but turns out to be nonsense. All the fun stuff about the past, I'm slowly discovering, was invented later by charlatans too careless even to cover their tracks. I'm bracing myself for the news that Latin was just an in-joke at my school) by saying: "If I were not French, I would wish to be English", the imperialist prime minister replied: "If I were not English, I would wish to be English."
I think that's quite funny in a patronising way and he didn't have to nick it from an insurance advert. But it's also an acceptable bit of patriotic joshing because it's basically OK to be French. I know I'm breaking the laws of comedy by saying this, but the French are fine. It's a lovely country and they're relatively well-off, so we can take the piss out of them, and concede piss to them, in the knowledge that both nations have the self-confidence to cope.
Palmerston wouldn't have been on such safe comic ground making that quip to someone from, say, Somalia. I mean, I can imagine lots of worse jokes that someone of Palmerston's era and attitudes might make in the unlikely event of his meeting someone from whatever Somalia was then (which may well have been nicer than what it is now) but even friendly "My country's better than your country" banter only really works when the point is arguable either way. It's rude to do it to someone whose homeland is screwed. You can say to a German: "What's with all the sausages!?" but you can't say to a Bangladeshi: "What's with all the flooding!?"
When Palmerston said "English" he meant British; he was born in London but was an Irish peer. (The irritation we feel at Americans who confuse those terms is rather hypocritical since, until well into the 20th century, most Britons also used them interchangeably.) As my mother is Welsh and my father's family is Scottish, although he was born in Liverpool, I've always thought of myself as British, not English. Maybe that's something only someone fundamentally English would say. But I was sad to see the SNP win a majority in the Scottish Parliament.
I know it doesn't necessarily make Scottish independence likely, but it makes it more likely. Although polls suggest that most Scots have no appetite to secede from the union and many were voting SNP for other reasons, now that Alex Salmond can control the timing of a referendum his hand is greatly strengthened.
It means the people of Scotland, or, rather, a majority of the British citizens who happen currently to reside there and turn up to vote, only have to fancy independence for a political instant and, if the canny first minister spots it, it'll happen. If his timing's right, independence could be carried through on a wave of optimism created by something as flimsy as Scotland qualifying for a World Cup. And stranger things have happened. More pertinently, precisely that strange thing has happened nine times.
When I appeared on an episode of Question Time broadcast from Musselburgh, near Edinburgh, the issue of Scottish independence came up. One of my fellow panellists, the SNP deputy leader, Nicola Sturgeon, was at pains to make clear that her party had nothing against England and were admirers of that country.
What I didn't say in response, what I've kicked myself for not expressing ever since, was: "Yes but you've got it in for Britain. You may be happily in cahoots with the morris-dancing English and the Eisteddfod-organising Welsh, but my country, the Britain of London where I now live, of Swansea, my mother's home town where I spent a lot of time as a child, and of Galloway, where my paternal grandparents lived, is something you want to destroy. I'm British, I care about this and I've a hunch I'm not the only one."
I'm slightly embarrassed to admit to this British patriotism. The Scottish equivalent feels more politically correct, focused as it is on cultural distinctiveness and national self-determination. No Scottish state has existed for hundreds of years so, unlike Britain, its image is untainted by actions, by realpolitik and compromise, by the slave trade and colonialism. But a desire for Scottish independence is no more rational than a desire to preserve the union, so either both desires should be ignored or both taken into account.
I don't think I should get a vote in a referendum on Scottish independence – I understand why that's a decision that would have to be taken by those living in Scotland. Otherwise, it would be like calling a Europe-wide vote on whether the UK should adopt the euro. Scotland's fate mustn't be decided by people who consider themselves to be primarily English, Welsh or Northern Irish. But I'm sad that, as a result, most of those whose emotional investment is in the union, we children of this potential divorce, won't have a say.
If Scotland ever goes it alone, those buoyed up as their sense of nationality gains accompanying sovereignty might take note of, and even fleetingly mourn, the fact that there are losers in that arrangement, too, and I'm not talking about oil revenues. The British will have lost their country. |
A small group of homeless men painstakingly scrape Sunset Beach in Cape Town every day, clearing it of rocks, shells and other debris. The beach is known for gathering a lot debris and these men are trying to make an impact.
Facebook user, Talya Ressel, posted pictures of the men saying:
“These guys, Michael and Andile, are homeless and were painstakingly raking Sunset Beach, clearing rocks and shells. When asked why, they said they are doing it of their own accord, to show people that even homeless people can still work and add value. Very humbling.”
Users on the social media site have since suggested trying to come together to raise funds for the men.
Elliot Schwarz wrote: “Would be great if we can get say 20 regular dog owner who need Sunset beach to each tip in R150 a month and we pay them any takers let me know?”
Lisa Hayden responded: “Count me in if the people who commented above do the same. I know some have more than one dog and really could give R150pm each but I’m not sure if this could be long term because there’s two guys or three and you talking about R3000pm being split amongst two or three people. I think finding them a job where they can earn minimum R3000 each would be more viable.. Don’t you think?” |
By Andrew Liszewski
Unlike the makers of that Canon EOS 350D savings bank, the makers of this DSLR-themed speaker and MP3 player don’t have to worry about any legal repercussions from Canon since they’ve cleverly named their device the ‘Caoon’. Even though it’s a perfect replica of one of the company’s DSLRs.
Well perfect except that instead of taking pictures (or storing pocket change) it serves as an external speaker for any device connected to its 3.5mm audio port, or as an MP3 player loading content from an SD card or USB flash drive. The buttons to the left of the display on the back have even been re-appropriated as playback controls, and because it’s a bit more high-tech than that bank, it will set you back $82.99.
[ Caoon DSLR MP3Player & Speaker ] VIA [ GeekAlerts ] |
Petition to make St Georges Day a bank holiday
Mandatory fields are identified with
St Georges Day Petition Form
Tameside Council has for many years proudly supported making St Georges Day a special day for local people.
As the patron saint of England it is right that Tameside residents are given the chance to mark this day and to be given the opportunity
to wear a red rose which is the national symbol of England, something that local people fully support and something we wish to continue to see happen.
This Council now believes that the time is right to make St Georges Day a national public holiday and will petition the Government to declare it as such.
I the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to make St Georges Day a national bank holiday for all of England.
Number of people signed up: 4187
Title / Forename Mr Mrs Miss Ms Sir Rev Dr Surname Are you a Tameside Resident? Yes No |
Someone Cares Inc. of Atlanta CEO and founder Ronnie Bass will give a wrap-up speech to the crowd in attendance at the National Trans Health Symposium on November 12–13. (Courtesy photo)
The transgender community is definitely having a moment, what with Laverne Cox, Caitlyn Jenner and other high profile transgender individuals stepping into the spotlight and starting conversations over the past year or so. But outside of that spotlight, there remain a number of troubling issues affecting the community, from the rash of murders of transgender women, high HIV rates in transgender women, lack of employment opportunities in the transgender community overall, and so on.
HIV/AIDS and overall health service organization Someone Cares Inc. of Atlanta aim to address some of those issues at their third annual National Trans Health Symposium on November 12–13 at the Loudermilk Conference Center.
Someone Cares is looking for physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, frontline clinical staff, social workers, case managers, mental health/substance abuse counselors, people from the transgender community, and others to take part in the event, the theme of which is “Opening the Doors of Opportunity—the Transgender Perspective.”
Domestic violence, hormone replacement therapy sessions on schedule
An opening night reception at Jungle Atlanta on Thursday, Nov. 12 will lead into a packed day at the National Trans Health Symposium on Friday.
“The roundtable discussions will cover everything from domestic violence to personal safety, hormone replacement therapy, employment barriers, just the different issues that people deal with,” says Ronnie Bass, founder and CEO of Someone Cares. “We’re talking about community-based resources, and that can include anything from mental health to medical care as well as just ongoing support.”
Additional subjects on the schedule for the roundtable discussions include the Trans Lives Matter movement, human sex trafficking, substance abuse in the transgender community, transgender legal issues and more. Speakers include Olga Lugo-Torres from Gilead Sciences, Ses Soltani from AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Holiday Simmons from Lambda Legal, numerous physicians and other medical professionals, and a symposium wrap-up by Bass on Saturday afternoon.
Getting transgender individuals proper insurance coverage will be another major focus of the symposium, with Bass saying that insurance carriers don’t recognize transgender people as a population and that gender markers need to be made available in order to help correct that.
“The transgender population at this conference has an opportunity to get empowered because we are engaging our clients in an uplifting, empowering way and building community and village,” Bass says.
“It’s for them to talk amongst themselves in a positive way and just giving them the knowledge and information and even the consumer skills to go out and make good choices whether it’s about a physician, whether it’s about medication, their safety, about relationships, all of those things.”
Sponsors of the event include AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Fulton County Department of Health and Wellness, Janssen Pharmaceutical Company and Emory Hope Clinic.
Keynote speaker to talk about self-empowerment
The recent ascendance of the transgender community in the national conversation over civil rights hasn’t gone unnoticed by Kylar W. Broadus, a transgender man and the keynote speaker for this year’s symposium. He just hopes the community can coalesce in order to take advantage of it.
“We should all come together to build a powerful trans movement, setting aside any differences because trans people are capable of leading our own movement,” he tells Georgia Voice. “Black people lead the civil rights movement and women lead the women’s movement, it makes sense that trans people lead the trans movement. We must realize that we are powerful as individuals and together.”
Broadus, a professor, attorney and longtime activist from Missouri who founded the Trans People of Color Coalition, is taking part in the symposium because he feels it’s important for transgender people and other marginalized populations to take control of their own health issues.
“I will be talking about self-empowerment,” he says of his keynote speech. “I think it’s important for trans people to realize that we as individuals are unique and special. We were born this way and are beautiful as we are. We are powerful people in our own right. We should love ourselves as we are and then others will love us. One way we can love ourselves is by taking care of our physical and mental health but also we can build wealth as well.”
2015 National Trans Health Symposium
Opening Reception: Thursday, November 12, 2015 at 6 p.m. at Jungle Atlanta
Symposium: Friday, November 13, 2015 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at The Loudermilk Conference Center
Early Bird Special: $150
Regular Registration: $200
Group Rate of Five: $600
www.someonecaresatl.org |
Photo
For almost three decades beginning in 1936, many African-American travelers relied on a booklet to help them decide where they could comfortably eat, sleep, buy gas, find a tailor or beauty parlor, shop on a honeymoon to Niagara Falls, or go out at night. In 1949, when the guide was 80 pages, there were five recommended hotels in Atlanta. In Cheyenne, Wyo., the Barbeque Inn was the place to stay.
A Harlem postal employee and civic leader named Victor H. Green conceived the guide in response to one too many accounts of humiliation or violence where discrimination continued to hold strong. These were facts of life not only in the Jim Crow South, but in all parts of the country, where black travelers never knew where they would be welcome. Over time its full title — “The Negro Motorist Green Book: An International Travel Guide” — became abbreviated, simply, as the “Green Book.” Those who needed to know about it knew about it. To much of the rest of America it was invisible, and by 1964, when the last edition was published, it slipped through the cracks into history.
Until he met a friend’s elderly father-in-law at a funeral a few years ago, the Atlanta writer Calvin Alexander Ramsey had never heard of the guide. But he knew firsthand the reason it existed. During his family trips between Roxboro, N.C., and Baltimore, “we packed a big lunch so my parents didn’t have to worry about having to stop somewhere that might not serve us,” recalled Mr. Ramsey, who is now 60.
He is among the writers, artists, academics and curators returning a spotlight to the guide and its author, emblematic as it was of a period when black Americans — especially professionals, salesmen, entertainers and athletes — were increasingly on the move for work, play and family visits.
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In addition to hotels, the guide often pointed them to “tourist homes,” privates residences made available by their African-American owners. Mr. Ramsey has written a play, “The Green Book,” about just such a home, in Jefferson City, Mo., where a black military officer and his wife and a Jewish Holocaust survivor all spend the night just before W. E. B. DuBois is scheduled to deliver a speech in town. The play will inaugurate a staged-reading series on Sept. 15 at the restored Lincoln Theater in Washington, itself once a fixture of that city’s “black Broadway” on U Street.
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Julian Bond, the civil rights leader who is now a faculty member at American University, will take on a cameo role. Mr. Bond recalled that his parents — his father, a college professor, became the first black president of Lincoln University, in southern Pennsylvania — used the book. “It was a guidebook that told you not where the best places were to eat,” he said, “but where there was any place.” |
Republicans like Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana — all possible 2016 presidential candidates — have accused Mr. Obama of leaving Americans vulnerable to the Ebola epidemic. Conservative media like the Drudge Report have created crude puns to rhyme the president’s last name with the virus. The Daily Caller has christened him “President Ebola.”
And after news broke that the Secret Service had failed in several instances to adequately protect the first family, it was one of the president’s biggest antagonists on Capitol Hill, Representative Darrell Issa, Republican of California, who convened a hearing and upbraided the agency’s director for incompetence.
“I think Republicans want people to turn on the television and see that nothing is working,” said Robert Gibbs, Mr. Obama’s former spokesman.
Mr. Gibbs said he found it curious that John A. Boehner, the Republican speaker of the House, used the word “competence” in a recent interview when describing what voters would care about. But whether voters will place all the blame on Democrats is another question. “It will be interesting to see,” Mr. Gibbs said, “if they can convince people that they aren’t part of that dysfunction.”
When Republicans picked up seats in the House and Senate in 2010, they did so by running on burning emotional issues like unemployment and anger over the passage of the Affordable Care Act. |
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La Voz de Asturias Luis Fernández
Redacción 06/05/2017 07:36 h
El centro de Oviedo ha sido, un año más, el epicentro de las reivindicaciones en defensa de la «oficialidá» de la llingua asturiana. La manifestación, convocada por la Xunta pola Defensa de la Llingua, ha servido para festejar el Día de les Lletres Asturianes en un acto que ha contado con el respaldo de numerosos colectivos sociales y políticos que han querido mostrar su respaldo a la «oficialidá».
La manifestación estuvo encabezada por una banda de gaitas que amenizaba la protesta. Entre los manifestantes podía verse a gente de varias generaciones con una presencia, cada vez mayor si se compara con años anteriores, de gente joven. Entre las proclamas, desde las más tradicionales, como la que recogía la pancarta que encabezaba la concentración con el lema «L´asturianu, llingua oficial yá!!», hasta otras que hacían referencia a temas de más actualidad como la «Especialidá docente xa!!».
Al finalizar la manifestación, los convocantes leyeron un manifiesto en el que animaban a «recuperar los derechos perdíos y caltener los que tenemos». El objetivo es la oficialidad, motivo por el que desde la Xunta explican que «llevamos meses trazando d´esplorar y andar, pela primer vez na historia comtemporánea d´Asturies, caminos nuevos que´empobinen a una reforma del Estatutu d´Autonomía, a costafecha pa incluyir la oficialidá del asturianu». Para conseguirlo, ya cuentan con el compromiso de un grupo «amplio y plural» de parlamentarios y aseguran que están trabajando para sumar a su causa a más diputados que les permitan alcanzar una mayoría suficiente para reconocer la oficialidad. «Ye´l momentu de desmostrar que´l futuru ye nuestru, que ta y va siguir tando nes nuestres manes» prosigue el manifiesto.
Para que esa reivindicación tenga recorrido en la Junta General, será fundamental el papel de diputados regionales, algunos de los cuales estaban en la manifestación. La mayoría eran de Podemos (entre otros, Emilio León, Andrés Ron o Enrique López), y también había de Iu (como Gaspar Llamazares o Concha Masa). A nivel regional no había nadie del PSOE, aunque sí estaba Diego Valiño, concejal socialista en el Ayuntamiento de Oviedo. Del consistorio de la capital también estaban, por ejemplo, Iván Álvarez y Cristina Pontón (IU), Ignacio Fernández del Páramo o Fernando Villacampa (Somos). También estaba, entre otros, Mario Suárez del Fueyo (Xixón Sí Puede). |
In September, the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority wrote to all homeopaths informing them that it would be taking action against homeopaths that did not comply with the rules for making claims in advertising. It has taken the ASA many years to get to this position after trying to work with homeopaths and their trade bodies to ensure they cleaned up their act. The Nightingale Collaboration has been campaigning hard and working with the ASA to ensure the alternative health sector of the advertising world complies with the rules.
Homeopaths have, of course, taken umbrage. Homeopaths want to be free to make any wild claim they dream up from their fantasy world of health where sugar pills cure serious illnesses.
In many ways, homeopaths should not find an issue with this. The Society of Homeopaths Code of Ethics is quite clear that homeopaths should respect advertising laws as managed by the ASA. However, this blog has long maintained that mere lip service is played to the Advertising Code and the their Code of Ethics is a fig leaf to hide their extreme anti-science views.
The ASA for their part, make it clear that they do not want homeopaths to stop practicing. Instead, they simply want compliance with a code that all other industries are happy with.
We have no intention of restricting the ability of practitioners to advertise legitimate and legal services, nor do we seek to restrict the right of individuals to choose treatment. However, when advertisers make claims about products or services, whatever the sector, they must hold appropriate evidence to back up those claims. If they do not, then we have a responsibility to intervene to protect consumers by ensuring that those ads are amended or withdrawn.
To date, the Society of Homeopaths have simply issued a press release to their members saying they are ‘here to help’ them comply and have issued guidance on how to keep within the law. On the face of it, if their members complied with the Society’s guidelines then there would be little trouble for anyone. The Society give pretty sensible advice on keeping out of trouble!
However, this time it looks as if the Society of Homeopath’s members are not happy with this approach and appear to have bounced the leadership into more confrontational action. It looks as if some rogue members have formed their own action group, in spite of their leadership, to take the fight to the ASA, and are campaigning amongst the membership to fight the guidelines.
So, today, the Society of Homeopaths have issued a new press release saying they are taking legal advice on the status of the ASA.
Mark Taylor, the Society’s Chief Executive commented, ” The Board is concerned that the actions currently being taken have potential implications for the livelihood of members and yet there is real doubt whether the ASA has a legal basis for the actions it is taking, particularly as it is a private unaccountable company. We have asked for some legal advice to assess if we have a case.” Meanwhile, 6 RSHoms have written to all Society members asking them to join in a protest about the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
Before we move on to the funnier bits of the story, let’s get this legal thing out of the way.
The ASA was set up as a marketing industry body to provide a simple way of policing advertising standards that prevented advertisers being exposed to the risks and costs of the courts. The idea is simple: if the industry maintains its own standards, then advertisers have a straightforward way of seeking help on how to comply with the law and a method of settling complaints that does not result in someone going to prison or getting a big fine. All reasonable advertisers recognise this and there is much respect for the body that allows a creative and successful advertising industry to thrive without being fearful of legal red-tape.
It does not mean that the legal sanctions do not still exist. It means that the enforcers of consumer law recognise that the ASA can give advertisers the best chance to comply before they need to get heavy handed. If the ASA, in conjunction with the advertiser, fail to create solutions to a bad advert then the legal sanctions can kick in. Homeopaths spectacularly fail to understand this and want to question the ‘legal credentials’ of the ASA. The ASA should be their friend in helping them stay legal, decent and honest. Their enemy, of course, is reality. Homeopaths want to claim things that are not true and that they do not have robust evidence for. But instead of embracing science and working in the best interests of their customers, they want to defend their spectacularly deluded beliefs to the death – probably of one of their clients.
So, this is where it gets a bit more interesting. The ‘gang of six’ letter and their arguments against the ASA have fallen into my hands.
Here is what they have written to homeopaths in order to get them to fight the ASA.
Response to the position of Advertising Standards Authority Ltd and Committees on Advertising Practice Ltd on homeopathy. Call to action The recent letter sent out to all UK homeopaths from the Committee of Advertising Practice stated, “The ASA considered a body of evidence which sought to demonstrate the efficacy of homeopathy in treating a range of medical conditions. On the basis of expert advice, the ASA concluded that the evidence was insufficient to support any efficacy claims”. Professor Robert Hahn is Head of Research at Södertälje Hospital, Södertälje, Sweden. Despite having no personal interests in homeopathy whatever, he was so distressed by the activities of homeopathy denialists that he examined the ‘research’ of Shang and Ernst for himself, and easily saw that only by omitting 98% of the evidence could anyone say that homeopathy is ineffective. The Swiss HTA authors, Professor Matthiessen and Dr Gudrun Bornhöft, protested to ASA Ltd three years ago (when ASA was ‘considering the evidence for homeopathy’ – see attached), that ASA had airbrushed 99% of the research in the Swiss Health Technology Assessment out of existence, and grossly misrepresented the other 1%. The attached document is a comprehensive challenge to ASA’s position. We would greatly welcome the support of all colleagues as detailed below. What to do We ask you to add to our efforts by sending a short Email of complaint about ASA and CAP to: 1) The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/report-anti-competitive-or-market-issues-to-the-cma 2) Your local Trading Standards office, which forward all complaints to a central office. Your local office can be found here: http://www.tradingstandards.uk/advice/index.cfm#postcodesearchform.
3) Trading Standards, Camden (who have ‘agreed to act as ASA’s legal backstop’) – Email address ppp@… What to say A short message is more likely to be read. For example – “Would you please investigate allegations of illegal bias against homeopaths and homeopathy by the Advertising Standards Authority Ltd, in breach of Consumer Protection Regulations”. To justify your request you can then i) Attach the whole ‘document’ and say your reasons for writing are to be found in the attachment; or ii) Paste just the document’s resume into your message as your reasons; or iii) Choose a few parts from the document that particularly catch your eye; or iv) Write your own message. The same message can be sent to all three addresses. Trading Standards plays a numbers game – every complaint counts! Other CAM practitioners have already asked both Trading Standards (TS) and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to investigate alleged breaches of the Consumer Protection Act by ASA Ltd., and we too have already done likewise. Homeopathy denialists have been so thoroughly trounced in so many countries around the world that it may not be so hard to achieve here too, if enough people are willing to make it happen. As antimicrobial resistance steadily grows, this country needs homeopathy. Please join us – it won’t take you long. Signed Heather Abel RSHom
Paul Burnett RSHom
Selina Hatherley RSHom
Annie Hirsch RSHom
Ursula Kraus-Harper RSHom
Rix Pyke RSHom
Lucinda Torabi RSHom
Gregory Wessels RSHom
There is much here to dismantle (not least that it is not six homeopaths) and much, much more in their ‘attached document’ – which we shall come to shortly.
Firstly, the hero of the day for the homeopaths is ‘Professor Robert Hahn, Head of Research at Södertälje Hospital’ whose credentials appear to be that he appears to know nothing about homeopathy. Hahn does know quite a lot though about getting “Clear Responses From the Spirit World.” He also knows nothing about systematic reviews where it is quite normal to get rid of the bulk of studies that do not comply with an acceptable quality standard. In the quackademic world of homeopathy, that is almost all of them.
The other ‘academics’ that boost their claim are Professor Matthiessen and Dr Gudrun Bornhöft who authored the so-called Swiss HTA on homeopathy that came to positive conclusions about homeopathy. Of course, they fail to mention that Matthiessen and Bornhöft wrote this from a private University that specialised in occult and alternative medical research. The report is an embarrassment of poor methodology and was rejected by the Swiss government.
The ‘challenge’ document is a masterclass in paranoia, silliness and delusion. The ‘Resumé’ of their document consists of seven points each of which is spectacularly wrong.
One point that is worth drawing out is point (f) where it is claimed that ‘A vicious campaign of ‘lies’ and disinformation against homeopathy, with apparently widespread intimidation, has been waged not least in the UK. Evidence suggests this to be in breach of serious criminal laws. ‘
In their document, they go into more detail. They say,
A seeming army of online anti-homeopathy bloggers, all supporting each other with personal opinion and pseudo-science and using the S&T to justify themselves, and some openly admitting to being paid, e.g. ‘Gimpy’, who admits being a pharmaceutical researcher, and who encourages people to: ‘Kill, kill, kill, mutilate, smash, annihilate, obliterate or at least maim all the homeopaths’. (Later he says not to kill them, but apparently still wishes to mutilate, smash and maim them). Will Trading Standards (TS) and the CMA please take all necessary steps to identify this man and bring him to court?
If true, this would be serious. But beautifully, they reference a website that is actually a spoof of Gimpy’s blog (now defunct) that was almost certainly written by an angry homeopath. It’s a homeopath’s fevered fantasy about what a homeopathy critic is actually like: an adolescent anorak wearing, narcissistic troll funded by Big Pharma and wanting to smash everything up. The real Gimpy differs from this caricature in a number of significant areas.
A quote from this spoof web site:
So I’m lying in bed later that evening with an early hangover, and I start to think, like, after we Kill, kill, kill, mutilate, smash, annihilate, obliterate or at least maim all the homeopaths, where’s all the funding gonna come from. I got a cold sweat sudden like. You know I’m up at 6 every morning on the old Google alert and twitter, following every lead there is, blogging and sending nasty emails all day long. It’s a full time job, and I deserve every penny I get. But I realised suddenly, hey I got to leave some of these homeopaths around for bashing, cause I don’t fancy a round with the Chiropractors after the bloody nose that Singh got, and like no one’s gonna fund me against the church, and lets face it they make similar claims to the hom’s – think about it – healing and belief and prayer and energy and holy virgins and all that). Who’s going to fund that? I mean I don’t really fancy getting back to experimenting on all those mice in cages. Even worse, whose gonna read my blog!? Who’s going to even notice little me? Nightmare.
I asked Gimpy if he knew who had written this to target him. Unfortunately, he did not. Please do read the other ‘posts’ on this site to get into the mindset of how homeopaths view thinking people.
Anyway, first indications are that homeopaths are being told by those that they complain to to not be so silly. Of course. It does look like if homeopaths refuse to comply then they will be referred to the appropriate authorities and will be investigated and may well end up with criminal records. The Society of Homeopaths could be ensuring that deluded nonsense like the above is shut down and instead their members’ minds are focussed on ensuring their websites and advertising comply with the law. If a homeopath ends up prosecuted then the Society must share their part of the responsibility for that.
I suspect though that the Society of Homeopaths want to hedge their bets. They want to appear professional and responsible to the Professional Standards Association but at the same time avoid a new schism within the quack world. After the internecine Quack Wars (which Gimpy documented so thoroughly) of a decade ago, the trade has begun to form a more unified approach to matters. The action of the ASA might well be driving a new wedge between those that aspire to be ‘professional’ and those that want to take a fundamentalist and uncompromising stand for their cult.
Update 23 November 2016
The Nightingale Collaboration follow up with Freedom of Information requests and other details on the tricky choices teh Society of Homeopaths has to make over policing its quack membership.
The different faces of the Society of Homeopaths |
November 10, 2015 | Filed Under Air Force, Anti-Americanism, Army, Coast Guard, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Ethics, Government, Government Corruption, Holiday, Liberals, Marines, Military, National Guard, Navy, Oregon, Progressives, Veterans, Veterans Day, Veterans Day, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off on Seattle University Tells Veterans They Can’t Say ‘Controversial’ Pledge of Allegiance or Display U.S. Flag
-By Warner Todd Huston
Last week a dust up between Seattle Pacific University and a veterans group was kicked up when the university informed the group that they would not be allowed to say the Pledge of Allegiance and present the colors during their veteran’s day ceremony.
A group called the Military and Veteran Support Club at SPU had scheduled a ceremony to be held in the university’s chapel for the upcoming Veterans Day holiday. The group intended to perform the Pledge of Allegiance and wanted to present the colors during the ceremony. But the plans were nixed by the university because they were deemed too “controversial.”
As the veteran group noted on its Facebook page, “This integral part of veteran support was deemed controversial due to the fact that it may make some individuals “uncomfortable”. It is important to note that University Ministries initially approved the pledge and the presentation of colors, but then rescinded approval of this portion of the service.”
But the University told Fox 13, “The organizers decided not to include the pledge of allegiance and the presentation of colors during the November 10 chapel, given that there are diversity of views on campus whether such elements should be part of a Christian worship service.”
The sudden removal of the Pledge and the flag ceremony, though, didn’t sit well with Daniel Fenlason, an organizer of Students for Military Veterans Support club, who said, “We should be able to pledge allegiance to the flag inside of our own church, in our own house of worship [for] the same people who died for that same right.”
School officials were sure that by eliminating the Pledge and the flags they were acting in the best interests of students that dislike the American flag, the Pledge of allegiance, and our soldiers.
Finally, after the standoff between the school and the group made it into the media, the school reversed course and relented.
Ultimately the group’s Facebook page announced on November 6 that school administrators had changed their minds saying, “Students will now have the opportunity to say the pledge of allegiance and honor the veterans with the presentation of the colors at a pre-chapel ceremony.”
But let’s remember how this began. It began because the school’s first thought was that displaying the flag, saying the Pledge and honoring our veterans would somehow “upset” students and that because of this it should be quashed.
What we see here once again is that our system of higher learning is infested with people that hate our country.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing news, opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that wrote articles on U.S. history for several American history magazines. Huston is a featured writer for Andrew Breitbart’s Breitbart News, and he appears on such sites as RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, Wizbang.com, and many, many others. Huston has also appeared on Fox News, Fox Business Network, CNN, and many local TV shows as well as numerous talk radio shows throughout the country.
For a full bio, please CLICK HERE.
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Trojita 0.4 "Ukraine" is released
Hi all,
we are pleased to announce version 0.4 of Trojitá, a fast Qt IMAP e-mail client. For this release, a lot of changes were made under the hood, but of course there are some changes that are visible to the user as well.
Improvements:
Users are able to use multiple sessions, which means that it is possible to use Trojitá with multiple IMAP accounts at the same time. It can be used by invoking Trojitá with the --profile something switch. For each profile, a new instance of the application is started. Please note that this is not our final solution for the multi-accounts problem; work on this is ongoing. For details, refer to the detailed instructions.
switch. For each profile, a new instance of the application is started. Please note that this is not our final solution for the multi-accounts problem; work on this is ongoing. For details, refer to the detailed instructions. In the Composer Window, users can now control whether the current message is a reply to some other message. Hopefully, this will make it easier to reply to a ton of people while starting a new thread, not lumping the unrelated conversations together.
Trojitá will now detect changes to the network connection state. So for example, when a user switches from a wireless connection to a wired one, Trojitá will detect that and try to reconnect automatically.
Trojitá gained a setting to automatically use the system proxy settings.
SOCKS5 and HTTP proxies are supported.
Memory usage has been reduced and speed has been improved. Our benchmarks indicate being ten times faster when syncing huge mailboxes, and using 38% less memory at the same time.
The Compose Window supports editing the "From" field with hand-picked addresses as per common user requests.
This release has been tagged in git as " v0.4 ". You can also download a tarball (GPG signature). Prebuilt binaries for multiple distributions are available via the OBS .
This release is dedicated to the people of all nations living in Ukraine. We are no fans of political messages in software announcements, but we also cannot remain silent when unmarked Russian troops are marching over a free country. The Trojitá project was founded in a republic formerly known as Czechoslovakia. We were "protected" by foreign aggressors twice in the 20th century — first in 1938 by the Nazi Germany, and second time in 1968 by the occupation forces of the USSR. Back in 1938, Adolf Hitler used the same rhetorics we hear today: that a national minority was oppressed. In 1968, eight people who protested against the occupation in Moscow were detained within a couple of minutes, convicted and sent to jail. In 2014, Moscowians are protesting on a bigger scale, yet we all see the cops arresting them on Youtube — including those displaying blank signs.
This is not about politics, this is about morality. What is happening today in Ukraine is a barbaric act, an occupation of an innocent country which has done nothing but stopped being attracted to their more prominent eastern neighbor. No matter what one thinks about the international politics and the Crimean independence, this is an act which must be condemned and fiercely fought against. There isn't much what we could do, so we hope that at least this symbolic act will let the Ukrainians know that the world's thoughts are with them in this dire moment. За вашу и нашу свободу, indeed!
Finally, we would like to thank Jai Luthra, Danny Rim, Benjamin Kaiser and Yazeed Zoabi, our Google Code-In students, and Stephan Platz, Karan Luthra, Tomasz Kalkosiński and Luigi Toscano, people who recently joined Trojitá, for their code contributions.
The Trojitá developers |
Calgary will soon be home to the largest tube park in western Canada.
Scheduled to open Dec. 17 at Canada Olympic Park, the Acura Tube Park will feature 10 lanes of varying speeds and have its own dedicated magic carpet for getting to the top.
The park is located on the east side of the main hill and will be open until the end of March.
Tickets will be sold in two-, three- and four-hour increments. Those with an annual WinSport family membership will get free access on Mondays and Tuesdays.
The goal is to get more people exposed to snow sports, said John Sutherland, CEO of WinSport, which owns and operates COP.
"The tube park allows us to use our expertise in snow making and build an activity that requires no equipment or skill," Sutherland said in a release.
"We see it as a gateway to snow, where we can then progress participants to skiing and snowboarding if they haven't been introduced to them already." |
Does it work? The Vulcan RAM is field proven by the units that have been installed in almost every country in the world, developed and developing, for over two centuries. Every pump is guaranteed forever. Most RAMs, installed prior to 1800, are still working as well as the day they were installed, and we still maintain a stock of all parts on the shelf. Read the Story of Gowran Castle in Kilkenny In 2013 our product was installed in China - Watch Video
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Ramp Pump Leaflet - courtesy of Ian Clark |
Washington, DC – The Space Frontier Foundation is pleased to announce the creation of a new tool, the Settlement Enabling Test. This tool acknowledges that our fundamental goal in space exploration is large scale space settlement, and provides a way to determine if our national space policy is delivering on the promise of space settlement. This expands on our previous Frontier Enabling Test that has been with us since our founding.
For many years, the Foundation and other organizations have been advocating for space settlement. Over the past few years, those efforts have paid off, with national policy moving towards space settlement. Some examples of this include:
The Vision for Space Exploration stated “The fundamental goal of this vision is to advance U.S. scientific, security, and economic interests through a robust space exploration program“
John Marburger, presidential science adviser for President George W. Bush, said “questions about the vision boil down to whether we want to incorporate the solar system in our economic sphere …. the question has been decided in the affirmative“
President Obama stated “Our goal is the capacity for people to work and learn and operate and live safely beyond the Earth for extended periods of time, ultimately in ways that are more sustainable and even indefinite.”
“The fact that space settlement has shown up multiple times at the highest level of power without regard to political party, shows that people do see the value in space settlement,” stated James Pura, President of the Space Frontier Foundation. “But it’s not enough to have a goal – we need to formally proclaim it as our goal, and we need to develop a strategy that will achieve that goal. That is what the Settlement Enabling Test allows us to do.”
The Space Frontier Foundation carefully deconstructed what the conditions are that would show large-scale space settlement is happening. It developed metrics across multiple areas, such as societal values, ensuring sustainability of space, pro-settlement legal and regulatory policy, and creating value from space. Each category has a series of questions that allow the user to measure how settlement enabling a space policy is. The intention is to apply it to various space policies (from policies no longer in existence, to policies that are still in development), and determine whether a national policy is settlement enabling. The test, along with instructions SFF uses to apply the test, can be found on the Space Frontier Foundation’s website, under the heading Settlement Enabling Test. In addition, an abbreviated version can be found in this week’s SpaceNews.
“It is our hope that as the US and other countries work to expand humanity’s use of space, elected officials and policy makers apply the Settlement Enabling Test to all of their country’s endeavors,” said the Foundation’s Policy Director, Aaron Oesterle. “This will help to improve polices, and ensure space settlement happens sooner, perhaps even in our lifetime.” |
by Brett Stevens on May 2, 2017
Humanity in the West is rapidly separating into two groups: an increasingly-emboldened realist wing, and then those who want to continue the path of the last century toward accelerating Leftism.
Most have phrased this as a heartland-versus-the-coasts division, but increasingly, it is looking more like a separation between those who can live independently of this system and those who depend upon it:
In an important essay for The Washington Post, Will Wilkinson recently examined President Trump’s consistent rhetorical hostility to cities and noted the salience of the urban-rural divide for understanding the outcome of the 2016 election. “The bigger, denser, and more diverse the city, the better Hillary Clinton did in November. But Trump prevailed everywhere else — in small cities, suburbs, exurbs, and beyond.” And so it has been in other places as well. In the Brexit vote, London strongly voted to stay in the EU, while less densely populated industrial centers and more rural areas voted to leave. Most recently, Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s anti-democratic referendum in Turkey narrowly passed despite strong opposition in Istanbul and Ankara, because it was strongly supported in outlying areas. The same is likely to happen in France’s upcoming presidential election, in which Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Front will do well outside of Paris while losing the capital in a landslide. Since the time of Aristotle, political philosophers have noted that those who live in cities have a different sensibility than those who live in the countryside. The American constitutional framers were certainly aware of and concerned about the difference. Thomas Jefferson famously declared that republican government needed to be founded on the virtues practiced and fostered by yeomen farmers — and fretted that commerce encourages vices that could be incompatible with it.
The above sets up two groups. The first are not as diverse, in smaller cities, suburbs, exurbs and rural areas. The second are diverse in large or dense cities as one finds on the coasts. The difference between these is that people in the rest of the nation have to be more self-reliant, where city living is inherently interdependent, making social influence more important. This means that people get their political opinions from what the hive thinks.
Someone in the suburb or a small city must figure things out for themselves, have some money set aside, own their own tools, and so on. In the city, there is no room to store tools or possibly even have a car. For this reason, people are more interdependent than independent.
Even more, we have to look at the cause-and-effect dimension here. What type of person wants to live in a city? A highly social one, possibly one accustomed to codependent relationships. Who strikes out for the burbs, smaller places or rural areas? Those who like recognize that society is a farce, that life is a solitary pursuit, and that meaning must be had outside of the world of socializing.
With the Battle of Berkeley, we see the sides being formed. On one hand are the Leftists who want full Socialism or more, and on the other, an awakened roots Right that merges Nietzschean and commonsense sentiments in a view that our civilization has collapsed, and we have to tear out the bad and rebuild.
To a city person, this view is apocalyptic because it will infringe on their lifestyle right now. They do not care about twenty years from now, or the future beyond their own lifespan. They want the convenience they depend on in order to make city life workable, even if that leaves a cloud of doom after them.
This attitude is consistent with a lack of independence. To be independent, you have to be willing to give up convenience for solid values, and this requires discovering how things work, which in turn provokes an appreciation for the timeless and incessant. It is an entirely different mentality.
It is possible that this split shows us nature separating humanity into new species. One species for example might totally turn its back on our hunter-gatherer heritage and become more hive-oriented, like ants or bees. These humans will probably be dumber, more social, and exist as either leaders or drones. They will operate exclusively through swarms. And, they will always produce the same type of hive, with the same activities, dead-ending evolution.
The other is going to pick up the mantle of evolution as produced the West. These independent creatures will be community-oriented because having a stable civilization serves the cause of independence, and not individualistic, because asserting individualism before realism weakens the individual. They will also be ruthlessly self-focused and view most of humanity as an aggravated screw-up which will go nowhere, and therefore will brush it aside and push ahead.
Our ancestors were like this, but were interrupted when the power of socializing came about. For the last few thousand years, humans have been beguiling and manipulating each other with social symbols, and this has brought on an age of decay. Now the groups are separating: those who wish to liquefy the assets of society and live on the proceeds, and those who want to rebuild and restore a renewed Western Civilization.
Tags: evolution, hive, hive mind, renewal, restoration, swarms
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Gain Root Access Remotely with Newly Discovered Vulnerability Within macOS High Sierra (CVE-2017–13872)
How an attacker gains root remotely on macOS High Sierra (no password needed) and how to protect yourself from this vulnerability.
Drew Branch Blocked Unblock Follow Following Nov 29, 2017
UPDATE: Apple released a patch for CVE-2017–13872, Security Update 2017–001. This update is available for systems running macOS 10.13.1. We recommend immediately applying this update.
A newly discovered flaw, disclosed by Lemi Ergin[1], within macOS High Sierra permits root-level access without requiring a password. This vulnerability affects High Sierra version 10.13 and 10.13.1. During the initial disclosure of this vulnerability, the replication of the exploit required physical access. However, with further testing, we discovered that this vulnerability could be exploited remotely, by an adversary with network access to a macOS High Sierra system with: (1) the default root account is disabled and (2) Apple’s Screen Sharing functionality enabled.
This vulnerability is easily exploitable as an attacker could merely request to Screen Share with a macOS High Sierra, Screen Sharing enabled machine then enter “root” as the username with the password field blank multiple times as shown in Figure 1. This method enables the root account on the remote system without a password, which in return, allows remote access via Screen Sharing using the root account.
Figure 1. Remotely enabling the root account via Screen Sharing.
When a user is logged into a user account with Screen Sharing enabled, the attacker has the ability to log in as “root” (Figure 2), achieving a separate desktop session. This behavior also occurred while the screen was locked. However, when the user logs out, true screen sharing occurs, providing the ability to eavesdrop or control the victim’s active desktop session unnoticeably.
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Figure 2. Log in as root option via Screen Sharing.
As mentioned, an attacker could also enable the root user account with physical access to a logged in and unlocked machine — no matter the configuration of Screen Sharing. The user account logged into the targeted system could hold standard user privileges as the exploit does not require administrator rights.
In both cases, after the adversary gains unauthorized superuser access to the machine, the remote attacker could modify the system’s configurations to weaken its security posture (e.g., disable the firewall or enable remote logins), or worse, install malicious software to gain a permanent foothold in the compromised machine.
Detection
Currently, we identified two ways to discover if your machine was targeted and successfully compromised.
1. If an attacker logs into a system as root while the victim was logged in, the System Administrator user account appears on the login screen when the victim logs out of the system (Figure 3). Note: The System Administrator user account does not appear on system reboot.
Figure 3. System Administrator account appears on login screen on logout.
2. If an attacker actively logs into the system while the victim was logged in, logged out, or if the screen was locked, then the victim attempted to reboot the compromised system, the victim would receive a prompt denoting users are logged into the machine as shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4. Prompted recieved when attempting to reboot compromised machine while an attacker is logged in.
Mitigation
Currently, a patch for this vulnerability is not available. Until Apple releases an official update for this vulnerability, Apple recommends changing the root account’s password or enabling the root account then setting a password to mitigate this security flaw’s risks. In addition to Apple’s guidance, we recommend selecting a secure password for the root account to improve the security posture of the High Sierra machine further. These steps are depicted below in Figures 5 and 6.
Enable Root Account
Figure 5. Steps to enable root account[2].
Change Root Account’s Password |
CLEARWATER, Fla. -- That scruffy beard Cole Hamels has been sporting this spring training will be gone by the time the Philadelphia Phillies open the regular season.
Hamels plans to look his best for his first career Opening Day start.
"It's too itchy," Hamels said with a laugh.
Hamels has a different look right now, but the lanky lefty is the same, dominant pitcher on the mound. When the Phillies face the Atlanta Braves on April 1, he'll take the ball over Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee.
"It's something I will cherish and to be able to get your team off to the right start, that's ultimately what it is, it sets the tone for the whole season," Hamels said. "You work toward it, you get in the best possible shape, prepare for the game and then you go out and execute. It's something I'll be able to remember for a really long time. At the same time, it's going to be a great season. I really look forward to the season."
Hamels already has a World Series ring, a pair of postseason MVP trophies and a lucrative contract. He's gone from ace of a championship team to being the No. 4 starter in a star-filled rotation and now back to No. 1. Even before Halladay and Lee joined the Phillies, Brett Myers got the nod over Hamels for Opening Day. Now it's finally his chance.
Hamels is coming off his best all-around season. He set career-highs in wins (17) and strikeouts (216), compiled a 3.05 ERA and made his third All-Star team. While Halladay (11-8, 4.49) was plagued by injuries and Lee (6-9, 3.16) suffered from poor run support, Hamels became the team's most reliable pitcher. Just a year earlier, he was behind Halladay, Lee and Roy Oswalt on the depth chart.
"It's something you don't really want to get hyped up about it because there's so much work to be done in spring training," Hamels said. "They've let us get our work in without the distraction, which is a good thing. When they made the announcement, it's nice to be honored by the team, the organization and obviously the starting pitchers. Whenever you are able to lead them into battle, you want to do your best and set the tone for what the season is going to be like."
The 29-year-old Hamels enters his eighth season with the Phillies with a peace of mind he's never had in previous camps. He doesn't have questions about his long-term future because he signed a $144 million, six-year contract last July, giving up a chance to get even more money in free agency.
Hamels was selected by the Phillies with the 17th overall pick in the 2002 amateur draft and hopes to wear red pinstripes his entire career. He enjoys the city and its fans. That's why he had no problem signing the deal just a few months before he could' have hit the open market.
"Comfort is everything," Hamels said. "Where you're comfortable you're able to be happy, you're able to play at the best level you can and this is where I'm comfortable. I know this organization really well. I look forward to seeing the players they draft every year come up because I know they're going to make a difference because they've done a phenomenal job (in past drafts).
"You want to be there to witness it and still be around when a new core comes up. And, when the fans are coming to games and we're selling out games, there's an excitement level to go on the field every day and you see they're wearing Philly red and they're following you to road games, that's why we play baseball and that ups our game even more."
Hamels was the main reason the Phillies won the second title in franchise history in 2008. He was MVP of the World Series and NL championship series, going 4-0 with a 1.80 ERA in five postseason starts.
But he regressed the following year and even got passed up as the No. 2 pitcher behind Lee in the World Series against the New York Yankees. Pedro Martinez started twice while Hamels only got one start in a series the Phillies lost in six games.
Hamels, though, got back on track in 2010. Over the past three seasons, he's 43-26 with a 2.97 ERA. Personal goals aside, Hamels' main priority is winning another ring.
"This is something we want to do," he said. "We want to win 173 games and that's what we're going to play for."
Hamels continued getting ready for the opener with a minor league start on Saturday, allowing four runs and six hits in five innings. Hamels expects to make two more exhibition starts and plans to try to reach 100 pitches his next time out.
"It's a little stressful to do it the first time in the season," he said. "It's a lot easier transition to do it here first." |
New Delhi pollution halts India-Sri Lanka Test match, with players vomiting in change room
Updated
Players donned face masks and some left the field to vomit as the third Test between India and Sri Lanka in New Delhi was interrupted by heavy pollution.
The majority of the Sri Lankan players returned from the second day's lunch break wearing facemasks as the seasonal haze affecting the region thickened over the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in the Indian capital.
The second session witnessed two stoppages, of 17 and five minutes, as Lahiru Gamage and his pace colleague Suranga Lakmal both left the field finding it difficult to breathe.
"It's well documented that Delhi has high level of pollution," Sri Lanka coach Nic Pothas said afterwards, calling it a "unique case".
"At one point, we had a case of coming off the field vomiting. There were oxygen things in the change room. It's not normal for players to suffer that way," he said.
Umpires Nigel Llong and Joel Wilson were discussing the air quality with the tourists when India captain Virat Kohli, who had smashed a career-best 243 on his home ground, declared India's innings on 7 for 536.
Sri Lanka, trailing 0-1 in the series, batted for 44.3 overs to reach 3 for 131 at stumps.
Pothas said a couple of his players vomited in the dressing room but denied the tourists at any stage pressed for stopping the game.
"We are here to play cricket … there was not a case of us wanting to stop. We just wanted to have some clarity on the safety of the players," the South African said.
"When it became unsafe, I think that's where the conversation started because the safety of the players is of paramount importance."
'We aren't too bothered about it'
Delhi's government last month ordered schools temporarily shut after pollution readings in some places peaked at 500, the most severe level on the government's air quality index that measures poisonous particles.
India's bowling coach Bharat Arun, however, played down the issue.
"Virat batted close to two days, he didn't need a mask," he said, referring to the India captain's second successive double hundred in the series.
"We are focused on what we need to do. The conditions are the same for both, we aren't too bothered about it."
India head coach Ravi Shastri also entered the ground for a chat with the umpires.
"Ravi was pretty simple. He said 'please get on with the game, you don't need to stop'," Arun said.
"I think the umpires and the match referee have a job on hand and it's not up to the players to go and protest. They know what they are doing.
"When the play was unnecessarily being stopped, we just wanted to get on with the game because our focus is to win the Test match."
Arun was less than sympathetic to the Sri Lankans, saying it was "their problem to keep their bowlers fit" and denied India was forced to declare its innings.
Environmental expert Sirajuddin Ahmed said the pollution level in the nation's capital was five times higher than normal, adding that playing in such conditions would be difficult for the players.
"The air quality index is five times higher, and around this air quality value … exercising, running and walking in such conditions causes irritations," he said.
"A few years ago I also experienced irritation while walking — I had felt a burning sensation in my eyes and there were problems while my breathing.
"Therefore, playing in such conditions is difficult, but even then I would like to say that the match should continue."
Reuters
Topics: cricket, sport, air-pollution, india, sri-lanka
First posted |
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Stuart Varney is one of Fox's most popular business and economic reporters. I say this not because he's good or bad, but because you can see him on his own show on Fox Business Network and all through the day on FNC. He does his guest spots on Fox & Friends, Megyn Kelly and Bill O'Reilly. Maybe Roger Ailes just likes Varney's accent. We know what else he likes on his telecasts.
The Daily Show: Varney: Poor families in the United States are not what they used to be. * Rector (Heritage): When you look at actual living conditions of the 43 million people the census says are poor, you see in fact they have all these modern conveniences Varney: 99.6% of them have a refrigerator. Stewart: 99% have refrigerators...How dare you. Varney: It was funny, Now that was Jon Stewart going after me for telling the truth about poor people. The image we have of poor people as starving, living in squalor really is not accurate. Many of them have things, what they lack is the richness of spirit. That's my opinion.
This is so twisted that I can't even begin to analyze this thinking. It's definition time:
Squalor A filthy and wretched condition or quality.
Having a few things means exactly what, Varney? Poverty doesn't exist? One person or family must be completely destitute with the emphasis on squalor or they are leeches who suck the life out of job creators because his buddies are being taxed because of them.
Here's FDR on these tax cutting bastards who have been with us a lot longer than Varney has:
President Roosevelt: “In 1776 the fight was for Democracy in Taxation. In 1936 there is still the fight. Mister Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once said ‘taxes are the prices we pay for civilized society’. One sure way to determine the social conscience of a government is to examine the way taxes are collected and how they are spent. And one sure way to determine the social conscience of an individual is to get his tax reaction. Taxes, after all are the dues we pay for the privilege of membership in an organized society. And as society becomes more civilized government, national and state and local, is called on to assume more obligations to its citizens. The privileges of membership in a civilized society are vastly increased in modern times. But I am afraid we still have many who still do not recognize their advantages and want to avoid paying their dues.” Tax breaks for the wealthy were a concept well in place by the time Hoover was President.
Varney made these statements last week and I'm sorry I didn't respond sooner.(h/t Atrios)
I guess if Americans aren't living like this, they are living the high life.
Homeless during the Depression
Here's his Fox Bio:
Veteran business journalist Stuart Varney joined FOX Business Network as an anchor in September 2007. He also serves as a business contributor and substitute host for FOX News Channel's Your World with Neil Cavuto. He currently hosts Varney & Co. at 9:20AM ET. Since joining FNC's business team in January 2004, Varney has contributed to the network's weekday and weekend business programming including Your World with Neil Cavuto, Bulls & Bears, Cavuto on Business and Cashin' In.
What would Stuart Varney know about the poor?
Shanty Towns
@Varneyco let him know what you think. nicely. And tell @JohnAmato sent you.
( I added a few minor changes to the post after it was published) |
Boy, 11, savaged by dog his father rescued off the street days earlier
A boy of 11 was savaged by a dog just days after his father had taken the stray in off the street.
Finn O'Mahoney's cheek was ripped open by the five-stone Chinese Shar-Pei dog, which attacked him while he was watching television on Christmas Day.
The terrified boy was only spared worse injury when his dad wrestled the dog to the floor.
Scarred: Finn O'Mahoney recovers in hospital from the dog attack. The five-stone Chinese Shar-Pei mauled him as he watched TV at home on Christmas Day
Unexpected: A smiling Finn, 11, nestles up to the sleeping dog which his father had only recently taken in off the street. The animal has now been put down
Finn is now recovering after hours of surgery and 18 stitches, while the dog was put down.
His father Michael, 42, along with mother Carol, 38 and sister Lily, nine, had taken pity on the dog after seeing it shivering near their home in Wolverhampton.
But as the family watched the Coronation Street Christmas special, the animal 'launched itself through the air' with no warning to attack Finn.
Michael, 42, said: 'No one had shouted or made any sudden movements to frighten the dog - it just launched itself through the air without any warning at all and clamped itself on to Finn's face.
'The dog just went berserk for no reason. I've never seen such ferocity from an animal.
'I tried punching it to stop it but it kept snarling and biting, it was vicious. My wife just ran into the next room, she was terrified and there was a lot of blood.
Stray: The powerful Shar-Pei settles in. It would later 'launch itself through the air' without warning to attack Finn
Recovering: Finn's father Michael visits his son in hospital
'We'd even been playing with the dog all day until then. We'd started calling him "the gentleman" because he was so obedient and had such a lovely posture.
'I dread to think what could have happened if I hadn't been there as it could have been much worse.'
Finn sustained puncture wounds to his mouth and throat, as well as a two-inch gash from his eye to his nose.
He needed two and a half hours of surgery to repair his face which had been 'hanging off' after the attack, and has been told by doctors he may need cosmetic surgery in later life.
Michael added: 'Finn will never look at dogs the same way again after this. We've just about convinced him to keep our other dog but it has definitely affected him.
'I just want to warn anyone about taking in stray dogs like that, The dog was at death's door and I've never believed people when they say "he just snapped", but that's exactly what happened.'
He said the family had the dog checked out by vets and wanted to offer it a home at Christmas.
'We took it to an animal sanctuary and they checked it over for us and they agreed it was a nice old dog. I said we wanted to take it home and give it somewhere to go at Christmas,' he added.
The attack came just days after Barbara Williams, 52, was thought to have been mauled to death by a Belgian mastiff in Wallington, south London. |
“This was a gamble, plain and simple,” said an analyst, who asked not to be identified because he was close to the Haitian government and was not authorized to speak publicly. “He gambled because his money is low and his health is failing, so what did he have to lose?”
The strategy has backfired. In a striking scene, Mr. Duvalier was taken out of his hotel by heavily armed police officers on Tuesday and formally charged with corruption and embezzlement during his nearly 15-year rule.
A lawyer for Mr. Duvalier, Gervais Charles, acknowledged that things had not gone well for his client. While Mr. Charles said he had not discussed the motivations behind Mr. Duvalier’s abrupt homecoming, he dismissed the new charges as part of Haiti’s efforts to keep Mr. Duvalier from getting the money, adding that Mr. Duvalier wanted the funds simply so that he could donate them to the Red Cross’s earthquake relief efforts.
“I don’t think this was a very successful trip,” he said.
The money has long been a source of international contention. Last year, only hours before the earthquake that devastated Haiti, Switzerland’s top court ruled that at least $4.6 million should be released to the Duvaliers, prompting an outcry when the ruling was published.
Swiss officials, eager to clean up the country’s image as a depository for dictators, responded to the uproar by quickly passing what is known as the Duvalier Law, giving them more discretion to return ill-gotten gains to the countries they were stolen from.
But the new law does not go into effect until Feb. 1, which may explain the timing of Mr. Duvalier’s bold move. Under the current rules, states making claims to money in Switzerland must show that they have begun a criminal investigation against the suspected offender before any funds can be returned.
Photo
So if Mr. Duvalier had been able to slip into the country and then quietly leave without incident, as he was originally scheduled to do on Thursday, he may have been able to argue that Haiti was no longer interested in prosecuting him — and that the money should be his.
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“This was probably a calculation on Duvalier’s part, that the state was so weak that he could return to Haiti and leave without being charged with anything,” said Reed Brody, a lawyer and spokesman for Human Rights Watch. “Then he could go back to Swiss authorities and argue that he should get his money because Haiti’s not after him anymore.”
The Duvalier Law will change that, allowing Swiss authorities to send the money to Haiti on the grounds that the country, the poorest in the Western Hemisphere, is too weak to prosecute Mr. Duvalier, particularly since he has been living in France, far out of the reach of Haiti’s weak justice system.
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A year after Haiti was hit by an earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people and left a million people homeless, this country seemed ripe for a legal ambush. Cholera is on the prowl. The government remains in disarray and the political landscape turned volatile after last year’s contested presidential elections.
Upon arriving Sunday, Mr. Duvalier told reporters that he planned to stay only for a few days. Then he and a close circle of friends and relatives holed up in a high-end hotel in the hills overlooking the capital.
But his return prompted calls for justice from international human rights groups, a handful of Haiti’s allies and a growing number of the people who were kidnapped and tortured by Mr. Duvalier’s repressive government.
By Tuesday, the Haitian government was compelled to act, formally presenting charges against Mr. Duvalier, known as Baby Doc, and ordering him not to leave to country while a judge determined whether to send him to trial. The next day, a handful of journalists and community leaders detained and tortured by Mr. Duvalier’s special militia — known as the Tonton Macoutes — filed individual complaints against Mr. Duvalier and called on other victims to do the same.
“What’s important isn’t how this all turns out,” said Michèle Montas, a former radio journalist who was detained for a week in 1980 and then forced to flee the country. “What’s important is the journey.”
Later, another former victim, Alix Filsaime, said, “What we’re saying here is, ‘Never again.’ ”
Though still tall and erect, Mr. Duvalier seems a shadow of the chubby-cheeked playboy who took over this country at the age of 19, after the death of his father, François Duvalier, known as Papa Doc. He has long suffered from Lupus, and some contend that he now has pancreatic cancer.
Asked if Mr. Duvalier regretted having returned home, Mr. Charles, his lawyer, shrugged and said, “He was surprised that so many young people, who didn’t know him when he was president, came and cheered for him. But many people were outraged, too, and now there are the judicial issues.”
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“He must have mixed feelings about it,” Mr. Charles said. |
HARRISON, N.J. (May 24, 2017) – Tickets for the New York Red Bulls – New York City FC match in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup will be available beginning on Thursday, May 25, at 10 a.m. Ticketing for the match begins with a seat redemption window for 2017 Red Members. Members can redeem seats online through their Members+ account.
Fans that are not Red Members can become a Member today by calling 1.877.727.6223 and still receive access to this redemption window.
The general on-sale, and ability for Red Members to purchase additional tickets, begins on Tuesday, May 30 at 10 a.m.
The New York Red Bulls drew rival NYCFC for the 2017 Lamar Hunt U.S Open Cup Fourth Round match on Wednesday, June 14, U.S. Soccer announced last week. The Red Bulls earned the right to host via a coin flip help by U.S. Soccer in Chicago on Thursday.
Kickoff for the match is set for 8 p.m. at Red Bull Arena.
The Red Bulls and NYCFC will now play each other four times over the course of 2017, twice in the Month of June and twice in the Month of August. This will be the first matchup between the two teams during Open Cup competition.
The Red Bulls own an impressive 5-1-0 mark against their local rivals since NYCFC joined MLS in 2015.
In 2016, the Red Bulls won their fourth round Open Cup matchup against the Rochester Rhinos (USL), 1-0 before falling to the Philadelphia Union, 2-1 in the quarterfinals.
ABOUT THE LAMAR HUNT U.S. OPEN CUP
The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup is U.S. Soccer's national club championship, open to all amateur and professional soccer teams affiliated with U.S. Soccer. The tournament has crowned a champion annually since 1914. In 1999, the competition was renamed to honor American soccer pioneer Lamar Hunt.
This year's winner will earn $250,000, a berth in the 2018-19 CONCACAF Champions' League and have its name engraved on the historic Dewar Challenge Trophy, one of the oldest nationally contested trophies in American team sports. The runner-up will take home $60,000. The 2017 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final will take place Sept. 20 at the home of one of the participating teams. |
I’ve been slow at updating the page, as I have just recently moved in to new house, and was busy with unpacking and cleaning, and a bunch of other stuff. It’s funny when you’ve gone a few months without really doing your hobby, and the joy of getting to do a bigger project.
I wanted to do something that is a little out of the ordinary for the next few sprites, and after literal hours of searching through game sprites online, I settled for a set from the game “Aaahh!!! Real Monsters” for the SNES/Genesis. This is Krumm in a frame of his “scary” animation. I have Ickys and Oblina coming up next, and I thing they will make for a cool piece.
The “flat” side of this beadsprite came out a little underdone in a few spots, but I always display “bead” side, so it’s not the biggest deal. I prefer to under-do it rather that over-do it. I really like the way it looks, and that I was able to use up some of my supply of plums, pinks, and neon yellows. |
Anonymous donor of NMI artefacts & #treasure sought to help determine where these were found. #InformFutureResearch https://t.co/LEgo3mjos3 — Archaeology @ITSligo (@ITS_Archaeology) December 28, 2016
Recently, the main Dublin branch of the National Museum of Ireland, which focuses on archaeology, received a series of mysterious envelopes addressed to “The History Museum, Kildare St., Dublin.”
The envelopes were brown and had no return address or postmark. Inside, museum staff found four fascinating objects dating back thousands of years into Ireland’s past.
Two of the items were axes from the Bronze Age, one about 3,300 years old and the other more than 4,200. The other items were more recent—rare Viking jewelry that might have come to Ireland from Norway.
The museum believes the items may have been excavated using a metal detector, without the necessary license. In Ireland, it’s illegal to use a metal detector to search for archaeological objects, and without a “Detection Consent” permit, finding an archaeological object using a metal detector is subject to a hefty fine and possible prison time. (If a person finds an archaeological object accidentally, while they’re, say, digging in a garden, that’s okay.)
Despite the illegality involved, the staff is hoping the finder will come forward so that they can learn more about the context in which these objects were discovered. |
Sam Winnall scores his second goal from the penalty spot
Sam Winnall scored two second-half goals to give in-form Derby a comeback win at Leeds.
Pierre-Michel Lasogga had put the home side ahead early on with a low shot just inside the near post after being put through by Samuel Saiz.
After the break, Winnall connected with Craig Forsyth's cross to score his second goal in two games to level.
Winnall sent Andy Lonergan the wrong way from the penalty spot to win it, after Hadi Sacko fouled Tom Lawrence.
Leeds went into the game in poor form, having lost four of their previous five games, in contrast to Derby's run of three successive league wins prior to arriving at Elland Road.
But the hosts were rewarded for a bright start when Lasogga's early strike found the bottom corner after he was found by Saiz's through ball.
It looked like Derby's gamble to leave their top scorer Matej Vydra on the bench had backfired as they failed to register a first-half shot on target, but Winnall stepped up in the second half to turn the match on its head.
Derby's fourth straight win lifted them to fifth in the table, two points above Leeds, who dropped to sixth.
Leeds boss Thomas Christiansen:
"There was a clear penalty in the 44th minute against [Ezgjan] Alioski. And the non-penalty that was given in the second half - against that, I feel impotent.
"It is difficult for me to control the situation when it is not in my hands. We didn't deserve it.
"The defeat is very bad, another defeat, and we have to change. We need the win on Saturday against Brentford. It cannot go on like that."
Derby boss Gary Rowett:
"I have watched it [Derby's penalty] around five times and I still cannot work it out. It's not obviously inside and it's not obviously outside either, and it is very close.
"I can understand why Leeds a little bit disappointed by that.
"He [Winnall] has reacted brilliantly. He got his deserved start and scored two excellent goals. He has got that real killer instinct in the box. There was nobody other than him taking the penalty." |
On the evening of February 26, 2012, a 28-year-old man with a permit to carry a concealed handgun in Florida, reported a suspicious person in his neighborhood to the local police. Despite being told by the 911 dispatchers to stay in his car and not engage the person, the man pursued the teenager and ultimately shot and killed him. Over the next two years the shooter would continue to hold a concealed carry license despite multiple domestic violence altercations, including pointing a shotgun at one woman and throwing a wine bottle at another. In 2014, during a road rage incident the same man threatened another driver. The other driver told police that during the incident he said "I will ... kill you," followed by "Do you know who I am?"
Unfortunately, we are all too aware of who this man is, George Zimmerman, and we should have no interest in his state's laws becoming the national standard for concealed carry firearm license holders. Regardless, that is exactly what was proposed by Florida Congressman Richard Nugent. Congressman Nugent's proposed law currently in the U.S. House of Representatives mandates that all states honor the concealed carry permits of other states. A similar law has been proposed in the Senate by Senator John Cornyn of Texas.
Unlike in Florida and Texas, in Massachusetts and several other states, we treat a license to carry a firearm seriously, and only allow our most responsible citizens to do so. For example, a Massachusetts resident who applies for a "license-to-carry" is vetted by the police chief of their local police department. The police department checks the applicant's criminal and mental health background by searching both the federal background check system (NICS), the Commonwealth system (MIRCS) and for any police reports regarding the individual. Individuals with known, diagnosed violent mental illnesses are not given licenses, even if they have never been involuntarily committed. Individuals, who are the subject of repeated domestic violence police calls, are not given licenses, even if the victim repeatedly drops the charges (as is often the case). In addition, all firearm license applicants must take an approved gun safety class, which includes the live-fire of a firearm. Furthermore, firearm licenses, like other state licenses, are renewable every six years, which allows police departments to verify that the licensee's criminal and mental health status has not changed such that they still qualify to carry an inherently dangerous concealed weapon.
Because of the Commonwealth's effective gun laws and reasonable vetting of firearm license holders, very few license holders have committed murder. The Violence Policy Center has attempted to track the number of people killed nationwide by concealed carry permit holders over the last eight years. Of the 722 people killed by concealed carry permit holders only nine of them were killed by a Massachusetts citizen with a license to carry (compared to Texas and Florida which had 36 and 69, respectively in the same time period). Furthermore, year-after-year Massachusetts is among the states with the lowest number of gun deaths per capita in the nation.
Imposing federally mandated reciprocity of state-level concealed carry permit laws essentially resets the national and, by extension, state standards for carrying inherently dangerous firearms, to the lowest and most dangerous possible. It is scary at best and outright irresponsible national public policy at worst for Congress to knowingly enact a new national gun law that has proven to decrease public safety and increase gun violence in Florida. Instead of imposing Florida's dangerous gun policies, which have contributed to it's extremely high firearm fatality rate of 11.9 per 100,000 gun death rate, Congress should look to states like urban industrial Massachusetts with it's effective gun laws and low, 3.1 per 100,000 gun death rate. Massachusetts, California, New York, New Jersey, Maryland and other states have proven that reasonable restrictions, especially when issuing concealed handgun permits, save lives from preventable gun violence. |
GREEN: “Mr. Speaker, I rise today and stand at the podium designated for Republicans, But I rise not as a Democrat or a Republican, I rise today, Mr. Speaker, not as a liberal or conservative. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as a proud American, a person who believes in his country, who salutes the flag and says the pledge of allegiance and sings the national anthem. I rise today, Mr. Speaker, to make comments that I never thought I’d have to make in the well of the house of Congress. I rise today to defend the denounced and announced. Mr. Speaker, I rise to defend any mother who has been called a dog because her son engaged in peaceful protest. I rise, Mr. Speaker. I rise today, Mr. Speaker, to defend any son who is called the son of a dog because he engaged in a peaceful protest. I raise, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise to denounce these comments that have been made because they have brought discourse to a new low. Mr. Speaker, this is a level of indecency that is unbecoming the presidency. Mr. Speaker, I rise to say to the world that this is not what America is all about. Calling people SOB's, and we know what a 'B' is. It’s a dog. Mr. Speaker, I rise because my heart tells me that I must do something. So Mr. Speaker, I denounce the comments that were made, and I rise to announce that on next week, Mr. Speaker, I will bring a privileged resolution before the Congress of the United States of America. I will stand here in the well of the Congress and I will call for the impeachment of the President of the United States of America. I yield back my time.”
SPEAKER: “Members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the president.” |
The situation room at the German Defense Ministry, on the 5th floor of Berlin's Bendler Block building complex, was built as a place where secret, life-and-death decisions are made. The room is so secure that German Chancellor Angela Merkel once complained that she couldn't even send a text message from it.
Last Wednesday, at approximately 7 p.m., the government's key state secretaries were sitting around the birch conference tables in the situation room, where they had met almost daily for the past three weeks to address a crisis brewing off the coast of Somalia. The officials were there to manage one of the biggest secret operations in postwar German history. Elite members of the GSG-9 police force were on the verge of boarding a German freighter, the Hansa Stavanger, which had been kidnapped by Somali pirates.
SPIEGEL ONLINE A Transall military transport plane awaits GSG-9 elite forces preparing to return home after an aborted mission to free hostages from pirates in Somalia.
The Americans had lent the Germans one of their ships, the USS Boxer, to use as their flagship in the planned attack -- and a fleet of German Navy vessels flanked the enormous helicopter carrier. The ships had been patrolling near the Hansa Stavanger for days, waiting just beyond the horizon to evade detection on the pirates' radar screens.
Speaking in the situation room in Berlin, Interior Ministry State Secretary August Hanning came directly to the point. US National Security Advisor James Jones, he told the group, had called the Chancellery to cancel the operation. The US government, worried that the operation could turn into a suicide mission, was sending the USS Boxer back to the Kenyan port of Mombasa, where the German forces were to disembark. Officials at the German Federal Police headquarters in Potsdam, outside Berlin, concerned about the potential for a bloodbath, had also spoken out against the operation.
"The operation cannot take place," Hanning told the group, noting that the pirates were vigilant and prepared for an attack, and that "the risk is too high."
As a result, the operation ended before it actually began. It has been almost 32 years since the GSG-9 stormed a Lufthansa airliner, the "Landshut," in the Somali capital Mogadishu, freeing hostages from the control of four members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who had hijacked the aircraft. The case of the, this time off the Somali coast, seemed sufficiently symbolic to justify another potentially successful rescue operation, though on a much larger scale. More than 200 members of the elite police force, equipped with helicopters, speedboats and advanced weapons, had been secretly brought, via Kenya, to a location 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the German freighter.
Although the dramatic narrative of the cancelled rescue operation is an example of great resolve on the part of German and American authorities, it also points to deficits. It shows that, in such extreme situations, the German government is essentially incapable of deploying its law enforcement authorities in a purposeful way. And even if the mission had proceeded according to plan and had been successful, it is worth noting that there are parts of Somalia where even Germany's highly sophisticated, elite forces would be ineffective -- places where such operations would be nothing short of a Mission Impossible.
The cancellation of the freighter rescue operation represents a heavy setback for German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, a Christian Democrat (CDU), and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, a Social Democrat (SPD). The two ministers were intent on ending this hostage crisis militarily, if at all possible, and they had the backing of Chancellor Merkel, who had asked for regular updates. Schäuble and Steinmeier, weary of the dollar diplomacy of the past few years, were eager to set an important international precedent -- to let the world know that the Germans are no longer willing to pay up when blackmailed by gangsters and terrorists, and that they are capable of a more forceful response.
German citizens have been kidnapped and taken hostage on numerous occasions in various remote parts of the world. Since 2005, a crisis team at the German Foreign Ministry has been called upon to resolve more than 20 such cases, with money exchanging hands in almost every instance.
The government was determined to break this pattern but, as it turned out, it had overestimated its capabilities. What began as an effort to send a signal of strength ended up, in the Stavanger case, as a sign of impotence.
This could have serious consequences. German sailors can now expect to become prime targets for pirates, in contrast to their French or American counterparts, whose governments have not hesitated to use force to rescue their citizens.
The German government's handling of this crisis was not exactly serendipitous. This time it was not the usual political spats within Merkel's Grand Coalition government of conservative Christian Democrats and center-left Social Democrats compounding an already tricky mission, but quarreling among the relevant government agencies. In the end, it was both the qualms of the Federal Police and the new administration in Washington that nixed the operation. There are undoubtedly senior ministry officials in Berlin who are grateful to the Americans for halting an operation that could very well have ended in disaster.
Although there was no shortage of resolve in Berlin, the Germans did lack the means to complete the operation successfully. There is a vast divide between Berlin's sensitivities and the raw reality of African pirates, who care very little about turf wars among German bureaucrats. The case exposes serious deficiencies in the Germany security apparatus.
Although the GSG-9 is constantly being trained for maritime missions, it lacks the logistics for speedy operations beyond German borders. The German military, the Bundeswehr, can provide the logistics, but it in turn lacks a sufficient number of readily deployable special operations forces. There is poor cooperation between the two organizations, while strategists are hampered by legal restrictions. And in some cases the Germans simply lack the necessary equipment. In the case of the Hansa Stavanger, the German government had to borrow aircraft and an American helicopter carrier to transport its close combat experts within range of the freighter. But by the time these preparations were complete, three weeks had already passed since pirates captured the ship on April 4.
On that Saturday, the Somali pirates attacked the Hansa Stavanger at a point far out in the Indian Ocean. For the pirates, the crew of the ship -- owned by the Hamburg-based Leonhardt & Blumberg shipping company -- is even more valuable than its cargo of containers. In addition to Russians, Ukrainians and Filipinos, the crew includes five Germans.
After boarding the ship, the pirates ordered the crew to steer it toward Harardere, a notorious pirate stronghold. At least 17 hijacked ships are currently at anchor off the Somali coast, and about 300 crewmembers are being held hostage.
The first radio transmission arrived in Germany that Saturday morning. By early afternoon the Federal Police, which includes the GSG-9, had developed an organizational structure.
The crisis team met at the Foreign Ministry in Berlin the next morning. It was a Sunday, and yet, for the disaster management experts at the interior and foreign ministries already accustomed to such crises, it was almost business as usual.
But one aspect of that Sunday morning meeting was out of the ordinary. This time, the group was operating on relatively scant information. The pirates had not made contact or issued any ransom demands yet. Nevertheless, there was unanimous agreement within the crisis group that it was time to take matters to a new level. This time, they were determined that no one was going to pay any ransom money -- neither the shipping company nor the federal government. This time, shots would be fired, if it came to that. "This is the litmus test over whether the country is capable of ending this sort of drama without paying a ransom," said one member of the crisis team.
The two men leading the meeting that morning are in the process of making an important change to Germany's security policy. One was Reinhard Silberberg, 55, Steinmeier's state secretary at the Foreign Ministry and the head of the crisis team. A career diplomat, Silberberg has a reputation for being self-confident -- a man who holds a dim view of dropping off sacks of money somewhere in Africa.
The second man was August Hanning, 63. As the former head of the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), Germany's foreign intelligence agency, Hanning has experienced many hostage crises. He is the driving force behind the government's policies on security issues, and he is convinced that a tough approach is sometimes necessary.
Hanning and Silberberg have worked together during hostage crises for close to four years. There is a latent tension between the two men that sometimes leads to conflict. Hanning was long convinced that the Foreign Ministry was too weak and too quick to make deals. Silberberg argued that he would support the use of force, but that it was usually the law enforcement agencies that balked when called upon to take part in such action.
They were determined that it would be different this time. On the morning after the hijacking, the state secretaries on the crisis team agreed that Germany would strike back. They also agreed that the GSG-9 would carry out the mission, not the Bundeswehr's KSK Special Forces unit. |
Winnipeg city Coun. Dan Vandal is going to take a run at federal politics.
The councillor for St. Boniface says he hopes to win the Liberal nomination and put his name on the 2015 ballot.
"I'm going to put all my focus, my energy into winning the nomination, and when the time comes to run for the federal campaign I'll be ready and I'm not going to run to lose," he said Wednesday.
I admire Shelly's tenacity and hard work, but the fact is she is a representative of Stephen Harper and we need to get rid of Stephen Harper. - Dan Vandal on MP Shelly Glover
"I know it's high-risk. It's incredibly high-risk. But no risk, no reward."
Vandal has been a city councillor for 16 years and served as acting mayor following the resignation of then-mayor Glen Murray.
Vandal ran for mayor in 2004 and lost to Sam Katz.
The St. Boniface federal seat is held by Conservative Shelly Glover, who is currently serving as the minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages.
Ready for political fight
Vandal, a former professional boxer who was once the No. 1 ranked Canadian middleweight, said he's ready for the political battle with Glover.
"It'll be a good debate on the issues that face our country," he said.
"I admire Shelly's tenacity and hard work, but the fact is she is a representative of Stephen Harper and we need to get rid of Stephen Harper."
In the St. Boniface neighbourhood, people were already talking on Wednesday morning about Vandal's chances.
"For all the years he's been here I think he's put the community forward and he's supporting the people and the community a lot," said resident Marc Rivard.
"I think Vandal's got a little more to offer than Shelly Glover does," added Gary Miles.
A contest for the Liberal nomination is expected next spring. |
Reproductive issues are not only a woman’s concern. No one considers the man but it takes two to have a child. Why should men care? It is their genetic makeup and their flesh and blood. It is their child forever.
There is no greater gift in life than to become a mom or a dad. It is the most precious gift of our lives. Most men express happiness when they find out that they are fathers. Together Mom and Dad share the joy. The bond between father and child is just as strong as between mother and child. The reproductive issue is everybody’s issue.
However, if the mother should choose abortion, the father has no rights over their unborn child and the results can be devastating. At this year’s Maine Right To Life Conference in Portland, attendees heard a rare perspective, the father’s point of view.
Theo Purrington, a young man with roots in Maine, spoke passionately about the child he never knew who was aborted against his will. He tried in vain to stop the abortion legally but learned that a father’s rights only begin at the birth of his child. Despite all efforts, his girlfriend made the decision to terminate the pregnancy.
He responded with depression, drug and alcohol abuse, suicidal thoughts, and additional sexual encounters to replace the child he lost. He gained some closure when his church offered a memorial service for his unborn child, but still that was not enough.
Pro-life groups encouraged him to join them.
Finally, on the day his child would have been born, he became active in the pro-life movement as a counselor. His work took him to Florida, then New Mexico and then back to Florida. He worked in pregnancy centers where he found that when couples were together, the man would say, “It’s her decision,” but when counseled separately, the man would say “I want the baby to live” more than 50 percent of the time.
His journey took him into the prisons where he found that 30 percent to 40 percent of the men were postabortive.
Whether the man should have more of a say about his child in the womb is a controversial issue. When the father realizes that the baby is not just a blob of tissue, but rather his own flesh and blood, he is devastated beyond belief.
People often are unaware of the stages of fetal development before they are faced with this monumental decision. However, help is available and healing possible.
Young adults of childbearing age need to think about what love is. A baby needs to be conceived out of love and not out of passion. Love is a commitment and a decision to put another person’s needs before their own and to help them grow as people. They need to rethink the order of things and put love first, then marriage, then sex. Then they will not experience the devastation of abortion.
Significant controversy over abortion continues to exist since Roe v. Wade of 1973 on many levels and in national and state elections. It is not likely to go away anytime soon. It is important to remember that is does not affect women alone but men as well, who are equally responsible. They have the equal ability to share the joy of childbirth as well as the devastation brought about through abortion.
Some men don’t care, but it is important to remember that others care deeply.
Not only does abortion hurt women but it hurts men as well, and they are the forgotten ones with no rights to their unborn child. Women may say “it is my body, it is my choice” without considering the man’s point of view or the sanctity of life. For more information on this subject, go to www.menandabortion.info.
In this month of October, Respect Life month, it would be good for all of us to reflect upon the consequences of our actions, especially in regards to our choices about love, marriage and childbearing.
Jean Devos Barry and Mary Regan Brakey are members of Maine Right To Life and the Miriam Society, a faith-based women’s group. |
Introduction
Docker is a great tool for deploying your servers. Docker even has a public registry called Docker Hub to store Docker images. While Docker lets you upload your Docker creations to their Docker Hub for free, anything you upload is also public. This might not be the best option for your project.
This guide will show you how to set up and secure your own private Docker registry. By the end of this tutorial you will be able to push a custom Docker image to your private registry and pull the image securely from a different host.
This tutorial doesn't cover containerizing your own application but only how to create the registry where you can store your deployments. If you want to learn how to get started with Docker itself (as opposed to the registry), you may want to read the How To Install and Use Docker: Getting Started tutorial.
This tutorial has been tested with both the registry server and registry client running Ubuntu 14.04, but it may work with other Debian-based distributions. It also covers version 2.0 of the Docker Registry.
Docker Concepts
If you haven't used Docker before then it's worth taking a minute to go through a few of Docker's key concepts. If you're already using Docker and just want to know how to get started running your own registry, then please skip ahead to the next section.
For a refresher on how to use Docker, take a look at the excellent Docker Cheat Sheet.
Docker at its core is a way to separate an application and the dependencies needed to run it from the operating system itself. To make this possible Docker uses containers and images. A Docker image is basically a template for a filesystem. When you run a Docker image, an instance of this filesystem is made live and runs on your system inside a Docker container. By default this container can't touch the original image itself or the filesystem of the host where Docker is running. It's a self-contained environment.
Whatever changes you make in the container are preserved in that container itself and don't affect the original image. If you decide you want to keep those changes, then you can "commit" a container to a Docker image (via the docker commit command). This means you can then spawn new containers that start with the contents of your old container, without affecting the original container (or image). If you're familiar with git , then the workflow should seem quite similar: you can create new branches (images in Docker parlance) from any container. Running an image is a bit like doing a git checkout .
To continue the analogy, running a private Docker registry is like running a private Git repository for your Docker images.
Prerequisites
To complete this tutorial, you will need the following:
2 Ubuntu 14.04 Droplets: one for the private Docker registry and one for the Docker client
A non-root user with sudo privileges on each Droplet (Initial Server Setup with Ubuntu 14.04 explains how to set this up.)
Docker and Docker Compose installed with the instructions from How To Install and Use Docker Compose on Ubuntu 14.04
A domain name that resolves to the Droplet for the private Docker registry
Step 1 — Installing Package for Added Security
To set up security for the Docker Registry it's best to use Docker Compose. This way we can easily run the Docker Registry in one container and let Nginx handle security and communication with the outside world in another. You should already have it installed from the Prerequisites section.
Since we'll be using Nginx to handle our security, we'll also need a place to store the list of username and password combinations that we want to access our registry. We'll install the apache2-utils package which contains the htpasswd utility that can easily generate password hashes Nginx can understand:
sudo apt-get -y install apache2-utils
Step 2 — Installing and Configuring the Docker Registry
The Docker command line tool works great for starting and managing a Docker container or two, but most apps running inside Docker containers don't exist in isolation. To fully deploy most apps you need a few components running in parallel. For example, most web applications are made up of a web server that serves up the app's code, an interpreted scripting language such as PHP or Ruby (with Rails), and a database server like MySQL.
Docker Compose allows you to write one .yml configuration file for the configuration for each container as well as information about how the containers communicate with each other. You then use the docker-compose command line tool to issue commands to all the components that make up an application.
Since the Docker registry itself is an application with multiple components, we'll use Docker Compose to manage our configuration.
To start a basic registry the only configuration needed is to define the location where your registry will be storing its data. Let's set up a basic Docker Compose YAML file to bring up a basic instance of the registry.
First create a folder where our files for this tutorial will live and some of the subfolders we'll need:
mkdir ~/docker-registry && cd $_
mkdir data
Using your favorite text editor, create a docker-compose.yml file:
nano docker-compose.yml
Add the following contents to the file:
docker-compose.yml
registry: image: registry:2 ports: - 127.0.0.1:5000:5000 environment: REGISTRY_STORAGE_FILESYSTEM_ROOTDIRECTORY: /data volumes: - ./data:/data
The interesting bit here is at the end. The environment section sets an environment variable in the Docker registry container with the path /data . The Docker registry app knows to check this environment variable when it starts up and to start saving its data to the /data folder as a result.
Only in this case, the volumes: - ./data:/data bit is telling Docker that the /data directory in that container should actually map out to /data on our host machine. So the end result is that the Docker registry's data all gets stored in ~/docker-registry/data on our local machine.
Let's go ahead and start it up to make sure everything is in order:
cd ~/docker-registry
docker-compose up
You'll see a bunch of download bars come move across your screen (this is Docker downloading the actual Docker registry image from Docker's own Docker Registry). If everything went well in a minute or two, you should see output that looks like this (versions might vary):
Output of docker-compose up registry_1 | time="2015-10-18T23:45:58Z" level=warning msg="No HTTP secret provided - generated random secret. This may cause problems with uploads if multiple registries are behind a load-balancer. To provide a shared secret, fill in http.secret in the configuration file or set the REGISTRY_HTTP_SECRET environment variable." instance.id=44c828de-c27a-401e-bb2e-38b17e6a4b7b version=v2.1.1 registry_1 | time="2015-10-18T23:45:58Z" level=info msg="redis not configured" instance.id=44c828de-c27a-401e-bb2e-38b17e6a4b7b version=v2.1.1 registry_1 | time="2015-10-18T23:45:58Z" level=info msg="using inmemory blob descriptor cache" instance.id=44c828de-c27a-401e-bb2e-38b17e6a4b7b version=v2.1.1 registry_1 | time="2015-10-18T23:45:58Z" level=info msg="listening on [::]:5000" instance.id=44c828de-c27a-401e-bb2e-38b17e6a4b7b version=v2.1.1 registry_1 | time="2015-10-18T23:45:58Z" level=info msg="Starting upload purge in 1m0s" instance.id=44c828de-c27a-401e-bb2e-38b17e6a4b7b version=v2.1.1
Don't worry about the No HTTP secret provided message. It's normal.
Great! At this point you've already got a full Docker registry up and running and listening on port 5000 (this was set by the ports: bit in the docker-compose.yml file). At this point the registry isn't that useful yet — it won't start unless you bring up the registry manually. Also, Docker registry doesn't come with any built-in authentication mechanism, so it's insecure and completely open to the public right now.
Docker Compose will by default stay waiting for your input forever, so go ahead and hit CTRL-C to shut down your Docker registry container.
Step 3 — Setting Up an Nginx Container
Let's get to work on fixing these security issues. The first step is to set up a copy of Nginx inside another Docker container and link it up to our Docker registry container.
Let's start by creating a directory to store our Nginx configuration:
mkdir ~/docker-registry/nginx
Now, re-open your docker-compose.yml file in the ~/docker-registry directory:
nano docker-compose.yml
Paste the following into the top of the file:
docker-compose.yml
nginx: image: "nginx:1.9" ports: - 5043:443 links: - registry:registry volumes: - ./nginx/:/etc/nginx/conf.d:ro
This will create a new Docker container based on the official Nginx image. The interesting bit here is the links section. It automagically set up a "link" from one Docker container to the another. When the Nginx container starts up, it will be able to reach the registry container at the hostname registry no matter what the actual IP address the registry container ends up having. (Behind the scenes Docker is actually inserting an entry into the /etc/hosts file in the nginx container to tell it the IP of the registry container).
The volumes: section is similar to what we did for the registry container. In this case it gives us a way to store the config files we'll use for Nginx on our host machine instead of inside the Docker container. The :ro at the end just tells Docker that the Nginx container should only have read-only access to the host filesystem.
Your full docker-compose.yml file should now look like this:
docker-compose.yml
nginx: image: "nginx:1.9" ports: - 5043:443 links: - registry:registry volumes: - ./nginx/:/etc/nginx/conf.d registry: image: registry:2 ports: - 127.0.0.1:5000:5000 environment: REGISTRY_STORAGE_FILESYSTEM_ROOTDIRECTORY: /data volumes: - ./data:/data
Running docker-compose up will now start two containers at the same time: one for the Docker registry and one for Nginx.
We need to configure Nginx before this will work though, so let's create a new Nginx configuration file.
Create a registry.conf file:
nano ~/docker-registry/nginx/registry.conf
Copy the following into the file:
~/docker-registry/nginx/registry.conf
upstream docker-registry { server registry:5000; } server { listen 443; server_name myregistrydomain.com; # SSL # ssl on; # ssl_certificate /etc/nginx/conf.d/domain.crt; # ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/conf.d/domain.key; # disable any limits to avoid HTTP 413 for large image uploads client_max_body_size 0; # required to avoid HTTP 411: see Issue #1486 (https://github.com/docker/docker/issues/1486) chunked_transfer_encoding on; location /v2/ { # Do not allow connections from docker 1.5 and earlier # docker pre-1.6.0 did not properly set the user agent on ping, catch "Go *" user agents if ($http_user_agent ~ "^(docker\/1\.(3|4|5(?!\.[0-9]-dev))|Go ).*$" ) { return 404; } # To add basic authentication to v2 use auth_basic setting plus add_header # auth_basic "registry.localhost"; # auth_basic_user_file /etc/nginx/conf.d/registry.password; # add_header 'Docker-Distribution-Api-Version' 'registry/2.0' always; proxy_pass http://docker-registry; proxy_set_header Host $http_host; # required for docker client's sake proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr; # pass on real client's IP proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for; proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme; proxy_read_timeout 900; } }
Save and exit the file.
Now you can install Nginx and start up the two Docker containers all with one command:
docker-compose up
Nginx doesn't print any output on startup, but if all went well you're now running a copy of Nginx that is set up to proxy to your registry container. To test it, let's use curl to make an HTTP request to our Docker registry directly, and then make another request to our Nginx port. If everything is set up correctly the output will be the same in both cases (as of this writing Docker returns an empty json object " {} ") since Nginx will proxy the request through to the Docker registry.
First, make an HTTP request directly to the Docker registry:
curl http://localhost:5000/v2/
As of this writing Docker returns an empty json object, so you should see:
Output {}
Now send an HTTP request to the Nginx port:
curl http://localhost:5043/v2/
You should see the same output:
Output {}
If things are working correctly you'll see some output in your docker-compose terminal that looks like the below as well:
Output of docker-compose registry_1 | time="2015-08-11T10:24:53.746529894Z" level=debug msg="authorizing request" environment=development http.request.host="localhost:5043" http.request.id=55c3e2a6-4f34-4b0b-bc57-11c814b4f4d3 http.request.method=GET http.request.remoteaddr=172.17.42.1 http.request.uri="/v2/" http.request.useragent="curl/7.35.0" instance.id=55634dfc-c9e0-4ec9-9872-6f4930c17759 service=registry version=v2.0.1 registry_1 | time="2015-08-11T10:24:53.747650205Z" level=info msg="response completed" environment=development http.request.host="localhost:5043" http.request.id=55c3e2a6-4f34-4b0b-bc57-11c814b4f4d3 http.request.method=GET http.request.remoteaddr=172.17.42.1 http.request.uri="/v2/" http.request.useragent="curl/7.35.0" http.response.contenttype="application/json; charset=utf-8" http.response.duration=8.143193ms http.response.status=200 http.response.written=2 instance.id=55634dfc-c9e0-4ec9-9872-6f4930c17759 service=registry version=v2.0.1 registry_1 | 172.17.0.21 - - [11/Aug/2015:10:24:53 +0000] "GET /v2/ HTTP/1.0" 200 2 "" "curl/7.35.0" nginx_1 | 172.17.42.1 - - [11/Aug/2015:10:24:53 +0000] "GET /v2/ HTTP/1.1" 200 2 "-" "curl/7.35.0" "-"
If you see lines with the registry_ prefix (the number after the _ may be different on your machine) then all is well, and Nginx has successfully proxied our HTTP request to the Docker registry.
Go ahead and hit CTRL-C again in your docker-compose terminal to shut down your Docker containers.
Step 4 — Setting Up Authentication
Now that Nginx is proxying requests properly let's set it up with HTTP authentication so that we can control who has access to our Docker registry. To do that we'll create an authentication file in Apache format (Nginx can read it too) via the htpasswd utility we installed earlier and add users to it.
Create the first user as follows, replacing USERNAME with the username you want to use:
cd ~/docker-registry/nginx
htpasswd -c registry.password USERNAME
Create a new password for this user when prompted.
If you want to add more users in the future, just re-run the above command without the -c option (the c is for create):
htpasswd registry.password USERNAME
At this point we have a registry.password file with our users set up and a Docker registry available. You can take a peek at the file at any point if you want to view your users (and remove users if you want to revoke access).
Next, we need to tell Nginx to use that authentication file.
Open up ~/docker-registry/nginx/registry.conf in your favorite text editor:
nano ~/docker-registry/nginx/registry.conf
Scroll to the middle of the file where you'll see some lines that look like this:
~/docker-registry/nginx/registry.conf
# To add basic authentication to v2 use auth_basic setting plus add_header # auth_basic "registry.localhost"; # auth_basic_user_file /etc/nginx/conf.d/registry.password; # add_header 'Docker-Distribution-Api-Version' 'registry/2.0' always;
Uncomment the two lines that start with auth_basic as well as the line that starts with add_header by removing the # character at the beginning
of the lines. It should then look like this:
~/docker-registry/nginx/registry.conf
# To add basic authentication to v2 use auth_basic setting plus add_header auth_basic "registry.localhost"; auth_basic_user_file /etc/nginx/conf.d/registry.password; add_header 'Docker-Distribution-Api-Version' 'registry/2.0' always;
We've now told Nginx to enable HTTP basic authentication for all requests that get proxied to the Docker registry and told it to use the password file we just created.
Let's bring our containers back up to see if authentication is working:
cd ~/docker-registry
docker-compose up
Repeat the previous curl test:
curl http://localhost:5043/v2/
You should get a message complaining about being unauthorized:
Output of curl <html> <head><title>401 Authorization Required</title></head> <body bgcolor="white"> <center><h1>401 Authorization Required</h1></center> <hr><center>nginx/1.9.7</center> </body> </html>
Now try adding the username and password you created earlier to the curl request:
curl http:// USERNAME : PASSWORD @localhost:5043/v2/
You should get the same output you were getting before — the empty json object {} . You should also see the same registry_ output in the docker-compose terminal.
Go ahead and use CTRL-C in the docker-compose terminal to shut down the Docker containers.
Step 5 — Setting Up SSL
At this point we have the registry up and running behind Nginx with HTTP basic authentication working. However, the setup is still not very secure since the connections are unencrypted. You might have noticed the commented-out SSL lines in the Nginx config file we made earlier.
Let's enable them. First, open the Nginx configuration file for editing:
nano ~/docker-registry/nginx/registry.conf
Use the arrow keys to move around and look for these lines:
~/docker-registry/nginx/registry.conf
server { listen 443; server_name myregistrydomain.com ; # SSL # ssl on; # ssl_certificate /etc/nginx/conf.d/domain.crt; # ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/conf.d/domain.key;
Uncomment the lines below the SSL comment by removing the # characters in front of them. If you have a domain name set up for your server, change the value of server_name to your domain name while you're at it. When you're done, the top of the file should look like this:
~/docker-registry/nginx/registry.conf
server { listen 443; server_name myregistrydomain.com ; # SSL ssl on; ssl_certificate /etc/nginx/conf.d/domain.crt; ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/conf.d/domain.key;
Save the file. Nginx is now configured to use SSL and will look for the SSL certificate and key files at /etc/nginx/conf.d/domain.crt and /etc/nginx/conf.d/domain.key respectively. Due to the mappings we set up earlier in our docker-compose.yml file the /etc/nginx/conf.d/ path in the Nginx container corresponds to the folder ~/docker-registry/nginx/ on our host machine, so we'll put our certificate files there.
If you already have an SSL certificate set up or are planning to buy one, then you can just copy the certificate and key files to the paths listed in registry.conf ( ssl_certificate and ssl_certificate_key ).
You could also get a free signed SSL certificate.
Otherwise we'll have to use a self-signed SSL certificate.
Signing Your Own Certificate
Since Docker currently doesn't allow you to use self-signed SSL certificates this is a bit more complicated than usual — we'll also have to set up our system to act as our own certificate signing authority.
To begin, let's change to our ~/docker-registry/nginx folder and get ready to create the certificates:
cd ~/docker-registry/nginx
Generate a new root key:
openssl genrsa -out devdockerCA.key 2048
Generate a root certificate (enter whatever you'd like at the prompts):
openssl req -x509 -new -nodes -key devdockerCA.key -days 10000 -out devdockerCA.crt
Then generate a key for your server (this is the file referenced by ssl_certificate_key in our Nginx configuration):
openssl genrsa -out domain.key 2048
Now we have to make a certificate signing request.
After you type this command, OpenSSL will prompt you to answer a few questions. Write whatever you'd like for the first few, but when OpenSSL prompts you to enter the "Common Name" make sure to type in the domain or IP of your server.
openssl req -new -key domain.key -out dev-docker-registry.com.csr
For example, if your Docker registry is going to be running on the domain www.ilovedocker.com , then your input should look like this:
Country Name (2 letter code) [AU]: State or Province Name (full name) [Some-State]: Locality Name (eg, city) []: Organization Name (eg, company) [Internet Widgits Pty Ltd]: Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) []: Common Name (e.g. server FQDN or YOUR name) []: www.ilovedocker.com Email Address []: Please enter the following 'extra' attributes to be sent with your certificate request A challenge password []: An optional company name []:
Do not enter a challenge password.
Next, we need to sign the certificate request:
openssl x509 -req -in dev-docker-registry.com.csr -CA devdockerCA.crt -CAkey devdockerCA.key -CAcreateserial -out domain.crt -days 10000
Since the certificates we just generated aren't verified by any known certificate authority (e.g., VeriSign), we need to tell any clients that are going to be using this Docker registry that this is a legitimate certificate. Let's do this locally on the host machine so that we can use Docker from the Docker registry server itself:
sudo mkdir /usr/local/share/ca-certificates/docker-dev-cert
sudo cp devdockerCA.crt /usr/local/share/ca-certificates/docker-dev-cert
sudo update-ca-certificates
Restart the Docker daemon so that it picks up the changes to our certificate store:
sudo service docker restart
Warning: You'll have to repeat this step for every machine that connects to this Docker registry! Instructions for how to do this for Ubuntu 14.04 clients are listed in Step 9 — Accessing Your Docker Registry from a Client Machine.
Step 6 — Testing SSL
Bring up our Docker containers via the now familiar docker-compose up :
cd ~/docker-registry
docker-compose up
Do another curl test from another terminal (only this time using https) to verify that our SSL setup is working properly. Keep in mind that for SSL to work correctly you will have to use the same domain name you typed into the Common Name field earlier while you were creating your SSL certificate.
curl https:// USERNAME : PASSWORD @[ YOUR-DOMAIN ]:5043/v2/
Note: If you are using a self-signed certificate, you will see the following error from curl : curl: (60) SSL certificate problem: self signed certificate Use the -k option to tell curl not to verify with the peer: curl -k https:// USERNAME : PASSWORD @[ YOUR-DOMAIN ]:5043/v2/
For example, if the user and password you set up were sammy and test , and your SSL certificate is for www.example.com , then you would type the following:
curl https:// sammy : test @ www.example.com :5043/v2/
If all went well curl will print an empty json object {} , and your docker-compose terminal will print the usual registry_ output.
If not, recheck the SSL steps and your Nginx configuration file to make sure everything is correct.
At this point we have a functional Docker registry 2.0 up and running behind an Nginx server which is providing authentication and encryption via SSL. If your firewall is configured to allow access to port 5043 from the outside, then you should be able to login to this Docker registry from any machine docker login https://<YOURDOMAIN> and entering the username and password you set in the earlier section.
Step 7 — Setting SSL Port to 443
Just a couple more steps to do before we're done: change the port to use the standard SSL port of 443 (optional) and set docker-compose up to start this set of containers on startup.
Let's start by setting up our dockerized Nginx container to listen on port 443 (the standard port for SSL) rather than the non-standard port 5043 we've been using so far. Ports below 1024 are "privileged" ports on Linux though, which means we're going to have to run our docker-compose container as root.
First open up docker-compose.yml in a text editor:
nano ~/docker-registry/docker-compose.yml
Under the Nginx section you'll see a ports: section, change the - 5043:443 line (this maps port 5043 on our host machine to port 443 inside the Nginx container) to - 443:443 so that our Nginx container's port 443 gets mapped to our host machine's port 443. When finished your docker-compose.yml should look like this:
~/docker-registry/docker-compose.yml
nginx: image: "nginx:1.9" ports: - 443:443 links: - registry:registry volumes: - ./nginx/:/etc/nginx/conf.d:ro registry: image: registry:2 ports: - 127.0.0.1:5000:5000 environment: REGISTRY_STORAGE_FILESYSTEM_ROOTDIRECTORY: /data volumes: - ./data:/data
Kill your docker-compose session via CTRL-C if it's still running, and restart it on port 443:
sudo docker-compose up
Note: Only root users can listen to ports below 1024. Notice that you need to use sudo this time with the docker-compose command so Nginx can run on the default SSL port 443.
You should see docker-compose start up as usual.
Let's try another curl test using our domain name, only this time we won't specify the :5043 in the URL:
curl https://<YOURUSERNAME>:<YOURPASSWORD>@ YOUR-DOMAIN /v2/
If all went well you should see the usual registry_ output in your docker-compose terminal. You may also want to try running this same curl command from another machine to make sure that your port 443 is being exposed to the outside world.
Go ahead and use CTRL-C in the docker-compose terminal to shut down the Docker containers before moving to the next step.
Step 8 — Starting Docker Registry as a Service
If everything is looking good, let's go ahead and create an Upstart script so that our Docker registry will start whenever the system boots up.
First let's remove any existing containers, move our Docker registry to a system-wide location and change its permissions to root:
cd ~/docker-registry
docker-compose rm # this removes the existing containers
sudo mv ~/docker-registry /docker-registry
sudo chown -R root: /docker-registry
Then use your favorite text editor to create an Upstart script:
sudo nano /etc/init/docker-registry.conf
Add the following contents to create the Upstart script (getting Upstart to properly monitor Docker containers is a bit tricky, check out this blog post if you'd like more info about what this Upstart script is doing):
/etc/init/docker-registry.conf
description "Docker Registry" start on runlevel [2345] stop on runlevel [016] respawn respawn limit 10 5 chdir /docker-registry exec /usr/local/bin/docker-compose up
For more about Upstart scripts, please read this tutorial.
Let's test our new Upstart script by running:
sudo service docker-registry start
You should see something like this:
docker-registry start/running, process 25303
You can verify that the server is running by executing:
docker ps
The output should look similar to the following (note that the names all start with dockerregistry_
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES d4b6fef0b4d1 nginx:1.9 "nginx -g 'daemon of 2 minutes ago Up 2 minutes 80/tcp, 0.0.0.0:443->443/tcp dockerregistry_nginx_1 77668352bd39 registry:2 "registry cmd/regist 2 minutes ago Up 2 minutes 127.0.0.1:5000->5000/tcp dockerregistry_registry_1
Upstart will log the output of the docker-compose command to /var/log/upstart/docker-registry.log . For our final test let's "live-watch" the log file with tail (the sudo is necessary because upstart logs are written as the root user):
sudo tail -f /var/log/upstart/docker-registry.log
You should see the usual registry_ output. From another terminal or machine go ahead and run our now familiar curl test:
curl https://<YOUR_USERNAME>:<YOURPASSWORD>@[YOUR-DOMAIN]/v2/
If everything is working correctly curl will print a {} to your terminal and you should see the usual:
registry_1 | time="2015-08-12T08:01:12.241887501Z" level=debug msg="authorizing request" environment=development http.request.host=docker.meatflavoredbeer.com http.request.id=e8d69e16-9448-4c48-afd8-57b1f1302742 http.request.method=GET http.request.remoteaddr=106.1.247.4 http.request.uri="/v2/" http.request.useragent="curl/7.37.1" instance.id=14d4727b-fda1-463f-8d0e-181f4c70cb17 service=registry version=v2.0.1 registry_1 | time="2015-08-12T08:01:12.242206499Z" level=info msg="response completed" environment=development http.request.host=docker.meatflavoredbeer.com http.request.id=e8d69e16-9448-4c48-afd8-57b1f1302742 http.request.method=GET http.request.remoteaddr=106.1.247.4 http.request.uri="/v2/" http.request.useragent="curl/7.37.1" http.response.contenttype="application/json; charset=utf-8" http.response.duration=3.359883ms http.response.status=200 http.response.written=2 instance.id=14d4727b-fda1-463f-8d0e-181f4c70cb17 service=registry version=v2.0.1 registry_1 | 172.17.0.4 - - [12/Aug/2015:08:01:12 +0000] "GET /v2/ HTTP/1.0" 200 2 "" "curl/7.37.1" nginx_1 | 106.1.247.4 - nik [12/Aug/2015:08:01:12 +0000] "GET /v2/ HTTP/1.1" 200 2 "-" "curl/7.37.1" "-"
Step 9 — Accessing Your Docker Registry from a Client Machine
To access your Docker registry from another machine, first add the SSL certificate you created earlier to the new client machine. The file you want is located at ~/docker-registry/nginx/devdockerCA.crt .
You can copy it to the new machine directly or use the below instructions to copy and paste it:
On the registry server, view the certificate:
sudo cat /docker-registry/nginx/devdockerCA.crt
You'll get output that looks something like this:
Output of sudo cat /docker-registry/nginx/devdockerCA.crt -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- MIIDXTCCAkWgAwIBAgIJANiXy7fHSPrmMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBCwUAMEUxCzAJBgNV BAYTAkFVMRMwEQYDVQQIDApTb21lLVN0YXRlMSEwHwYDVQQKDBhJbnRlcm5ldCBX aWRnaXRzIFB0eSBMdGQwHhcNMTQwOTIxMDYwODE2WhcNNDIwMjA2MDYwODE2WjBF MQswCQYDVQQGEwJBVTETMBEGA1UECAwKU29tZS1TdGF0ZTEhMB8GA1UECgwYSW50 ZXJuZXQgV2lkZ2l0cyBQdHkgTHRkMIIBIjANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAAOCAQ8AMIIB CgKCAQEAuK4kNFaY3k/0RdKRK1XLj9+IrpR7WW5lrNaFB0OIiItHV9FjyuSWK2mj ObR1IWJNrVSqWvfZ/CLGay6Lp9DJvBbpT68dhuS5xbVw3bs3ghB24TntDYhHMAc8 GWor/ZQTzjccHUd1SJxt5mGXalNHUharkLd8mv4fAb7Mh/7AFP32W4X+scPE2bVH OJ1qH8ACo7pSVl1Ohcri6sMp01GoELyykpXu5azhuCnfXLRyuOvQb7llV5WyKhq+ SjcE3c2C+hCCC5g6IzRcMEg336Ktn5su+kK6c0hoD0PR/W0PtwgH4XlNdpVFqMST vthEG+Hv6xVGGH+nTszN7F9ugVMxewIDAQABo1AwTjAdBgNVHQ4EFgQULek+WVyK dJk3JIHoI4iVi0FPtdwwHwYDVR0jBBgwFoAULek+WVyKdJk3JIHoI4iVi0FPtdww DAYDVR0TBAUwAwEB/zANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQsFAAOCAQEAkignESZcgr4dBmVZqDwh YsrKeWSkj+5p9eW5hCHJ5Eg2X8oGTgItuLaLfyFWPS3MYWWMzggxgKMOQM+9o3+k oH5sUmraNzI3TmAtkqd/8isXzBUV661BbSV0obAgF/ul5v3Tl5uBbCXObC+NUikM O0C3fDmmeK799AM/hP5CTDehNaFXABGoVRMSlGYe8hZqap/Jm6AaKThV4g6n4F7M u5wYtI9YDMsxeVW6OP9ZfvpGZW/n/88MSFjMlBjFfFsorfRd6P5WADhdfA6CBECG LP83r7/MhqO06EOpsv4n2CJ3yoyqIr1L1+6C7Erl2em/jfOb/24y63dj/ATytt2H 6g== -----END CERTIFICATE-----
Copy that output to your clipboard, and connect to your client machine.
On the client machine, create the certificate directory:
sudo mkdir /usr/local/share/ca-certificates/docker-dev-cert
Open the certificate file for editing:
sudo nano /usr/local/share/ca-certificates/docker-dev-cert/devdockerCA.crt
Paste the certificate contents.
Verify that the file saved to the client machine correctly by viewing the file:
cat /usr/local/share/ca-certificates/docker-dev-cert/devdockerCA.crt
If everything worked properly you'll see the same text from earlier:
Output of cat /usr/local/share/ca-certificates/docker-dev-cert/devdockerCA.crt -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- MIIDXTCCAkWgAwIBAgIJANiXy7fHSPrmMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBCwUAMEUxCzAJBgNV ... ... LP83r7/MhqO06EOpsv4n2CJ3yoyqIr1L1+6C7Erl2em/jfOb/24y63dj/ATytt2H 6g== -----END CERTIFICATE-----
Now update the certificates:
sudo update-ca-certificates
You should get output that looks like the following (note the 1 added ):
Output of sudo update-ca-certificates Updating certificates in /etc/ssl/certs... 1 added, 0 removed; done. Running hooks in /etc/ca-certificates/update.d....done.
If you don't have Docker installed on the client yet, do so now (see the Prerequisites section).
Restart Docker to make sure it reloads the system's CA certificates.
sudo service docker restart
You should now be able to log in to your Docker registry from the client machine:
docker login https:// YOUR-DOMAIN
Note that you're using https:// . Enter the username and password you set up earlier (enter whatever you'd like for email if prompted).
Output of docker login Username: USERNAME Password: PASSWORD Email: Account created. Please see the documentation of the registry http://localhost:5000/v1/ for instructions how to activate it.
You should see the following message:
Output of docker login Login Succeeded
At this point your Docker registry is up and running! Let's make a test image to push to the registry.
Step 10 — Publish to Your Private Docker Registry
You are now ready to publish an image to your private Docker registry, but first we have to create an image. We will create a simple image based on the ubuntu image from Docker Hub.
From your client machine, create a small empty image to push to our new registry.
docker run -t -i ubuntu /bin/bash
After it finishes downloading you'll be inside a Docker prompt. Let's make a quick change to the filesystem by creating a file called SUCCESS :
touch /SUCCESS
Exit out of the Docker container:
exit
Commit the change:
docker commit $(docker ps -lq) test-image
This command creates a new image called test-image based on the image already running plus any changes you have made. In our case, the addition of the /SUCCESS file is included in the new image.
This image only exists locally right now, so let's push it to the new registry we've created.
In the previous step, you logged into your private Docker registry. In case you aren't still logged in, let's log in again (note that you want to use https:// ):
docker login https:// YOUR-DOMAIN
Enter the username and password you set up earlier:
Username: USERNAME Password: PASSWORD Email: Account created. Please see the documentation of the registry http://localhost:5000/v1/ for instructions how to activate it.
Docker has an unusual mechanism for specifying which registry to push to. You have to tag an image with the private registry's location in order to push to it. Let's tag our image to our private registry:
docker tag test-image [YOUR-DOMAIN]/test-image
Note that you are using the local name of the image first, then the tag you want to add to it. The tag does not use https:// , just the domain, port, and image name.
Now we can push that image to our registry. This time we're using the tag name only:
docker push [YOUR-DOMAIN]/test-image
This will take a moment to upload to the registry server. You should see output that ends with something similar to the following:
Output of docker push latest: digest: sha256:5ea1cfb425544011a3198757f9c6b283fa209a928caabe56063f85f3402363b4 size: 8008
Step 11 — Pull from Your Docker Registry
To make sure everything worked, let's go back to our original server (where you installed the Docker registry) and pull the image we just pushed from the client. You could also test this from a third server.
If Docker is not installed on your test pull server, go back and follow the installation instructions (and if it's a third server, the SSL instructions) from Step 6.
Log in with the username and password you set up previously.
docker login https://[YOUR-DOMAIN]
And now pull the image. You want just the "tag" image name, which includes the domain name, port, and image name (but not https:// ):
docker pull [YOUR-DOMAIN]/test-image
Docker will do some downloading and return you to the prompt. If you run the image on the new machine you'll see that the SUCCESS file we created earlier is there:
docker run -t -i [YOUR-DOMAIN]/test-image /bin/bash
List your files inside the bash shell:
ls
You should see the SUCCESS file we created earlier for this image:
SUCCESS bin boot dev etc home lib lib64 media mnt opt proc root run sbin srv sys tmp usr var
Conclusion
Congratulations! You've just used your own private Docker registry to push and pull your first Docker container!
Happy Dockering! |
The State Department today accused China of conducting another antisatellite (ASAT) test on Wednesday. China said that it had conducted a missile intercept test. The distinction between the two operations can be difficult to draw and there continues to be dispute in western circles as to how many ASAT tests China has already conducted.
Everyone agrees that in 2007 China destroyed one of its own satellites with an ASAT weapon. The test was condemned internationally because of the vast debris cloud it created in low Earth orbit — about 3,000 pieces (the exact number changes as some pieces reenter and new pieces are created by collisions within the debris cloud) — that threatens all satellites operating in that realm.
There also is agreement that China conducted tests in 2010 and 2013, but whether they were missile intercept or ASAT tests is a matter of debate in western circles. While some western analysts consider them ASAT tests, the U.S. government has not officially characterized them that way.
Therefore, this is only the second time the United States government has directly accused China of conducting an ASAT test and it called on China to “refrain from destabilizing actions … that threaten the long-term security and sustainability of the outer space environment, on which all nations depend.”
The full statement from the State Department issued today (July 25, 2014 EDT) reads as follows:
“The United States has concluded that on July 23, the People’s Republic of China conducted a non-destructive test of a missile designed to destroy satellites. A previous destructive test of this system in 2007 created thousands of pieces of debris, which continue to present an on-going danger to the space systems of all nations, including China. We call on China to refrain from destabilizing actions – such as the continued development and testing of destructive anti-satellite systems – that threaten the long term security and sustainability of the outer space environment, on which all nations depend. The United States continuously looks to ensure its space systems are safe and resilient against emerging space threats.”
In answer to an emailed query from SpacePolicyOnline.com, Grant Schneider of the State Department’s Bureau of Arms Control and Verification and Compliance, replied “We have high confidence in our assessment. We refer to you to Chinese authorities for further information on this anti-satellite test.”
China’s Xinhua news agency on Thursday said only that it had conducted a successful land-based missile intercept test on July 23 that “achieved its preset goal.”
In an emailed exchange this afternoon, Brian Weeden, technical adviser to the Secure World Foundation, noted that China’s announcement called it a successful missile intercept test while the State Department referred to it as a “non-destructive test.” Weeden observed that China did not mention a designated target for Wednesday’s test, unlike the 2010 and 2013 tests where it said the target was launched on a ballistic missile. “There was no mention of that this time,” he said, and “My guess is that this test didn’t have a designated target.”
The United States and the Soviet Union developed ASAT systems early in the Space Age. The fate of the Soviet system is unclear, but it has not been tested since 1982. The United States ended its dedicated ASAT programs by the 1990s. In 2008, however, the United States destroyed one of its own spy satellites (USA-193) using a missile launched from an Aegis cruiser because, it asserted, the satellite was out of control and carried hazardous fuel that posed significant risk to populated areas if it made an uncontrolled reentry. The operation demonstrated an inherent U.S. capability to conduct such operations even though there is no official ASAT program. |
A CDF helicopter makes a water drop to fight the fast moving brush fire as it burns everything in its path at the Santa Ana River Wildlife Area in Riverside, Calif., on Feb. 28. (Photo11: Terry Pierson, AP) Story Highlights Blaze erupted Thursday in Santa Ana River bottom
At peak, fire downed power lines and burned near residential area
Firefighters had reduced flames mainly to hotspots by Friday
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters stopped the spread of a 311-acre wildfire in the heavily vegetated Santa Ana River bottom Friday, despite gusty Santa Ana winds and extremely dry conditions amid a late-winter heat spell.
Firefighters continued to work on hotspots, and a firefighting helicopter was on standby, said Greg Birchfield, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in Riverside County.
Containment was estimated at 60%. Firefighters expect to have the fire fully contained by 8 p.m. Saturday. Afternoon conditions included northeast winds at 10-15 mph with gusts to 20-25 mph with temperatures in the low 80s and relative humidity at just 5 percent.
No injuries were reported, Birchfield said.
At its peak, the fire downed power lines and burned near a residential area, prompting a call for voluntary evacuations. That order was lifted and electricity was restored by Friday morning, county fire officials said.
On Thursday, a backyard trailer went up in flames about a quarter-mile from the fire lines in a neighborhood where embers were flying, but fire officials couldn't immediately say whether the wildfire embers sparked it.
Southern California's Santa Ana winds are most often associated with fall but can occur through winter. They are created when air moving clockwise around an area of surface high pressure in the interior of the West flows down through passes and canyons in the region's mountains, gaining speed and warmth as they blow from a northeasterly direction toward the Pacific Ocean.
Numerous Southern California points saw Friday high temperatures in the 80s and Fullerton, in Orange County, hit 90.
The National Weather Service said the surface high pressure over the Great Basin was expected to slowly weaken through early Saturday.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Donovan McNabb contract rumors were heating up Monday, but few expected a deal to actually get done prior to Washington's clash with Philadelphia.
On the heels of his benching late in the Redskins' loss to the Lions, the timing of McNabb's new contract was hardly the biggest surprise to come out of Landover today.
According to Michael Smith of ESPN, McNabb and the Redskins have agreed on a five-year deal worth an incredible $78 million.
Talk about a reversal of fortune.
Dan Snyder's latest risky investment is reportedly owed $40 million in guaranteed money and $10 million in potential incentives.
That's a lot of scratch for a 34-year-old quarterback.
McNabb's new deal appears to be a disaster waiting to happen, but is it really the worst contract in the NFL?
Here's a look at 15 of the NFL's most overpaid players based on performance. |
by Jasper Sprengers
You can’t do without automated (unit) tests if you want to stay on top of the ever increasing complexity of software projects. A mutation testing framework ‘watches the watchmen’ by inserting small changes into your compiled byte code and then validating your test suites against these intentional bugs. As a quality safeguard it’s much more effective than traditional source code validation. It is a even a challenging way to improve your coding skills and makes writing tests suites fun again.
As a largely self-taught programmer I am still thankful for the millennial internet boom, when a linguistics graduate could get hired with nothing more than a thirst for coding and no professional experience or relevant diplomas to show for. I like to think my coding skills have improved in the fifteen years since, starting out – like most glorified amateurs – with the anti-bureaucratic “just get it done even if it requires duct-tape” attitude of coding, where writing unit tests only gets in the way of shipping code. Read Joel Spolsky about Netscape pioneer Jamy Zawinsky. Nowadays I believe in the school of “You can have good, cheap or fast. Pick two.” I don’t do duct tape anymore, except for small home repairs.
If a job is worth doing, it is worth doing well. Good code written by fallible humans needs automated tests. Too bad it’s not really the most fun part of programming. For many who write code on a daily basis test driven development still doesn’t come natural. Plenty of lip service is paid, but we’re just not that motivated to do it properly unless we’re harassed with minimum thresholds for test coverage. Tests feel like unexciting pieces of code making sure that other code which puts a blue ball in a red box has indeed put a blue ball in a red box, and not a green ball in an orange box. A pedantic bureaucratic requirement. “I can write working code, you know. Let me just get on making customers happy. They don’t care about stupid unit tests”.
That’s a dangerous attitude. Unit tests matter. Integration tests matter even more. You should get motivated. Test cases are a yardstick for quality while you’re designing your code, not something to add when you have time to spare. Code that cannot be properly unit-tested is a likely candidate for some serious overhaul. However, full rewrites are a waste of time and money. Agile development means software is continuously thought out, written down, re-thought and re-written until the user is happy or the money runs out, whichever comes first. Adopting such a just-in-time approach means that a code base is not only being expanded with new code, but the existing code adapts to the more complex software architecture without breaking the functionality it already provides. This change is happening all the time, ideally from day one, but no later than day three. Good tests make this incremental refactoring possible. Bad tests make it impossible.
Greater minds than myself have written great books about the need for refactoring and why meaningful tests should cover your entire code basis. I shouldn’t have to convince you. Let me just add my own argument here:
If you can’t test some piece of code, I don’t trust you to understand it.
Understanding how each line of code relates to the whole is a major challenge. Here’s something to put Moore’s Law into practical perspective. I am writing this post on a fancy Macbook with 16 Gb memory. In the early eighties I saved up my precious pocket money to buy a 16 Kb memory module for my Vic 20 home computer. That’s a million times more memory in thirty years. Human short-term memory is stuck on a measly seven items and has probably been since Socrates. Yes, we have better tools and faster compilers, but we have fixed-size brains that have to deal with ever-more complex projects. The only way to comprehend these is to break them down into manageable, testable chunks.
How to make sure our tests are any good? “Code coverage”, I hear you say. True, that’s a useful criterion, usually expressed the percentage with which source code is covered by test suites, but coverage in itself is not enough. Test suites need to pummel your code with a wide range of sensible and wacky input parameters and assert the results. Ineffective, bogus unit tests that cover the source code and please the robot don’t really validate anything. Quantifying quality is not bad in itself, but insisting on a minimum percentage of test coverage without some assurance that your tests are actually any good only lulls you in a false sense of security, particularly if you have too many developers in your team with the duct-tape attitude I just described. If management is okay with the practise, I advise you to find another employer. If you’re okay with it, I urge you to change careers.
You can (and probably should) have dedicated testers that put the finished product through rigorous manual testing. If they are worth their money they will find something that your test suites didn’t catch. But how much nicer it would be if there were an automated way to check if your tests are any good. To test your tests, so to speak. Mutation testing does just that. Mutation testing is based on a simple assumption: if your test suites fully validate the behaviour of your program, then changing the behaviour of the program by inserting significant changes should cause at least some of your tests to fail.
For those who need a car analogy: suppose the car is your source code, the test case involves doing a three-point turn and the JUnit runner is behind the wheel. The test succeeds if the car points the other way unscathed. Mutation testing will do several evil things to your car and expects that your tests will sniff them out. It will remove the battery: did you check that the engine has started. It will skew the rear-view mirror: did you adjust it for a clear view?
The framework inserts small but significant changes (‘mutants’) in your compiled code. Examples are swapping out arithmetic and equality operators, making methods return null or just removing method calls: basically anything that leaves the outward interface intact. Your unit tests should however detect the mutation and fail, thus killing the mutant. If not, the mutant has survived, indicating that your test may be insufficient. Rather than looking at code coverage alone, the percentage of mutants killed becomes the true indicator of quality.
A very useful mutation testing framework for Java is pitest.org. It integrates well with standard build tools and has simple but effective Eclipse and IntelliJ plugins. You can get up and running in a few minutes. Pitest will output a neat HTML report that puts code coverage next to mutation coverage and has a detailed view specifying which mutants have survived, i.e. were not caught by the test suite.
Is that a useful indicator? Can’t you just fool the machine like you can with code coverage? Not really. Mutation testing simply won’t let you get away with sloppy testing. Introducing a small but significant change in a class must break at least one test, i.e. kill the mutant. Mutants are more likely to survive when coverage is poor, but I have found plenty of survived mutants in code I thought was well-tested. The report from the PIT suite neatly puts coverage next to the percentage of mutants killed, where the latter is always a lower figure.
Mutation testing forces you to take testing seriously, there’s no doubt about it. Integrating it into your daily routine sharpens your sensibility to code more defensively and write good tests by adding a competitive element to the mix. Test driven development can feel like playing a game of chess with yourself. You write some code, and then you write a test for it. It’s hardly a victory to see a green test suite. Now when mutants rear their ugly heads writing these tests becomes a lot less predictive, but also more challenging. Any lazy bum can do 100% code coverage. It’s easy. Killing all the mutants in an intricate piece of source code, now that’s a sweet tasting victory.
In a next post, I will go into more detail on how to incorporate mutation testing sensibly and productively. |
Lisa (Purzelblume)
Hej, my name is Lisa. Nearly 4 and a half years ago I joined the Mount & Blade: Warband scene with the alias “Purzelblume” – as my name and accent hints, I am from Germany. After defeating all Calradia in Singleplayer, I joined the multiplayer community and played for ImB, Aquila, Wolfpack, Teutonic and now Tranquility. I was always interested in tactics, so I started watching streams, talking to commanders and tried out commanding teams myself. One day CaptainLust asked me to co-cast with him on MbTV and I instantly felt my passion for it. Since then I streamed with CaptainLust, Volcom and BladecastTV. Now a dream comes true: TaleWorlds Entertainment offered me to cast the very first LAN-Tournament of Warband at the side of Greedalicious. Let’s bring Warband to the next level, together let’s enter the area of eSport! |
BOSTON — With the Nets’ season — and Kenny Atkinson’s tenure as coach — tipping off Wednesday night against the Celtics at TD Garden, they know they’re not winning an NBA title. They know they’re almost certainly not winning more games than they lose.
But they can win more than people expect. They can be this year’s Trail Blazers. Instead of being the league’s worst team, they can be its hardest-working and set the table for future success.
“We worked very, very hard — that’s all you can ask,” veteran forward Luis Scola said. “We got better, which is the other thing we’re going to use to judge how the season is going. … How much do we get better from one week to the other?
“We know we’re young. We know the team comes from 21 wins. So, we’re not expecting to be any winning record next year.
“But I do believe this team can compete. I do believe it can win a lot of games if we play hard, if we get better every day, if we work hard every day in practice. We’ve got to take care of all those things first. The wins will comes later on.”
How many, and how much later? The Nets went just 21-61 last season, and Las Vegas has set the over-under for this season at an NBA-low 20.5 wins. If they’re going to do better, they will have to hustle their way there, starting Wednesday against Al Horford and Isaiah Thomas.
“We all know what’s going on here, so we don’t need to have any pressure about anything. We’ve just got to go out there and show how hard we work, and try to steal some wins,’’ backup point guard Greivis Vasquez said.
“We all know this is not going to be easy. The NBA is brutal, tough league, cold, business. But you have to be prepared. … We’re controlling what we can control. We’re working extremely hard.”
Point guard Jeremy Lin, the team’s marquee free-agent addition, said: “We’re going to have to be blue-collar, just nitty-gritty, physical. We just have to be scrappy. We’re not the most talented. That’s not a knock on anyone. It’s also not a surprise. We’re not the most talented. But it’s never just been about pure talent, and we’ve seem that many times, over and over again in the history of the game.”
It was proven again last season by the Trail Blazers, to whom the Nets look for inspiration.
After losing LaMarcus Aldridge, Wesley Matthews, Nicolas Batum and Arron Afflalo before the season, Portland had an over-under of 26.5 wins from Vegas oddsmakers, tied for second-lowest in the NBA. Instead, they went 44-38 and reached the second round of the playoffs.
“I keep referring to Portland last year, losing four or five starters and guys just filled in,” Lin said. “They had the ultimate team in terms of the way they played, and they completely overachieved. So it’s possible.”
It’s possible, but even harder because the Nets have Lin and Brook Lopez instead of a Damian Lillard who can step forward into stardom.
“Obviously you read what everybody is saying, but if you’re a competitor, that motivates you,’’ Vasquez said. “We’re all here working hard. We’re not working hard to lose. We’re working hard to prove a point. We have to prove people wrong. That’s part of life. If you want something in life, you’ve got to go get it. And how do you get it? By proving people wrong, by working hard. We’re willing to take the challenge, the whole group from the GM to the equipment guy.
“We know what we’re playing for, and we know where we’re at. Yeah, we probably won’t be the most talented team, but we have some pretty good players and a great coaching staff. Who knows? Look what happened with the Trail Blazers. … So it can happen here, easily. We’re positive. Very positive.” |
Nurse practitioner Juliana Duque gives a pregnant patient insecticide and information about mosquito protection at the Borinquen Medical Center in August 2016 in Miami. (Lynne Sladky/Associated Press)
About 1 in 10 pregnant women infected with Zika in the United States last year had a baby or fetus with serious birth defects, according to a study released Tuesday that represents the largest and most comprehensive study of Zika’s consequences for pregnant women.
Women infected during the first trimester of pregnancy had an even higher risk of birth defects, about 15 percent, according to the analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
These estimates are higher than what U.S. health officials have previously reported and underscore the serious risk for birth defects posed by Zika virus infection during pregnancy. With warm weather, a new mosquito season and summer travel approaching, prevention is crucial to protecting the health of mothers and babies, said Anne Schuchat, the CDC's acting director.
It may seem like Zika is last year's problem, she said, but that is not true, and pregnant women, their male partners, and clinicians can't be complacent.
"Don't let this outbreak be your family's heartbreak," she said Tuesday during a telephone briefing with reporters.
Most infections are spread by mosquitoes, but the virus also can be transmitted through sex and bodily fluids.
Doctors confirmed the link between the Zika virus and microcephaly in April. While the most visible sign of microcephaly is the small size of the head, its actually inside the brain where the most damage occurs. (Whitney Leaming,Julio Negron/The Washington Post)
Previous studies of Zika-associated birth defects were based on data from a small number of completed pregnancies. This new report analyzed data from nearly 1,000 pregnant women in 44 states who completed their pregnancies in 2016 and had some evidence of a Zika infection. Most were exposed during travel to one of the dozens of Zika-affected countries.
Of the 972 completed pregnancies, 250 women had confirmed infections. Of those, 24 pregnancies — about 10 percent — resulted in a fetus or baby with birth defects.
Screening for Zika is difficult because many infected people don’t have symptoms that might motivate them to get tested, and the longer the time lag after infection, the more complicated diagnosis becomes.
Even more disturbing, the risk for birth defects is almost certainly higher than the study suggests, because three-fourths of the infants born to mothers with some evidence of Zika infection did not receive the recommended brain imaging after birth. The link between Zika and birth defects was first noticed because the infection can cause microcephaly, or an abnormally small head. Subsequent research showed that babies may appear healthy at birth, with a normal head size, but have underlying brain abnormalities. Of 895 live births, only 221 babies received any kind of neuroimaging.
“It’s really key for these babies to have a head ultrasound or CT scan to look for abnormalities that may not be apparent at birth,” Margaret Honein, chief of the birth defects branch at the CDC and author of the report, said in an interview. “Knowing that not all these babies are receiving brain imaging, this may be significantly underestimating the complete number of infants with birth defects.”
Honein said she didn’t know why so many babies were not receiving the recommended brain evaluations. The reasons are likely to be complex, she said. All health-care providers, especially obstetricians and pediatricians, need to improve monitoring of these infants. The CDC is monitoring all pregnant women in the United States with any evidence of Zika infection; the agency is receiving 30 to 40 new reports of such pregnancies every week, she said.
Although microcephaly has been the most high-profile birth defect associated with Zika infections, congenital Zika syndrome is associated with a broad range of symptoms. They include eye abnormalities, hearing loss and problems moving limbs.
As a result, some babies have seizures, others have little to no control over their arms and legs, and can't freely reach out to touch things around them because of constricted joints, Schuchat said during a briefing with reporters. Some babies are not reaching their typical developmental milestones, like sitting up. Others have trouble swallowing or even breathing while feeding. Some babies are often inconsolable no matter what their caregiver does to soothe them.
"We’ve seen that these circumstances are just heartbreaking for families and clinicians," she said.
The more than 5,000 Zika cases reported in the continental United States and Hawaii include more than 1,600 pregnant women with evidence of Zika infection.
The cost for treating an infant with microcephaly is estimated at nearly $4 million, Schuchat said. For those who survive into adulthood, the cost could be up to $10 million.
The information released Tuesday provides an analysis of what has happened to the largest number of Zika-infected completed pregnancies. The information comes from state officials reporting to the U.S. Zika Pregnancy Registry from Jan. 15 to Dec. 27, 2016, in the 50 states, Washington, D.C., and all U.S. territories except Puerto Rico. Pregnancies in Puerto Rico, which has by far the largest number of Zika infections of anywhere in the United States, are being tracked separately.
Despite the differences in methodology and case definition, the CDC findings are consistent with reports from other countries about Zika-related birth defects, Honein said.
Researchers don’t know the full impact of a congenital Zika infection, and for that reason, they want to have the babies followed and evaluated for the first year or two, she said.
It’s unclear whether the CDC will have the funding to conduct follow-up evaluations of the babies. The agency, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, does not yet have a budget for the fiscal year that ends in October, or for the next fiscal year. The Trump administration has proposed cutting next year’s HHS budget by about 18 percent. It’s not clear whether those cuts would be applied across the board.
“We don’t yet know what the final funding amounts will be,” CDC spokesman Bertram Kelly said.
But the CDC and HHS are “committed to improving the health and well-being of the American people and look forward to continuing to work on long-term solutions that will further enhance our ability to positively and productively serve the American people,” he said.
Among the report’s key findings: |
SINGAPORE - Part of an oil rig gave way at a Singapore shipyard on Monday injuring 90 workers, one critically and 22 seriously, in one of the more serious workplace accidents in the wealthy Asian city-state.
The accident happened at Jurong Shipyard, owned by Sembcorp Marine Ltd, the world's second-largest rig builder.
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"Preliminary findings indicate that the jackup mechanism of one of the legs of a three-legged jackup rig had failed, causing the rig to tilt to one side," it said. "All work has stopped at the listing rig."
Sembcorp Marine, linked to Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd, said the accident happened during a test at a rig under construction.
"As investigations are in progress, the company is unable to provide further details at this stage," it said in a statement. |
Sometimes I find an ingredient so delicious or a concept so exciting that I feel like I’m holding onto a big secret. When I finally get the chance to share these big discoveries with you all, I feel like a giddy little kid on the inside (hands clapping, jumping up and down, rah rah rah!).
Today is one of those days. I’ve discovered the delights of infused liquors. They’re so good, you guys! And so easy! I was always put off by the waiting time for infusions, but after one sip of my first infused liquor, I realized that infusions are absolutely worth the wait. Infusions allow you to capture the essence of ripe fruit in its prime. Once you’ve made the infusion, you can enjoy it simply, over ice or mixed with club soda and a splash of citrus, or go a step further and make a traditional drink taste magical.
If you, too, have felt intimidated at the prospect of making your own infusions, hear me out: all I’m asking you to do is slice some strawberries, pour some liquor over them and screw on a lid. You can do this!
Strawberry-Infused Bourbon Author: Cookie and Kate
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 72 hours
Total Time: 72 hours 10 minutes
Category: Cocktail ★★★★★ 5 from 2 reviews Bourbon made sweeter with the real strawberries. It’s so simple! This is a basic infusion recipe, so you can substitute another strong liquor for the bourbon, or different fruit for the strawberries. Ingredients Organic strawberries
Bourbon Instructions Rinse the strawberries, then chop off the leafy tops and discard them. Chop the strawberries into bite-sized pieces. Transfer the strawberries into a jar large enough to hold all the strawberries and leave a couple of inches of room at the top. Pour bourbon over the mixture, screw on the lid tightly and give it a shake. Store the jar in a dark place, like in a cupboard, for anywhere from 3 to 7 days. Try to give the jar a shake once a day (I kept the jar in a cabinet right next to my coffee so I remembered to shake it every morning). When you’re ready to strain the mixture, place a mesh colander over an appropriately sized bowl. If you have one, you can use a nut milk bag, clean paint straining bag, cheese cloth or even a coffee filter in place of or in addition to the colander. Pour the mixture over the colander/bag/filter to catch the strawberries and any strawberry debris. Discard the strawberries. If you see any debris in the bowl, pour the vodka through your strainer once or twice more to remove it. Store the strawberry bourbon in the refrigerator for up to a month, or in the freezer to retain its fresh flavor even longer. Notes Adapted from David Lebovitz and Tracy of Shutterbean.
My recipe specifies organic strawberries because conventionally-grown strawberries are high in pesticides, and you definitely don’t want to sip down extra chemicals, right? Use the tastiest organic berries you can find.
There’s no need to use high-end liquor here, though I wouldn’t recommend any liquor that you wouldn’t want to consume in its original state (e.g. McCormick’s), either. I used Weller for this jar, but Jim Beam is another good choice.
Last summer’s cocktail series was all about muddled fruits, and I think I muddled all the fruit I could muddle, so this summer will the be the summer of infusions. I hope you all are as excited as I am. Since strawberries are starting to hit the markets (and my love for bourbon is no secret), I decided that my first infusion recipe would be a strawberry-infused mint julep.
Southern traditionalists make their mint juleps with mint, sugar, bourbon and ice (only!) and serve them in silver julep cups. I am no traditionalist, however! I took liberties with my recipe, tempering the strong bourbon flavor with the taste of fresh strawberries and a light drizzle of honey instead of sugar. I served the resulting cocktails in little glasses from the thrift store to show off their shockingly pink hue. Despite its girly color, I assure you that this twist still packs a punch and will appeal to both genders.
Strawberry-Infused Mint Julep Recipe
Ingredients:
7 fresh mint leaves
1/2 teaspoon honey (to taste)
2 1/2 ounces strawberry-infused bourbon (see recipe above)
1 strawberry, for garnish (optional)
Instructions:
In a rocks glass, muddle mint with a little drizzle of honey (original recipe called for 1 teaspoon superfine sugar). Pour in the bourbon, fill the glass with ice (preferably crushed ice) and stir until the glass starts to sweat. Add a splash or two of water, if desired, and stir again. Garnish with additional mint leaves and/or the mid-section of a strawberry (as shown in photos).
Notes: Adapted from The Seasonal Cocktail Companion by Maggie Savarino.
P.s. I set up a facebook album with links to my recipes for Cinco de Mayo! Check it out! |
JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli authorities sealed off and shut down the Mapping and Geographic Information Systems Department of the Arab Studies Society in occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday, with police detaining the center's director, Khalil Tufakji, during the raid.
PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat denounced the closure and “the illegal detention” of Tufakji, describing the man as “a distinguished scholar from Jerusalem.”
Erekat said in a written statement that Israeli forces also seized the documents, computers, and equipment from the office.
Israeli police spokeswoman Luba al-Samri confirmed in a written statement that the center was shut down, that materials were seized, and that 65-year-old Tufakji, a resident of the Wadi Joz neighborhood in East Jerusalem, was detained.
According to al-Samri, Israel’s Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan had signed an order to seal the institution, which only recently started to operate in the Beit Hanina neighborhood of East Jerusalem.
According to al-Samri, Erdan justified the decision to close the center for six months under the pretext that the office was operating in East Jerusalem under the supervision of the Palestinian Authority (PA), in an alleged violation of the 1994 Oslo Accords.
The statement added that Erdan’s order to close the center came after Israeli police detectives learned that the PA established the office, which she said was being used “to manage the registration process for Palestinian lands in East Jerusalem.”
Al-Samri said the center was funded by the PA and operated as a PA organization with the aim of reporting to PA security services headquartered in the occupied West Bank about Palestinians who were planning to sell property or lands to Jewish Israelis in East Jerusalem, so that those Palestinians may be interrogated. Her statement said that the PA referred to the process of selling Palestinian lands to Israelis as “land theft.”
The fate of Jerusalem has been a focal point of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades, with numerous tensions arising over Israeli threats regarding the status of non-Jewish religious sites in the city, and the "Judaization" of East Jerusalem through settlement construction and mass demolitions of Palestinian homes.
According to Erekat, the Arab Studies Society is an academic department that used to be part of the Orient House, an institution in occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City that used to serve as the headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in the 1980s and 1990s, until it was forcibly shut down by Israel in 2001 after years of effort by the Israeli government.
Israeli police meanwhile argued that investigations revealed that the Arab Studies Society “resumed operations” under the guise of being a geographic consultations service, “but in reality was operating as a PA organization just as it was before.”
Referring to the institution's closure, Erekat said that this “provocative act by the Israeli occupying forces is a reminder of Israel’s ongoing campaign to deprive Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem, the capital of the State of Palestine, of any voice, of its national institutions and organizations, in an effort to erase any Palestinian presence in the city.”
While Israeli police claimed that the center operated in violation of the Oslo Accords, Erekat noted that Israel, as an occupying power, “continues to violate its obligations under signed agreements, as well as of its commitments vis-a-vis the international community.”
More than 20 Palestinian institutions in East Jerusalem -- including the Orient House and the Chamber of Commerce -- have remained forcibly closed by Israel since 2001, according to Erekat, who said the measures violated of international law.
The PLO chief cited numerous United Nations resolutions that have called upon Israel to immediately reopen all Palestinian institutions in occupied East Jerusalem, including UN Security Council Resolution 476, which states:
“All legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel, the occupying power, which purport to alter the character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem have no legal validity and constitute a flagrant violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention (…) and also constitute a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East.”
Erekat went on to condemn “systematic Israeli policies against a Palestinian presence in occupied East Jerusalem,” which he said aim to “bury the two-state solution, consolidate Israel's apartheid regime in the occupied city, as well as in the rest of occupied Palestine, and aim to create a Palestinian demographic minority.”
He concluded his statement by saying that “this serious escalation demands the international community to urgently take concrete measures to reopen Palestinian institutions in occupied East Jerusalem, in line with international law and UN resolutions.” |
Heavily armed Metropolitan police threw Jewish activists out of an event hosted by a Labour MP at Parliament this week after they asked 'disruptive questions', MailOnline can reveal.
Mark Hendrick, MP for Preston, chaired the pro-Palestinian event which was organised by the controversial Palestine Return Centre (PRC). The group has been accused of links with Hamas, though a spokesman denied this.
One of the speakers at Tuesday's event – which was held to discussIsraeli conduct in Jerusalem – was Kamal Hawwash of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, who used his speech to accuse Israel of being 'an expert at inciting hatred'.
At a previous Labour event, he said he considered a man who knifed two Israeli men to death, and injured a woman and toddler, a 'martyr' carrying out an 'act of revenge'. If people found his actions 'unacceptable', he said, 'that's up to them'.
The Jewish activists listened quietly to the speeches but then strongly challenged the presentations during the question-and-answer session. Mr Hendrick summoned police armed with machine guns to eject them, leaving them 'shaken and upset'.
It comes as MailOnline has learnt that Labour Against Anti-Semitism has reported at least 500 cases to party officials since Christmas – an average of 125 a month –raising questions about anti-Semitism in the party weeks before the election.
Labour MP Mark Hendrick directs armed officers towards Jewish audience members, left, and the policeman approaches to throw the Jewish activists out, right
Mandy Blumenthal, 52, one of the Jewish activists thrown out of the event by armed police
Kamal Hawwash, second from left, who has called a murderer a 'martyr', sits beside Labour MP Mark Hendrick, third from left, and Penny Green, who has suggested Britain bomb Israel, right
Titled 'The Question of Jerusalem: Occupation, Discrimination and Displacement', the event offered Palestinian perspectives on the conduct of Israel in the city. No pro-Israeli speakers were on the panel.
In a recording of the question-and-answer session, passed to MailOnline, one Jewish contributor can be heard saying: ’What I find very concerning is the bias of a panel in the House of Commons.
'It's particularly sickening that in half an hour we didn't hear one reference to [Israel's] safety and security.'
This Labour MP wanted it to be an echo chamber, not a debating chamber Mandy Blumenthal, Jewish activist
Another added: 'Hamas is a terrorist organisation that murders people in the same way that innocents were murdered outside our houses of Parliament here.'
Mr Hendrick MP responded to the first questioner: ‘This is a Palestinian Return Centre meeting. It is not supposed to be a cross-section of views.’
There followed a heated exchange, during which the Labour MP accused the activists of being disruptive.
Mobile phone footage obtained by MailOnline shows Mr Hendrick MP demanding that armed officers ‘take them out of here’, while a Jewish audience member protests, ‘I asked a question, I didn't say anything wrong’.
Four Jewish activists were thrown out of Portcullis House by seven officers armed with machine guns, who then took their details before releasing them without charge. The activists told MailOnline they were left 'shaken and upset'.
'I was thinking, oh my God, I feel it's really wrong to be told to leave for just giving my opinions,' said Mandy Blumenthal, 52, a member of West Midlands Friends of Israel. 'But I saw a policeman with a machine gun and I didn't want to argue.'
She added: 'The House of Commons is supposed to be the heart of free speech. But this Labour MP wanted it to be an echo chamber, not a debating chamber.'
Kamal Hawwash, who has called a murderer a 'martyr' and said his acts of killing two men, injuring a woman and shooting a toddler were not terrorism but 'revenge'
Mark Hendrick, the Labour MP for Preston, chairs the controversial event at Parliament
Another activist, Jonathan Hoffman, said: 'The evening was peppered with false facts, innuendo and downright lies. Parliamentary facilities were being used to create a platform for hate and anti-Semitism.’
They came intentionally to make trouble PRC Spokesman
A spokesman for the PRC said: 'We have always denied having a connection with Hamas. We have met with them, but we meet all Palestinian stakeholders. We do not condone violence and anti-Semitism.
'These four activists have been going to every single meeting, always causing disruption, barring civilised debate and discussion. They came intentionally to make trouble. They coordinated their shouting and disruptive questions together.'
He added that some of the Jewish activists were taking pictures and video footage inside the venue, which was against Parliamentary rules.
Penny Green, another speaker at the event in Parliament on Tuesday
Penny Green's tweet that was perceived by some to be hostile to Israel
After the incident, a spokesman for Labour Against Anti-Semitism, which reports instances of anti-Semitism in the party, told MailOnline:
‘We have collected huge amounts of evidence of a deep-rooted problem with anti-Semitism within the hard Left of Labour. Across social media, we are seeing again and again the same recurring anti-Semitic tropes and instances of outright hate speech.
‘We do wonder if complacency is actually evidence of complicity.’
I regret hosting the meeting because it turned out the way it did Mark Hendrick MP
When questioned by MailOnline, Mr Hendrick MP said: 'I didn't know the views of the [pro-Palestinian] speakers when I agreed they could speak. I was not aware of the comments they had made in the past.
'The Palestine Return Centre approached me and asked me to host the meeting, and I agreed. I was under the impression the speakers were respected academics.
'I was aware of the allegations that the PRC was linked to Hamas, but the organisation has been recognised by the United Nations as doing a lot of good work.
'I regret hosting the meeting because it turned out the way it did.'
When asked whether he regretted working with the PRC, he said: 'Don't put words into my mouth. Those people were being deliberately disruptive, asking disruptive questions.'
Mr Hawwash, a British-Palestinian engineer who has referred to a murderer as a 'martyr' carrying out an act of 'revenge', was denied entry into Israel over Easter and was unable to see his family as a result.
He told MailOnline he does not condone terrorism and that 'killing people will never be the way forward for peace'. |
The Greek government hiding debts into 2010 was corruption. Let's take a look at Argentina today....a clampdown of the press for 5 years. Stalinist currency and price controls for about 4. Disastrous foreign policy that allies them with Venezuela and Russia. The regime's president Kirchner and economy minister Kiciloff brag about not indebting the country...but that's simply a lie. They used the oil company YPF as their personal credit card after ousting the spanish owners. Why is the IMF suddenly paying credit to this white elephant that's been in the room as venezuela collapses? Because Argentina's regime is in its final weeks. At the end of this term, Lagarde starts to tell the truth...that these corrupt parties running Brazil and Argentina off a cliff were causes for concern several years ago. Now it's just time for the collapse. From Chile, this country prepared for this turbulence with consumer indebtedness hinged on China's copper stockpiling. The stalinists running Argentina have been laughing about their disastrous policies for years, still theyre given to UN to act all patriotic. It's us the patriots against the IMF they say...I'm quoting the biggest thieves on the planet. Lula, Dilma, Putin. Cristina, XI ping. . |
“The viewers have got no interest in what I've got to say because they switched off four or five hours ago.”
That was Kevin Pietersen reacting to the slow and low Nagpur pitch, which yielded 199 for 5 in 97 overs on the first day. The odd ball kept low but staying at the wicket wasn’t difficult – scoring runs; hitting your shots was. It, in Pietersen’s opinion, made for boring cricket.
Then came the Indian innings and honestly, you couldn’t switch off for even a second.
Anderson started the innings by slipping one onto Gautam Gambhir’s legs. The left-hander helped it along to fine leg for a single. India were away but sadly, they were never running.
The next ball was fired down Virender Sehwag’s leg-side. The ball was swinging and Matt Prior completed a nice one-handed take to his left.
Then Anderson went back to the top of his mark and started running in again – this time he managed to get his line right. It was a length ball but it swung into the right-hander in the air and off the pitch. Sehwag, perhaps bizarrely, played inside the line, his feet didn’t move and he heard the death rattle.
The ball had hit the top of his middle stump and for a moment, he stood still. It was a good ball but somehow, some part of India hopes that India’s greatest match-winner attaches a greater price to his wicket. As he walked back, India were reduced to 1-1.
This time Sehwag didn’t turn around and say, ‘This is how I play.’ In the eyes of many, the right-hander’s ability to stick to his guns no matter what is his greatest strength but then again, it is also his greatest weakness.
Gambhir and Cheteshwar Pujara steadied the ship but when the opener departed after edging the ball outside the off-stump, India were in deep trouble. In walked Sachin, the crowd applauded and the fielders closed in.
Players around the often talk about how much they respect Tendulkar but their words and their deeds don’t match. On twitter, @sidvee said: Aila! Squat-and-bowled kind of pitch.
And then it happened. The ball seamed in, it kept low and Tendulkar did the squat and he was gone – looking at the toe-end of the bat. And at the same time, a million tweets went viral, they all seemed to ask one thing: The end?
On television channels, the headlines were all about Tendulkar. ‘Tendulkar fails again,’ they said. ‘Tendulkar bowled again,’ they screamed at every viewer. ‘Anderson gets Tendulkar again…’ and again and again.
But honestly, the bigger worry for India should be the way in which Virender Sehwag is failing. The right-hander turned 34 around 54 days back while Tendulkar is going to turn 40 in April 2013. Rahul Dravid (also 39 when he retired) and VVS Laxman (almost 38 when he retired) were also part of India’s greatest batting generation along with the above two batsmen.
So in many ways, Sehwag – the youngest of the lot -- was expected to be link between Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman and the younger generation; the man who could pass on the message and the lessons. Honestly, Tendulkar’s survival seems to be a matter of time now but losing Sehwag will hurt India far more.
In matches won, Sehwag still averages 56.90 (40 matches), in drawn matches he averages 59.69 (33 matches) and in matches lost, he averages just 34.35 (in 28 matches). The numbers just illustrate how important he is to India and that is why India needs him to find his true self even more than it needs Sachin to come good.
Sachin might be our obsession but Sehwag wins matches and helps India win matches. If he keeps failing, India's future seems pretty grim indeed.
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Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, left, and provincial Finance Minister Charles Sousa. (Canadian Press photo)
Sen. Art Eggleton has been pushing for a basic income pilot project, arguing it could help reduce poverty and, by extension, health care costs. (Canadian Press photo)
TORONTO — A single paragraph buried in the Ontario budget could mean big changes in the lives of some of the province's most impoverished residents by giving them a guaranteed minimum income. Last month's provincial budget promised a pilot project to test "that a basic income could build on the success of minimum wage policies and increases in child benefits by providing more consistent and predictable support." The concept is on the radar of the federal Liberals, too — a Liberal-dominated parliamentary committee called on the Trudeau government to explore the concept of guaranteeing people a minimum income in a pre-budget report tabled Friday. Charles Sousa, Ontario's finance minister, said the province has not decided which community will be the test site for a basic income guarantee. "It's something that many people seem to have an interest in us testing out, so we're looking at something in the fall," he said. "Other jurisdictions are using it, and I want to see if it makes sense for us, so it's important for us to pilot, to test it out, and see what happens."Proponents say a guaranteed minimum income, which would see families living below the poverty line topped up to a set level, would be more efficient and less costly than administering the existing series of social programs that help low-income residents. They also say poverty is one of the biggest determinants of health, and a guaranteed minimum income could mean reduced health-care costs. "Poverty costs us all. It expands health-care costs, policing burdens and depresses the economy," Sen. Art Eggleton said last month as he called for a national pilot project of a basic income guarantee. About nine per cent of Canadians live in poverty, but the numbers are much higher for single mothers and indigenous communities.If Ontario's basic income pilot project is designed correctly, it could help eliminate some of the "perverse incentives" that institutionalize poverty, said Danielle Martin, vice president of Women's College Hospital in Toronto. "We want to design programs that will give people who need it income security, but will not discourage them from entering the workforce," said Martin. "And it's entirely possible, if we design this pilot right, that we can actually have a major impact on the health outcomes for some of the most vulnerable people in the province, and that can save tremendous amounts of money in the health-care system down the road." Canada experimented with a guaranteed minimum income in Dauphin, Manitoba in the early 1970s . The so-called Mincome project found it did not discourage people from working, except for two key groups: new mothers, and teenaged boys who opted to stay in school until graduation. The Mincome project also found an 8.5 per cent reduction in hospital visits in Dauphin during the experiment, said Martin. "People had fewer visits because of mental health problems," she said. "There were fewer low birth-weight babies, so very concrete and immediate impacts in terms of people's health." The Income Security Advocacy Centre said care must be taken to ensure no one is worse off as a result of the Ontario pilot for a basic income guarantee. People on social assistance in Ontario also get their prescription drugs and dental bills paid for, as well as help with child care, and they should not lose those benefits with a basic income guarantee, added Martin. "It's called the welfare wall, a phenomenon where people, even if they could find part-time work or lower paying work — they're actually better off in some ways by staying on social assistance because of those other benefits," she said. "For some people, that makes it basically impossible to get off of welfare." People should not be concerned that a guaranteed minimum income would mean those on social assistance are suddenly living on easy street, said Eggleton. "This wouldn't be the good life," he told the Senate. "It would provide a floor, a foundation that low-income people can then build upon for a better life." Social programs should lift people out of poverty, not keep them there, and a basic income is a new approach that could work, added Eggleton. "How we have dealt with poverty has failed," he said. "We need to test a different approach." |
Buy Photo American Apparel closed its East Lansing location on Dec. 18. The clothing chain filed for bankruptcy in October. (Photo: Alexander Alusheff/Lansing State Journal)Buy Photo
EAST LANSING – American Apparel has closed its East Lansing location.
The clothing store’s signage has been removed, and brown paper now covers the windows of the business, located at 115 E. Grand River Ave. across the street from Michigan State University. The store closed on Dec. 18, according to the East Lansing Assessor’s Office.
Building owner, Brian Gordon, of East Lansing Grand River LLC, has listed the property for lease on Loopnet. The storefront has 4,400 square feet and can be rented for $110,000 per year.
Gordon said American Apparel's lease was up and the company did not renew it.
"We're very close to a deal on the space now," he said. "The space won't stay empty for long."
American Apparel opened the East Lansing store in 2007, according to the assessor’s office. It was the company’s 84th location.
The Los Angeles-based clothing chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October. The company has since been restructuring its business, closing unprofitable stores. In October, the chain had six factories and 230 stores in the U.S. and 17 other countries.
"This store closure is a next step in implementing our previously announced turnaround plan, which includes closing under-performing locations and investing in new stores in promising areas," said Arielle Patrick, an American Apparel spokesperson, in an email.
The nearest American Apparel is now in Ann Arbor at 619 E. Liberty St. There is another location in Royal Oak. Both will remain open, according to store representatives.
Contact Alexander Alusheff at (517) 388-5973 or aalusheff@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexalusheff.
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Blockchain technology is breaking into many industries, including publication. Wikipedia cofounder Larry Sanger explains how tech can create transparency, and allow more content on the site.
Everipedia wants the blockchain to replace Wikipedia Wikipedia co-founder Dr. Larry Sanger explains why he joined Everipedia, a blockchain encyclopedia with a decentralized protocol for accessing and sharing knowledge.
Many industries have adopted blockchain technology as a core part of their operations. It creates transparency and trust between parties so that trust is no longer needed, which is why industries such as real estate, finance, and advertising are beginning to use it. And now, Wikipedia's cofounder Larry Sanger wants blockchain to replace the free online encyclopedia.
TechRepublic's Dan Patterson met with Sanger to discuss why he joined Everipedia, and why the blockchain should replace Wikipedia.
Everipedia is the encyclopedia of everything, where topics are unrestricted, unlike on Wikipedia, Sanger said. More technically, it's a blockchain encyclopedia with a decentralized protocol for accessing and sharing knowledge.
SEE: Cheat sheet: Blockchain
A blockchain is a list of transactions, or a ledger, that can be used to represent a database. By putting all of Everipedia's content on the blockchain, it creates a transparency between writers and readers. When it's all set up, it will be possible for people to propose adding information to the blockchain, Sanger explained, and people who have tokens (which are earned by adding to the blockchain) come to a consensus about what information gets added to the blockchain.
"In terms of editorial standards, just to get on an encyclopedia blockchain will be relatively easy," Sanger said. When the initial protocol is adopted, it should be a very low bar that allows encyclopedia articles to get onto the blockchain, he said. However, the actual editorial decisions that are made won't happen on that level.
Different users of the information that make up the blockchain and Everipedia will make the decisions on the ratings of articles, and what order they will be placed. Users will be able to go in, read those articles, and visit our interface to submit their own ratings, he said.
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Books apple (Photo11: The Register)
At 6 a.m. on a recent Saturday, I walked out through the snow and was delighted, but not surprised, to find four double-bagged, dry newspapers had been delivered to my driveway. At 11:15, I drove out for a nice Korean lunch at So Gong Dong on Route 10. Soon after I got back home, my USPS carrier delivered my mail. At 3:45, I drove to the Morris County Library.
It was closed.
Doesn’t that evidence suggest newspaper deliverers, waitresses, chefs and postal carriers are all more dedicated to the people they serve than are Morris County Library employees?
That Saturday closing followed the library’s recent announcement they were closing three days (Dec. 24, 25 and 26) for Christmas, instead of the originally scheduled two days. I called the Morris County freeholders’ office for an explanation. Communications Director Larry Ragonese explained they added the Dec. 24 closure because they couldn’t get enough librarians to agree to work that day. Think of that next time someone tries to persuade you the library elite, those with Masters of Library Science degrees, are either dedicated to patrons or underpaid.
So, on that surprise-closure Saturday, some men were at work on the long-term-never-explained-to patrons-parking-complicating-construction-project. I walked to the front door to be sure the library was closed and, if so, if they’d put up an explanation of why they were closed or offer an expression of sympathy for those who’d driven there. There was neither. You might think common decency required both. Silly you. You’re not a library professional.
More cars were turning in. As I walked back to mine, I passed a man and his little boy getting out of theirs. I told them the library was closed. The father looked around and asked why. His young son, holding DVDs, looked up at me and said, “We have to get in! We have to get in!”
Next time you see a freeholder or a Morris County library professional, please ask him or her what he or she would have said to the father, and to the son.
Why am I angry about those closings?
It’s evidence the Founding Fathers were right to fear government would end up serving the government, rather than serving the people.
I’m old, and have a hatred of stupidity and waste anywhere. That’s an attitude once common among Americans, but now considered unsophisticated.
I’m addicted to reading. I’m aware of my ignorance, and trying to reduce it. I’m like musician Frank Zappa, of The Mothers of Invention, who said, “So many books, and so little time.” Blame it on my father, the one-time superintendent of schools in Berlin, N.H., who was a diligent, effective and inspiring administrator and a responsible parent, but always seemed happiest when he’d found a comfortable place to read.
I respect self-education. We’re a highly degreed and ignorant country. Colleges are turning out people who don’t like to read and have no interest in ideas. Libraries can help anyone anywhere learn anything. Our country was founded by highly educated people with little formal education, people who read and thought.
Unfortunately, government libraries and their employees are treated as sacred cows, above criticism. That’s wrong. Libraries are too important for us to let them, and let freeholders let them, be controlled by unionized MLSs, perhaps the most self-righteous of all greedy special-interest groups.
Terry Dwyer
MORRISTOWN
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Add Newsweek to the list of publications that no longer care at all if President Trump or his ever-changing administration coterie ever give them the time of day again. The weekly has likely burned every bridge with its latest cover story — or more accurately, its latest brutal cover.
Newsweek unveiled it on Thursday, and while the subject and headline — Trump, America’s Boy King: Golf and Television Won’t Make America Great Again — weren’t exactly kind to the 45th president, it was the cover that had Trump opponents standing up and cheering.
Set against the backdrop of the White House, the cover shows Trump kicking back on a recliner with a remote control in one hand and bags of food on his lap. The image practically begs for one of Trump’s early morning tweets. “Donald Trump is bored and tired,” the cover line says. “Imagine how bad he’d feel if he did any work.” His accomplishments — or lack of them — are pointed out on the side. Ouch.
Those of you hoping for a reaction might have to chill for now, however. So far at least, Trump has not responded to the cover.
See a bigger version of the image below, and read the full article here. |
TL;DR repository
Hello, Rustaceans
Recently, I had to re-implement a minimal test crate for steed (a std re-implementation free of C dependencies / code for Linux systems) to get unit testing ( cargo test ) working with it. Since steed is early stage, it has no support for unwinding or threads so the test runner has be re-implemented to not rely on either of those features.
That went well and already landed in steed but then I realized that what I have just implemented could be easily ported to bare metal systems like microcontrollers!
The result was μtest. μtest lets you easily create test runners for no_std systems. Based on it, I’ve created two test runners:
utest-cortex-m-qemu . A test runner to unit test crates on emulated Cortex-M processors (QEMU user emulation), and
utest-cortex-m-semihosting . A test runner to unit test crates on real Cortex-M microcontrollers. This test runner uses semihosting to report back the test results so it works on every single Cortex-M microcontroller out there that has GDB support.
Here’s a picture of the second test runner in action:
Left: GDB session. Top right: Unit test source code. Bottom right: Test results
μtest could be used to create test runners that don’t require GDB to operate and that report the test results using faster communication protocols (semihosting is very slow) like Serial or ITM.
Hope you find it useful! |
Several Tamil Conservative Party members are urging the Conservative Party of Canada to continue its investigation into the disallowed memberships it discovered, and to ultimately release the names of those responsible.
Roshan Nallaratnam, who ran for the Conservative Party in the 2015 federal election but lost to Liberal Bill Blair (Scarborough Southwest, Ont.), and Raj Subramaniam say the recent membership fraud debacle in the Conservative Party leadership race reflects poorly on the entire Tamil Canadian community, and is discouraging to Canadian Tamils who want to get involved in local politics.
Mr. Subramaniam, who once ran for city councillor in Markham, said he considers the association of the Tamils with membership fraud, without specifying who is responsible, to be “punishing the entire Tamil community.”
It’s something he feels “awkward” about, he said, because “as a Canadian, we want to make changes too.”
Last month, leadership candidate Kevin O’Leary released a statement alleging “backroom organizers [were] committing widespread vote rigging and potentially breaking our electoral and financing laws to try to buy a leadership victory.”
Following Mr. O’Leary’s allegations, The Huffington Post Canada reported that “the alleged scheme involves Tamil field co-ordinators in the Toronto-area.” The Globe and Mail also referred to Tamil organizers, but both reports indicated that the Tamils allegedly involved in the illegitimate memberships were supporting Maxime Bernier’s campaign.
But some Tamils involved with the Conservative Party say that’s just not enough information, and that the association of Tamil Canadians with the membership fraud, without naming individuals, is detrimental to the political involvement of Tamils in Canada.
That’s why they want the party to further its investigation into the matter to find the people responsible, and then make that information public.
“It’s an insult to the entire community,” Mr. Nallaratnam said. “A lot of people work hard to involve themselves in Canada’s democratic process, and then there might be one or two kind of black sheep who’re trying to do dirty games.”
“The party needs to get deeper. They have two IP addresses. The party should definitely come out and say these are the individuals [responsible].”
‘Home country’ politics
Mike Coates, Kevin O’Leary’s campaign manager, said in an interview last week that he “understands” the point of view of the Tamils who feel they have been caught up in the fray.
Mr. Coates said Ron Chatha, who was the person who alerted the O’Leary campaign to the membership troubles in the first place, ended up getting “calls from people in communities that he’s in, thanking him for doing it because so many new Canadians just want to play a role in our democracy.”
The problem, Mr. Coates said, is “you have a lot of old time, traditional Canadians who take advantage of the way politics was played back in their home country.”
“They don’t want to be used that way,” he added.
Mr. Nallaratnam said that’s exactly what happens: some political organizers within the community take advantage of the way politics is done in India, or Sri Lanka.
Mr. Nallaratnam pointed to one of the key Tamil organizers working for Mr. Bernier’s campaign: Babu Nagalingam.
He said Mr. Nagalingam has a reputation for making promises he has no ability to keep.
“This is not Sri Lanka, this is not India, stop with your dirty games,” he said.
Mr. Nagalingam responded by email to the allegation by saying “I can’t not tell people to be involved. They need to be inspired.”
Mr. Nallaratnam also criticized Mr. Nagalingam for working for the Liberal candidate Mr. Blair in the last federal election, and now aligning himself with the Conservative Party again. Mr. Nallaratnam was running against Mr. Blair.
Mr. Nagalingam said, “the community is motivated by actions not blind partisan allegiances,” and that the Tamil community was mobilized not by promises he made, but by candidates who had shown their commitment to the community.
He pointed to Mr. Blair and Patrick Brown, the Ontario PC leader who mobilized the Tamil community in 2015 to support him in his leadership bid, as having done just that. But in the federal leadership race, he said Tamil Canadians were not rallying behind any one candidate.
“Frankly, there is not a giant Tamil involvement in this federal leadership as there is no Bill Blair or Patrick Brown,” Mr. Nagalingam said.
Mr. Nagalingam also said the 1,351 memberships the party found to be illegitimate could not have come from the Tamils supporting Mr. Bernier, because at that point, those memberships had not yet been submitted.
Party looks to Chief Electoral Officer for help with investigation
Conservative Party spokesperson Cory Hann said the Conservative Party has done what it can do internally, and has completed its review of “potential ineligible membership purchases.” The 1,351 memberships it found to be disallowed were purchased anonymously through two IP addresses, and not purchased by the individual members themselves.
The money the party received as a result of thse illegitimate memberships (a minimum of $20,200 if all the memberships were one-year memberships) was handed over to the Chief Electoral Officer, he said.
“We’re not able to trace beyond the IP address, and so the party has reached out to the Office of the Commissioner of Canada Elections offering to provide any additional information that they may require or need,” Mr. Hann wrote in an emailed response to questions.
iPolitics reported that Elections Canada confirmed its involvement in the investigation, though it did not offer further comment.
O’Leary camp wants rivals to release membership numbers to look for discrepancies
Since the initial allegations were released by Mr. O’Leary’s campaign, the deadline for candidates to sign up new members—March 28—has come and gone. While some leadership candidates have publicly said how many members they signed up, the majority of the 14 candidates are keeping that information to themselves.
That prompted Mr. O’Leary’s team to once again issue a statement, this time urging his fellow candidates to release the number of members they signed up as soon as possible.
The reason for this ask is to make sure there’s no discrepancy between candidates’ claims about memberships, and the official membership numbers that the Conservative Party will likely release at the end of April or beginning of May, says Mr. Coates.
“It’s a good way to hold everyone to account,” he said. “Transparency. There’s nothing else like it. Tell the truth, put the number out there,” he urged other candidates.
If there’s a discrepancy in the numbers, then that will say a lot to Conservative members, he added.
Mr. Hann said “there’s a lot of processing and reviewing that still has to happen” before the membership numbers can be released. This isn’t out of the ordinary, though, as he pointed to 2004, when the final membership number was not released until about two weeks prior to the leadership vote.
Mr. O’Leary says he has signed up more than 35,000 memberships. Mr. Bernier has not said how many new members he had signed up during the course of his campaign. Other candidates, like Erin O’Toole, are keeping those numbers to themselves as well.
Michael Chong says he signed up 17,000 new members. Kellie Leitch lays claim to 30,000-plus new members, and Lisa Raitt says she has signed up more than 10,000 new members. The numbers cannot be verified, and some have said they should be taken with a grain of salt.
When Mr. Hann was asked whether or not the party would be reviewing memberships as they came in for fraud, he said “the party regularly reviews memberships to ensure they are within our rules.”
cnash@hilltimes.com
@chels_nash |
You might have been there before: you clean up your diet and hit the gym five times a week, but at some point, the scale stops budging no matter what you do. A new study sheds light on this frustrating phenomenon: when it comes to weight loss, environmental and lifestyle factors matter more than we may think, and it's affecting millennials' waistlines.
The study, published in Obesity Research & Clinical Practice, looked at the diets and physical activity habits of over 35,000 people who participated in a survey between 1971 and 2008. The researchers found that while calorie intake increased over the years, physical activity did as well. Unfortunately, researchers also noted that even though millennials are exercising more than previous generations, they still are 10 percent heavier than those who ate similar calorie amounts in the '70s and five percent heavier than those who exercised just as much in the '80s. In other words, if you're a 25-year-old today, you have to eat less and exercise more than your 25-year-old counterpart from previous generations in order to not gain weight.
So what gives? Study author Jennifer L. Kuk says this is because weight loss isn't just about a simple calories-in-calories-out formula. Instead, our weight is the result of many different lifestyle factors, like medication use, pollutants, genetics, timing of food intake, stress, gut bacteria, and even nighttime light exposure. "[This study] indicates there may be other specific changes contributing to the rise in obesity beyond just diet and exercise," she says. "Ultimately, maintaining a healthy body weight is now more challenging than ever." Great.
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The good news is this study confirms that what you do when you're not sitting down for a meal or hopping on the treadmill can set yourself up for even more weight-loss success. Check out these lifestyle tips that will help the scale budge: |
NEW ORLEANS - A BP employee lost a laptop containing personal data belonging to thousands of Louisiana residents who filed claims for compensation after the Gulf oil spill, a company spokesman said Tuesday.
BP spokesman Curtis Thomas said the oil giant on Monday mailed out letters to roughly 13,000 people whose data was stored on the computer, notifying them about the potential data security breach and offering to pay for their credit to be monitored. The company also reported the missing laptop to law enforcement, he said.
The laptop was password-protected, but the information was not encrypted, Thomas said.
The data included a spreadsheet of claimants' names, Social Security numbers, phone numbers and addresses. But Thomas said the company doesn't have any evidence that claimants' personal information has been misused.
Special Section: Disaster in the Gulf
Photos: Oil Still Remains in Spots Along the Gulf Coast
"We're committed to the people of the Gulf Coast states affected by the Deepwater Horizon accident and spill, and we deeply regret that this occurred," he said.
The data belonged to individuals who filed claims with BP before the Gulf Coast Claims Facility took over the processing of claims in August. BP paid roughly $400 million in claims before the switch. As of Tuesday, the GCCF had paid roughly $3.6 billion to 172,539 claimants.
Thomas said no one will have to resubmit a claim because of the lost data.
The employee lost the laptop on March 1 during "routine business travel," said Thomas, who declined to elaborate on the circumstances.
"If it was stolen, we think it was a crime of opportunity, but it was initially lost," Thomas said.
BP is offering to pay for claimants to have their credit monitored by Equifax, an Atlanta-based credit bureau.
Asked why nearly a month elapsed before BP notified residents about the missing laptop, Thomas said, "We were doing our due diligence and investigating."
Matt O'Brien, part owner of Tiger Pass Seafood, a shrimp dock in Venice, La., said he had filed a claim with BP before the GCCF took over processing claims in August. A call from an AP reporter on Tuesday was the first he had heard that his personal information may have been among the data compromised.
"That's like it's par for the course for them," O'Brien said of BP. "They can't seem to do nothing right."
Beau Weber, a fishing guide in Lafitte, La., also had filed a claim with BP prior to Aug. 23, and he had even received several monthly payments from BP. He said he hadn't received a letter from BP about the missing laptop.
"It's terrible," he said of the breach. "I kinda work hard for the things I have. I wouldn't want somebody with a computer to be able to take it from me. It's very disturbing. It's like another gallon of gas thrown on the fire." |
RIVER FOREST, Ill. (AP) — Authorities say a shotgun-wielding man opened fire on suburban Chicago police officers responding to a 911 house call about a woman who was having trouble breathing.
River Forest Deputy Police Chief James O’Shea says the 24-year-old man “ambushed” the officers shortly after 7 a.m. Sunday and that they returned fire, killing him. He says two officers suffered injuries that weren’t life-threatening. One was shot in his bullet-proof vest and the second was treated for other injuries.
*Click to read more from our sister station WGN
Authorities say a 60-year-old man was found dead in the home and the attacker’s 59-year-old mother was found with gunshot wounds and taken to a hospital.
Police say shootings inside the home were “domestic” and happened before they arrived.
The Cook County medical examiner’s office confirmed the deaths but didn’t provide further details. |
Comic-Con International and Lionsgate have set May 7 as the launch date for Comic-Con HQ, their newly named subscription video-on-demand platform.
The companies had announced plans in April for the ad-free service, which will include original scripted and unscripted series, recurring daily and weekly entertainment commentary, live and archival programming, film and TV genre titles, and behind-the-scenes access and bonus features from genre titles.
Comic-Con HQ will launch with free beta access on May 7 — which is Free Comic-Book Day this year — with its official premiere in June leading up to Comic-Con International: San Diego on July 21-24. The price for the channel has not yet been set.
“For nearly half a century, Comic-Con has served as the definitive common ground where the fans of genre entertainment come together to express their passion for comics and pop culture,” said Seth Laderman, exec VP and general manager for Comic-Con HQ.
“Comic-Con HQ aspires to extend that exchange 365 days a year, bringing everything we love about Comic-Con to the world in ways never before seen and experienced. The new platform will provide a year-round destination to enjoy all facets of the community and access the vast diversity of content the world has come to expect from the largest and longest-running pop cultural celebration of the year.”
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David Glanzer, chief communications and strategy officer for Comic-Con International, said, “CCHQ is welcoming both attendees and fans new to the Comic-Con phenomenon to join our community and enjoy all aspects of the experience in ways never before imagined.”
Monday’s announcement disclosed that gaming personality Adam Sessler, former host of G4’s “X-Play,” will executive produce programs on comics, science and gaming, along with hosting his own interview series. Other formats being developed include a general pop culture news show, a late-night talk show, a weekly movie talk in partnership with Complex’s Collider and an all-female panel on pop culture from women’s perspectives.
The original scripted and unscripted series debuting on the platform include: the scripted comedy series “Kings of Con,” inspired by real-life fan convention experiences from “Supernatural” stars Richard Speight and Rob Benedict; the science entertainment program “Impossible Science,” starring magician Jason Latimer; and the previously announced unscripted series “Her Universe,” hosted by founder Ashley Eckstein, following contestants as they design their geek couture concepts for the catwalk of a live San Diego Comic-Con fashion show.
The platform is promising San Diego Comic-Con access with live-streamed programming, airings of select Comic-Con panels and immersive access to the convention floor and sanctioned events such as the Masquerade and the Eisner Awards. It will also offer an “eclectic collection” of licensed film and TV series from science-fiction, fantasy, cult classics, action/adventure and horror. |
TUBAN, Indonesia (Reuters) - Indonesia has urged officials to stand up to mob pressure after Muslim and nationalist protesters called for a 30-metre-tall (100-ft-) statue of a Chinese deity erected in a temple complex in an East Java town to be torn down.
A crane is used to cover the statue of Guan Yu, a Chinese deity, with a cloth in Tuban, about 100 km (60 miles) west of Indonesia's second-biggest city of Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia August 6, 2017 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. Picture taken August 6, 2017. Antara Foto/Aguk Sudarmojo/ via REUTERS
The brightly-painted statue of Guan Yu, a former general who is worshipped by some Chinese, was inaugurated in July in a temple complex in the fishing town of Tuban and is claimed to be Southeast Asia’s tallest such representation of the deity.
The statue in Tuban, about 100 km (60 miles) west of the city of Surabaya, has been partially covered up after the protests, provoking both praise and ridicule on social media in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country.
“If they ask for the statue to be torn down, authorities cannot bow to such pressure,” Teten Masduki, chief of staff to President Joko Widodo, told reporters.
Protesters demonstrated this week outside Surabaya’s parliament against the statue, some wearing paramilitary-style outfits and waving placards that read “Demolish It” and “We are not worshippers of idols”.
Allowing a depiction of a foreign general was “a symbol of treason to this nation,” an unnamed protester said in a video of the rally on news portal Kompas.com.
Officials of the Kwan Sing Bio Temple in Tuban declined to comment, but media have quoted residents as saying the statue was good for tourism.
Indonesia is a secular state whose constitution enshrines religious freedom and diversity, but there are concerns that rising intolerance threatens its reputation for moderate Islam.
Muslims form about 85 percent of the population, but there are also substantial Buddhist, Christian, Hindu and other minorities.
Religious tension has soared this year after Islamist-led rallies saw Jakarta’s incumbent governor, a member of a so-called double minority who is ethnic Chinese and Christian, put on trial during city elections over Koran insult allegations.
Basuki Tjahaja Purnama was later jailed for two years for blasphemy, a sentence rights groups and international bodies condemned as unfair and politicized.
The protests against the statue were primarily about nationalism, said Suli Da’im, a lawmaker in East Java.
“What they were protesting about is that the statue did not represent their general or commander,” he said, adding that a permit for the statue had also not yet been approved.
The fate of the statue, reported to have cost 2.5 billion rupiah ($190,000) to build, has sparked sparring on social media.
“Praise be to God, the noisy fighting in social media succeeded in ensuring the idolatrous statue has been covered. I hope it will soon be taken down,” Muhammad Syahrir, using the handle @Muhamma37029013, said on social network Twitter.
A crane is used to cover the statue of Guan Yu, a Chinese deity, with a cloth in Tuban, west of Indonesia's second-biggest city of Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia August 6, 2017 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. Picture taken August 6, 2017. Antara Foto/Aguk Sudarmojo/ via REUTERS
Another Twitter user ridiculed the protesters.
“Like they have nothing else to do but to protest against a statue,” said Paring Waluyo, under the handle @paringwaluyo. “Instead they should be protesting about Tuban being among the poor regencies of East Java.”
($1=13,368.0000 rupiah) |
When last we left our intrepid Oath of the Gatewatch design team , we learned that the second set in the Battle for Zendikar block had been built around Kozilek, an Eldrazi titan that everyone had assumed had left the plane of Zendikar. Instead, he had burrowed underground and was returning to the aid of his trapped fellow titan, Ulamog. The team came up with the idea of having Kozilek's reality-warping ability reflected by having colorless mana as a cost requirement. This resulted in us coming up with a new symbol for colorless mana as well as creating a new basic land, Wastes.
The problem was that the story was only partly about Kozilek. It was also the set where a collection of Planeswalkers were going to band together to form a team to fight threats like the Eldrazi. The design was on the hook for mechanically representing that aspect of the story as well, something the team didn't realize until halfway through the design. Today's story is about how the team accomplished this task.
Come Together
At the very next meeting (after the brand team asked us to highlight the new super group), Ethan came to the design team with our new goal. The set would still have the Kozilek stuff, but in addition, we needed to have some mechanical elements that communicated the forming of the Gatewatch. We did some brainstorming to figure out what that might mean:
Mechanics that involved cooperation between players
Mechanics that rewarded combinations
Mechanics that built things up
Mechanics that allowed creatures to help one another
The common bond we found was twofold. First, we liked the idea that some group of things, be it players or creatures, created a beneficial relationship with each other. Second, we saw coming together as a team as being symbolically represented by building up and becoming stronger. These were the threads we started with.
A Surge in the Polls
A very common thing to do when using a brainstorm to come up with new mechanics in design is to start with some of the more "out there" suggestions. Going down paths you've trod numerous times will only result in you remaking mechanics you've already made, but starting somewhere fresh allows you to explore places that perhaps you've never visited before.
Because of this, the first idea we explored was that of a mechanic that helped you help another player. Many years ago, Unglued was the first Magic set to ever play in this space, with a cycle of five cards that acknowledged players other than your single opponent.
Magic is a multiplayer game, but we've always worded black-border cards so that they made sense in a two-player game. As such, we've avoided putting words like "teammate" in rules text. But this was going to be a set all about a team coming together. Maybe we could bend the rules here to reinforce this theme.
The problem, of course, was that we didn't want to print cards in black borders that were meaningless in two-player play. So how could we care about teammates in a way that mattered and was relevant but didn't render the card obsolete in a traditional two-person duel?
The solution to this problem was to find a way to care about something that teammates could help with but that didn't necessarily require them. What exactly fit that description? After some talk, it was clear that one of the easiest things to care about was spells being cast. It's something that other players do that you also do. Ari suggested a card that somehow cared if a spell had been previously played this turn. It could be a spell you played or it could be a spell that a teammate played. Interestingly, this mechanic—minus the teammate part—was something we explored during Odyssey design many years ago. (Ari was unaware of this; the more design I do, the more I observe parallel designs where two different people/groups end up with the same design.)
The big question was how exactly the spell was affected by having another spell previously cast. We toyed around with the idea that it enhanced the spell, either making it have a bigger effect or possibly having a second synergistic effect. In the end, we decided that it was more important to make sure you could cast it. After all, in a two-player game, you had to have cast another spell—and thus didn't have a lot of mana. This led us to decide to make the benefit a reduced cost.
Surge was a little controversial because of the inclusion of the word "teammate" in the ability's reminder text. The design team's stance was this: Part of making sets have an identity is finding places to push in directions we don't normally go. Yes, we didn't want to start using the word "teammate" in every set, but in the set all about a team being formed, we felt it was an acceptable bend. We stressed to the development team that the mechanic still worked if you took off the teammate part, so they would have the ability to test it, and if they found the "teammate" inclusion too problematic, it would be easy to remove it later.
Another side effect of including this mechanic was we decided it would be fun thematically to push the Two-Headed Giant format with the release of the Oath of the Gatewatch. We don't often have a mechanic like surge that calls out teammates, so as part of the larger theme we were working for, we suggested Organized Play support some Two-Headed Giant play. As such, both design and development playtested the set in the Two-Headed Giant format, something we don't normally do.
I'm happy to say that when the dust settled, it was decided that design's instincts were correct and the teammate component stayed as part of the surge mechanic.
Thank You for Your Support
The next place we started exploring was the idea of your creatures helping out one another. It was quickly pointed out that the Gatewatch was a collection of Planeswalkers, so maybe we could also find a way to help out planeswalkers. We knew that just helping out planeswalkers wasn't something we'd do at common, and we were interested in finding a mechanic we could use at common—which meant we also wanted to help out creatures.
Art by Kieran Yanner
We started with the idea of figuring out how a player could help both creatures and/or planeswalkers. We realized that the help fell into a couple categories:
You could help make it easier to get creatures/planeswalkers onto the battlefield You could make creatures/planeswalkers more powerful on the battlefield You could protect creatures/planeswalkers, making it harder for opponents to get rid of them
Surge was already an alternate-cost mechanic, so the first option wasn't something we were interested in. We also felt that the third felt more indirect than the second, as preventing harm wasn't as clean and clear as helping. The new question was, how could we help both creatures and planeswalkers? Planeswalkers were a more complex problem, so we started there. Planeswalkers on the battlefield mostly cared about loyalty. The obvious way to help them would be to grant them extra loyalty. The problem, though, was that creatures don't have loyalty.
We took a step back and thought about loyalty more abstractly. Planeswalkers have a resource represented by a counter. Creatures could also do that through the use of things like +1/+1 counters. We've learned through the proliferate mechanic that we can tie +1/+1 counters and loyalty together by caring about counters. Since we were interested in the flavor of helping out one another, perhaps the mechanic could add counters—loyalty counters for planeswalkers and +1/+1 counters for creatures.
We explored different options, but in the end decided to make it a keyword action. This action was something you could do, as a spell, as an "enter the battlefield" effect, wherever we felt it made the most flavor sense and played the best. As we were trying to create a sense of teamwork (support was originally called teamwork), we liked the idea that if you got to distribute more than one counter, you had spread it around to multiple creatures and planeswalkers. This way you wouldn't just stack everything on one creature but rather build up your whole team.
The mechanic passed from design to development, and for most of development all was well. Late in the process, though, it became clear that putting loyalty counters on planeswalkers created a number of developmental problems. It was so late in the process that there wasn't time to do extensive reworking of the mechanic, so unfortunately the only option was to remove the loyalty-granting part of the ability. Luckily, the change had very little impact on Limited, where the mechanic was made to shine.
Interlude: More Changes to the Status Quo
Before I can continue on with my story, I must first explain another curveball thrown to the Oath of the Gatewatch design team. (If I haven't made it crystal clear, the design team had a lot more issues to deal with than an average small-set design team.) Magic is currently 22 years old, and as such has a certain rhythm of how things work. Since Magic Origins, we have been making major changes to break that rhythm and try different things. Rather than one block a year, we're doing two. Instead of three sets in a block, there's two. Core sets are gone. We've doubled down on our story and have created whole new ways to tell it and express it through the cards. Well, once you start making changes as big as these, you're open to making other big changes.
What is the number one most common request we've gotten about small sets over the years? Any ideas? The answer is that players really want to play more of it when the set comes out. We've altered how many packs you play with at the Prerelease, but the audience wanted something more substantial. Why couldn't drafts with a small set have two packs of the small set and just one of the large set? Why can't drafting have more of the new cards in it?
Skitterskin | Art by Michael Komarck
For years we've ignored this suggestion, because we believed that the smaller card pool would lead to a less robust drafting experience. But in the spirit of change, we decided to finally question our assumptions. Instead of asking "Should we do this?" we asked instead, "What would we need to change if we did do this?" The Oath of the Gatewatch design and development teams spent time on this problem and then came up with a number of suggestions for how to do it correctly. One of those suggestions was to increase the set size. Another was being a bit more proactive about making sure that the newer set evolved how certain block elements played. This latter decision will become important in a moment. Happily, we think we figured it out—and moving forward, small sets will draft Small Set/Small Set/Large Set.
Finding Cohorts
The design team was trying to be more proactive about changing up block elements. The Ulamog-flavored mechanics were giving way to the Kozilek mechanics, so the Eldrazi side was having a fundamental shift. That meant the design team had to do the same for the Zendikari side. The plan to do this was to introduce a new Ally keyword mechanic.
The design team experimented with numerous different designs, but ended up with something we called breakthrough. Breakthrough was a mechanic that said, "At the end of combat, if any of your Allies dealt combat damage to an opponent, TRIGGER EFFECT." The mechanic aimed to show the Allies becoming aggressive in trying to stop the Eldrazi, and so shifted to a more combat-centric focus.
The mechanic made it to development, but it was there that it was decided the mechanic too heavily pushed all-out aggression. The Allies in Battle for Zendikar had also been pretty aggressive, and there was interest in coming up with an Ally mechanic that might shift the Ally strategy in a new direction, away from just being aggressive. As is often done in development when there is a need for a new design, a mini team was put together. This team was run by Ethan Fleischer and their goal was to find a mechanic that pushed Allies in a new direction.
The team came up with a number of different options, but the one the development team liked most was cohort. Cohort is an ability word on creatures that requires tapping that creature and another Ally. The mechanic was based on designs from Onslaught that required tapping a certain number of a particular creature type.
The idea behind the mechanic was that it represented the Allies working together, and it had a bit more of a combo feeling that encouraged building up rather than all-out aggro. Also, as each effect could be different, it allowed for the mechanic to support various strategies.
Interestingly, the one big sticking point with the mechanic was trying to choose how to best represent it. The original design copied the Onslaught cards and just said, "Tap two Allies you control." The concern was that many players might not understand whether you could use cohort to tap a creature on the turn you cast it. (Yes, you can, but only for a different Ally's cohort ability; summoning sickness prevents using a tap symbol, but not tapping a permanent as a cost.) The editing team and development tried various different versions and finally settled on the version where it's a tap ability and requires the tapping of one other Ally.
Making an Oath
The final piece to the puzzle was my biggest contribution to the set. We were talking about capturing a team coming together, and I flashed back to a comic from my youth: the Justice League. The Justice League is the biggest superhero group from the DC Comics universe and has over the years included all the major superheroes from that comic line: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, and more. I was a huge Justice League fan growing up, and I went out of my way to read all the early issues of the comic.
The original team started with seven members, and then every once in a while the team would add a new member. Whenever a new member was added, the comic would most often end with them taking an oath to uphold the principles of the team. I liked the imagery and thought having our characters take an oath would be a nice visual. Mechanically, I thought we could make a cycle of Oath cards that would represent who exactly was joining the team. This would also help in the future as other Planeswalkers joined the Gatewatch.
The question was how we could mechanically represent the Oaths. I knew we wanted the names to be "Oath of PLANESWALKER," which implied to me they'd be enchantments, as it felt like something permanent. We gave each Oath a good enters-the-battlefield effect to make sure they would be worth playing, and then we granted each one a static ability that would be beneficial to any other planeswalkers you had.
In our original version, we had the static ability grant all your planeswalkers a new loyalty ability, but development pointed out that this would make all planeswalkers more similar and would create repetitive gameplay. Also, they would be hard to balance, and if we wanted the ability to make many Oaths in the future, it would leave limited design space. In the end, it was decided to go a little broader with the static ability and have it help planeswalkers in different ways. The cycle, by the way, is actually not a full cycle, as there are only four colors represented. There was no black-aligned planeswalker interested in joining the Gatewatch. (Ob Nixilis being the only candidate on Zendikar, and he's not really a team player.)
The one last change made by development was making the Oaths legendary, both to allow them to push the cards a little power-wise and to keep from having too many of them clogging up the battlefield. And now I give you Oath of Gideon:
That's all I have for today. As always, I'm eager to hear any feedback on either my column or the new set. You can send me an email or contact me through any of my social media accounts (Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, and Instagram).
Join me next week when I start telling some card-by-card stories about the set.
Until then, may you find some people who you can team up with.
"Drive to Work #292—Dragons of Tarkir, Part 4"
This podcast is part four of my six-part series on the design of Dragons of Tarkir.
"Drive to Work #293—Dragons of Tarkir, Part 5"
This podcast is part five of my six-part series on the design of Dragons of Tarkir. |
I spend a lot of time talking and writing about the minimum wage. I do so because it sears my economist’s soul to encounter a policy that is as popular with people as it is poorly understood by them.
Opinion polls consistently show that an overwhelming portion of Americans — about 75 percent — support raising the minimum wage. Yet there is no economic principle that is more solid than the one that explains that raising the cost of engaging in some activity (such as employing low-skilled workers) results in people engaging less in that activity.
Just as someone trying to sell a house knows that the higher the asking price, the fewer are the prospective buyers for the house, everyone should know that the higher the wage that a worker charges for his labor services, the fewer the prospective employers for that worker.
This fact holds when the government — through minimum-wage legislation — forces the worker to raise the wage he charges.
Although it’s obvious to me that artificially pushing wages up through minimum-wage legislation causes some low-skilled workers to lose their jobs (or to not be hired in the first place), it’s clearly not obvious to most of my fellow Americans. So I ask, “Why not?”
One reason, I believe, is that many of the same politicians and pundits who praise the minimum wage also loudly complain about the alleged greed and profiteering of business owners. An economically uninformed voter can therefore be forgiven for supposing that a hike in the minimum wage is fully paid for out of the “excess” profits of greedy businesses.
But, notes the economist, most minimum-wage jobs are in highly competitive industries such as food service and retailing. Being under intense competitive pressures, firms in these industries don’t rake in excess profits; they earn just enough to satisfy their investors. If those profit rates fall even just a bit, investors scale back their support or even pull the plug. So, the typical employer of minimum-wage workers must find some way other than eating into profits to cover the added costs of a higher minimum wage.
One way is to reduce the number of low-skilled workers who are employed, combined with obliging those who remain employed at the higher minimum wage to work harder.
What about raising prices? Might that tactic raise enough revenue to fully cover the costs of a higher minimum wage?
Almost anything is possible, but higher prices charged by employers of minimum-wage workers are unlikely to result in all such workers getting a raise with none of them losing jobs. The reason is that when prices rise for restaurant meals, motel rooms and other goods and services supplied by employers of minimum-wage workers, consumers buy fewer of these goods and services. The result? Restaurants, motels and similar employers supply fewer such goods and services — which means that these employers need fewer workers.
Tales can indeed be told about how, under just the right set of circumstances, a government policy of artificially raising firms’ costs of employing low-skilled workers will inflict no harm on such workers. But none of those tales is realistic.
Donald J. Boudreaux is a professor of economics and Getchell Chair at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. His column appears twice monthly. |
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